Villopoto Lites up San Franciso
By TMX Archives on 1st Feb 07
MAKITA Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael returned from the first of many breaks in his semi-retirement season to end James Stewart's win streak in the AMA Supercross series with victory at a cold, damp AT&T Park in San Francisco last Saturday night following a long awaited race long battle with Stewart and Yamaha's Chad Reed that saw all three riders lead at one point or another during the 20 lap main.
In what was the closest race of the young season, Reed, Stewart and Carmichael were evenly matched on pace for the first time and a battle of wits and line choice emerged on the rutted, demanding San Francisco track, that saw the patient and calculating Carmichael eventually prevail to take the win while both Stewart and Reed hit the dirt, Stewart more than once.
It was business as usual for Kawasaki in the West coast Supercross Lites class though as Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit's
Ryan Villopoto claimed his third win of the season to extend his already sizeable championship lead, once again running out an easy winner over the Sobe/ Samsung Honda duo of Josh Grant and Jake Weimer.
The big three made it through their qualifiers without hassle, but by the time the Main rolled around the notoriously inclement Bay
Area weather which hampered track building had taken its toll on the track and deep ruts had formed, and the track conditions would play a big part in the outcome of the race.
AMP'D MOBILE AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Rd 4 - AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA
SUPERCROSS: 1 Ricky Carmichael (Suz), 2 James Stewart (Kaw), 3 Chad Reed (Yam), 4 Timmy Ferry (Kaw), 5 Nick Wey (Hon), 6 David Vuillemin (Hon), 7 Travis Preston (Hon), 8 Michael Byrne (Suz), 9 Jeff Gibson (Kaw), 10 Kevin Windham (Hon), 11 Joshua Summey (Hon), 12 Heath Voss (Hon), 13 Nathan Ramsey (Yam), 14 Ivan Tedesco (Suz), 15 Paul Carpenter (Kaw).
SERIES STANDINGS (after 4 of 16 rounds): 1 Stewart 97, 2 Reed 82, 3 Ferry 70, 4 Carmichael 69, 5 Byrne 57, 6 Windham 52, 7 Preston 50, 8 Wey 42, 9 Vuillemin 42, 10 Tedesco 42.
SUPERCROSS LITES: 1 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 2 Joshua Grant (Hon), 3 Jake Weimer (Hon), 4 Josh Hill (Yam), 5 Jason Lawrence (Yam), 6 Kyle Partridge (Hon), 7 Steve Boniface (Kaw), 8 Josh Hansen (KTM), 9 Michael Lapaglia (Yam), 10 Adam Chatfield (Hon), 11 Troy Adams (Suz), 12 Matthew Lemoine (Yam), 13 Michael Willard (KTM), 14 Chris Blose (Yam), 15 Bradley Graham (Kaw).
SERIES STANDINGS (after 4 of 8 rounds): 1 Villopoto 97, 2 Lawrence 71, 3 Weimer 59, 4 Boniface 55, 5 Lemoine 52, 6 Chris Gosselaar (Kaw) 51, 7 Christophe Pourcel (Kaw) 48, 8 Adams 47, 9 Hansen 46, 10 Grant 42.
Next Round - February 3, Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA.
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, February 2, 2007