Raising the Bar!
By TMX Archives on 18th Jan 13
After an explosive start to the Monster Energy Supercross last week in Anaheim, the action rolled into Phoenix, for the second instalment of bar-bashing action.
And another week brought another winner, as Honda's Justin Barcia captured the first 450SX win of his career inside the Chase Field stadium.
Meanwhile in the 250 class, round-one winner, Eli Tomac made it two wins from two as he took the chequered flag by a massive 10 second margin.
As the gate dropped in front of 50,000 fans, Barcia shot out of the gate to claim the holeshot award, with last week's winner, Davi Millsaps and Chad Reed in second and third.
After a disappointing opening round, reigning champion Ryan Villopoto held it together for the first lap and was running in fourth when he washed out and dropped back to eighth.
As the laps passed, Honda's Trey Canard had been working his way forward, and on lap 11 took Reed for third then followed that up on lap 14 when he passed Millsaps for second.
Villopoto had also been making a move and had managed to work his way up to third on lap 15.
With Barcia out in front on his own, Canard and Villopoto then went head-to-head in a battle for second, giving the crowd a fantastic night of entertainment.
Pushing hard the pair were locked together for several laps until Canard hit the dirt on the last circuit, leaving Villopoto a clean track to take second as Millsaps held onto third.
"I can't tell you how excited I am right now,” said Barcia, who became the 56th different winner in 450SX Class.
"I didn't think this win would come so soon. I kept it smooth out there but the track was super slick. It was a great night for me.”
In the 250s main event Honda's Jessy Nelson grabbed the holeshot award, leading Martin Davalos and Zach Osborne on the first lap.
Despite being involved in a big crash in his heat, Davalos wasted no time in picking a line and grabbing the lead.
Tomac started in fifth but quickly gathered pace and soon found himself in second before passing Davalos for the lead on lap seven.
Once out in front, nothing could stop Tomac as he easily pulled away to take his second win.
KTM's Ken Roczen had been working hard after an average start and managed to pass Davalos on the last lap to take his second runners-up position.
"I am totally stoked,” said Tomac. "I am now two-for-two this season and to get a win here in Phoenix is huge because I have a lot of family and friends here.
"I haven't had a lot of great races here in the past, so picking up the win is awesome.”
The Monster Energy Supercross now heads back to Anaheim for the third round of the series on Saturday night.
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
SX450cc CLASS: 1 Justin Barcia (Hon), 2 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 3 Davi Millsaps (Suz), 4 Chad Reed (AUS - Hon), 5 Trey Canard (Hon), 6 Jake Weimer (Kaw), 7 James Stewart (Suz), 8 Ryan Dungey (KTM), 9 Andrew Short (Hon), 10 Josh Grant (Yam), 11 Kevin Windham (Hon), 12 Broc Tickle (Suz), 13 Kyle Chisholm (Yam), 14 Weston Peick (Suz), 15 Justin Brayton (Yam), 16 Matthew Lemoine (Kaw), 17 Matt Goerke (KTM), 18 Vince Friese (Hon), 19 Jimmy Albertson (Hon), 20 Mike Alessi (Suz),...
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 17) rounds: 1 Millsaps 45 points, 2 Canard 38, 3 Reed 36, 4 Weimer 31, 5 Villopoto 27, 6 Stewart 27, 7 Barcia 25, 8 Grant 21, 9 Windham 21, 10 Dungey 20, 11 Brayton 18, 12 Chisholm 16, 13 Short 15, 14 Barcia 14, 15 Peick 14, 16 Dungey 13, 17 Goerke 13, 18 Short 12, 19 Broc Tickle 12, 20 Lemoine 11,...
SX 250cc (West): 1 Eli Tomac (Hon), 2 Ken Roczen (D - KTM), 3 Martin Davalos (Suz), 4 Cole Seely (Hon), 5 Jessy Nelson (Hon), 6 Zach Osborne (Hon), 7 Ryan Sipes (Yam), 8 Kyle Cunningham (Yam), 9 Joey Savatgy (KTM), 10 Christian Craig (Hon), 11 Max ANSTIE (GB - Suz), 12 Tyla Rattray (ZA - Kaw), 13 Austin Politelli (Hon), 14 Josh Cachia (KTM), 15 Travis Bright (Hon), 16 Trevor Reis (Hon), 17 Michael Leib (Hon), 18 Malcolm Stewart (KTM), 19 Topher Ingalls (Hon), 20 Jake Canada (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 9) rounds: 1 Tomac 50 points, 2 Roczen 44, 3 Seely 38, 4 Osborne 29, 5 Sipes 29, 6 Davalos 26, 7 Cunningham 23, 8 Rattray 22, 9 ANSTIE 22, 10 Savatgy 20, 11 Craig 20, 12 Nelson 19, 13 Stewart 19, 14 Anderson 18, 15 Leib 15, 16 Politelli 13, 17 Cachia 7, 18 Ryan Marmont 7, 19 Bright 6, 20 Reis 5,...
NEXT ROUND: January 19 – Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California, USA.
