Musquin situation
By TMX Archives on 15th Mar 13
Ryan Villopoto continued in his quest to regain control over the 450 class as the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series headed to the Daytona International Speedway in Florida for round 10.
Riding to his fifth win of the year, the Kawasaki rider put on a dominant performance to take the series lead.
Meanwhile in the Eastern 250 class, KTM's Marvin Musquin shot out of the gates to lead the full 15-lap race and claim his
first-ever AMA Supercross win.
Starts have been proving to be the key to success this year, and this week was no exception.
Villopoto put himself into the best position possible after grabbing the holeshot.
Although a slip at the mid point of the opening lap allowed Red Bull KTM's Ken Roczen and Muscle Milk Honda's Justin Barcia the room to sneak past.
Undeterred, Villopoto was soon back on the gas and by lap two was back in his groove to make a pass on Barcia for second.
Once there the reigning champ set after Roczen.
And it only took two laps before Villopoto was within striking distance and saw his chance to make the pass. Once in the lead he made no more mistakes, stretching his gap to over five seconds at the chequered flag.
"Daytona is a unique place to race and to win here is pretty awesome,” said Villopoto.
"It's not like any other race, so if you can win here then it shows you are one of the best.”
As the laps counted down, Ryan Dungey had work to do after an average start left him mid pack at the first corner.
Slowly but surely though, the KTM pilot picked off riders to eventually grab second place at the flag ahead of Barcia.
Further down, it was a night to forget for Suzuki's Davi Millsaps.
After a bad start he was unable to find his rhythm, and despite pushing hard was forced to settle for 10th, and with it hand over the series lead to Villopoto.
As the eastern 250 class blasted off the line, it was Marvin Musquin who got off to his best start to date.
The KTM hit the first turn to claim the holeshot, before establishing control at the front for the entire race to take his first AMA Supercross victory.
"This was the longest race of my life,” said Musquin.
"I really love this track, it's fun for me to ride, and I think that's why I did well today.”
Behind was the battle for second. Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Dean Wilson led until lap 10 when last week's winner, Wil Hahn made an aggressive move to pass.
Wilson then tried to retake the lead, but Hahn blocked his path before pulling out a gap.
In the closing stages Star Racing Yamaha's Jeremy Martin put the pressure on Wilson, and squeezed past in the dying laps to take third, pushing Wilson off the podium
Another podium placing for Hahn has extended his lead in the championship table after three rounds.
Wilson is five points back on 92, to keep the pressure on.
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 10 – Daytona Int'l Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
SX450cc CLASS: 1 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 2 Ryan Dungey (KTM), 3 Justin Barcia (Hon), 4 Eli Tomac (Hon), 5 Chad Reed (AUS - Hon), 6 Trey Canard (Hon), 7 Ken Roczen (D - KTM), 8 James Stewart (Suz), 9 Broc Tickle (Suz), 10 Davi Millsaps (Suz), 11 Matt Goerke (KTM), 12 Andrew Short (Hon), 13 Jake Weimer (Kaw), 14 Les Smith (KTM), 15 Joshua Hill (Suz), 16 Mike Alessi (Suz), 17 Ben Lamay (Yam), 18 Weston Peick (Suz), 19 Phillip Nicoletti (Yam), 20 Justin Brayton (Yam).
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 (of 17) rounds: 1 Villopoto 202 points, 2 Millsaps 200, 3 Dungey 188, 4 Reed 163, 5 Canard 163, 6 Barcia 152, 7 Stewart 135, 8 Short 122, 9 Brayton 104, 10 Broc Tickle 99, 11 Goerke 95, 12 Mike Alessi 79, 13 Weimer 78, 14 Peick 45, 15 Tomac 40, 16 Grant 40, 17 Albertson 38, 18 Chisholm 38, 19 Lemoine 34, 20 Friese 30,...
SX250cc (East): 1 Marvin Musquin (F - KTM), 2 William Hahn (Hon), 3 Jeremy Martin (Yam), 4 Dean WILSON (GB - Kaw), 5 Blake Wharton (Suz), 6 Justin Hill (Kaw), 7 Kyle Peters (Hon), 8 Zackery Freeberg (Hon), 9 Cole Thompson (CAN - Hon), 10 Vince Friese (Hon), 11 Mitchell Oldenburg (Hon), 12 James Decotis (Hon), 13 Peter Larsen (Hon), 14 AJ Catanzaro (Kaw), 15 Lance Vincent (KTM), 16 Brady Kiesel (Yam), 17 Daniel Herrlein (Hon), 18 Zachary Bell (Hon), 19 Gavin Faith (Hon), 20 Shawn Rife (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 9) rounds: 1 Hahn 92 points, 2 WILSON 87, 3 Musquin 78, 4 Wharton 76, 5 Martin 52, 6 Hill 51, 7 Friese 50, 8 Peters 45, 9 Decotis 43, 10 Faith 40, 11 Thompson 37, 12 Oldenburg 35, 13 Bell 29, 14 Vincent 28, 15 Freeberg 22, 16 Larsen 19, 17 Catanzaro 18, 18 Swanepoel 13, 19 Richardson 11, 20 Kilbarger 11,...
NEXT ROUND: March 16 – Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
