Ryan’s up four fight

Well things look like they could be on the ‘up' for Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto after claiming his fourth win of the series when the Monster Energy AMA Supercross descended on the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. 

 

Following a roller-coaster ride in the opening rounds, Villopoto upped his game coming into the ninth round, to ensure he was still in the running for the 2013 title. 

 

Meanwhile in the Eastern 250 class, GEICO Honda's Wil Hahn followed-up his first ever victory last week, with another impressive ride for the win and to take over the points lead.

 

Holeshot maestro Mike Alessi got away from the gate first in the 450 main, and hit the front on the first corner with Justin Barcia on his back wheel. 

 

James Stewart followed closely in third, with Villopoto further down the field along with series leader, Davi Millsaps.

 

On the opening lap Stewart found a gap, moving into second, as Villopoto worked his way through to fourth. 

 

Disaster struck a group of riders further back on lap three when several crashed together, injuring Yamaha rider Kyle Chisholm. 

 

The crash forced out the red flag and the race had to be re-started.

 

With a staggered re-start (Stewart, Barcia and Reed held down the top three positions), Villopoto continued with his charge, and it wasn't long before he caught third-placed Reed. Once in third he was on the pace to close down second  placed Justin Barcia. 

 

Once Villopoto climbed his way up to second he went head-to-head with last week's winner Stewart. 

 

The pair traded places throughout laps nine to 11 before the Kawasaki rider eventually made a pass stick on lap 13, to run home in a solid first place.

 

As the laps counted down, Barcia faltered, losing several places and allowing Reed to assume third at the flag.

 

"It was a crazy night out there,” said Villopoto. 

 

"I made a costly mistake on the first start, so I knew my work was cut out for me. 

 

"I was able to make things happen on the second start and get out in front after some wild racing. 

 

"It's coming down to crunch time and we were all able to make it happen tonight.”

 

Series leader Davi Millsaps went away with his worst finish of the year down in sixth, and as a result opened the door to Villopoto to close down his championship lead to just 12-points.

 

After taking his first career victory last week in the Eastern 250 class, Wil Hahn showed it was not down to luck as he came back strongly this time. 

 

After getting off to a fast clean start, Hahn set his sights on the staying out in front to the flag.

 

Meanwhile his closest rival, Dean Wilson, got caught up in the pack and was swallowed up mid-pack. 

 

As the race progressed, Wilson never gave up, and slowly clawed his way forward until he was right on the back wheel of Hahn. 

 

On lap-12 Wilson made a pass, briefly taking the lead before Hahn rebounded straight back. 

 

This time he managed to hold the position to the flag.

 

"It means the world to me,” Hahn said. 

 

"Going from none to two is a good feeling. Just to have some momentum on my side is also a good feeling. 

 

"For me, I just need to keep consistent and keep getting the starts I'm getting and just ride a smart race.”

 

Hahn now takes command of the 250s by just one point over Wilson

 

SX450cc CLASS: 1 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 2 James Stewart (Suz), 3 Chad Reed (AUS - Hon), 4 Ryan Dungey (KTM), 5 Justin Barcia (Hon), 6 Davi Millsaps (Suz), 7 Mike Alessi (Suz), 8 Trey Canard (Hon), 9 Justin Brayton (Yam), 10 Andrew Short (Hon), 11 Broc Tickle (Suz), 12 Jake Weimer (Kaw), 13 Eli Tomac (Hon), 14 Jimmy Albertson (Hon), 15 Matt Goerke (KTM), 16 Kyle Partridge (Suz), 17 Robert Kiniry (Yam), 18 Weston Peick (Suz), 19 Phillip Nicoletti (Yam), 20 Kyle Chisholm (Yam).

SERIES STANDINGS after 9 (of 17) rounds: 1 Millsaps 189 points, 2 Villopoto 177, 3 Dungey 166, 4 Canard 148, 5 Reed 147, 6 Barcia 132, 7 Stewart 122, 8 Short 113, 9 Brayton 103, 10 Broc Tickle 87, 11 Goerke 85, 12 Mike Alessi 74, 13 Weimer 70, 14 Peick 42, 15 Grant 40, 16 Albertson 38, 17 Chisholm 38, 18 Lemoine 34, 19 Friese 30, 20 Kiniry 28,...

SX250cc (East): 1 William Hahn (Hon), 2 Dean WILSON (GB - Kaw), 3 Blake Wharton (Suz), 4 Marvin Musquin (F - KTM), 5 Jeremy Martin (Yam), 6 Vince Friese (Hon), 7 James Decotis (Hon), 8 Cole Thompson (CAN - Hon), 9 Zachary Bell (Hon), 10 Peter Larsen (Hon), 11 Gavin Faith (Hon), 12 Zackery Freeberg (Hon), 13 AJ Catanzaro (Kaw), 14 Kyle Hussey (Kaw), 15 Mitchell Oldenburg (Hon), 16 Justin Hill (Kaw), 17 Levi Kilbarger (Hon), 18 Daniel Herrlein (Hon), 19 Lance Vincent (KTM), 20 Shawn Rife (Hon).

SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 9) rounds: 1 Hahn 70 points, 2 WILSON 69, 3 Wharton 60, 4 Musquin 53, 5 Friese 39, 6 Faith 38, 7 Hill 36, 8 Decotis 34, 9 Martin 32, 10 Peters 31, 11 Bell 26, 12 Thompson 25, 13 Oldenburg 25, 14 Vincent 22, 15 Swanepoel 13, 16 Larsen 11, 17 Richardson 11, 18 Catanzaro 11, 19 Kilbarger 11, 20 Adam Gulley 10,...

NEXT ROUND: March 9 – Daytona Int'l Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.