Round 3 of the 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California – home of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Defending Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto wins his first supercross main event of the year. Trey Canard finishes second. In the 250 West Regional series, defending champion Eli Tomac wins his third race in a row, with Kenny Roczen second.
The weather is perfect – typical southern California. Clear blue skies, nice and warm.
Qualifying times for the 250 SX class, it’s former World MX2 Champion Kenny Roczen of RedBull KTM on top with the quickest lap of 54.51 seconds. Martin Davalos of the Pro Circuit team is next – 54.76. Defending West Champion Eli Tomac is third at 54.9 seconds. The rest of the top ten – Jason Anderson, Zach Osborne, Ryan Sipes, Cole Seely, Christian Craig, Jake Canada, and Max Anstie (56.3).
Qualifying times for the 450′s …it’s defending series champion Ryan Villopoto quickest at 52.97 seconds. Ryan Dungey is next – 53.65. Then it’s James Stewart, who is riding with a torn ACL in his knee, at 53.9 seconds. Fourth thru tenth – Davi Millsaps, , Chad Reed, Trey Canard, Justin Barcia, Justin Brayton, Broc Tickle, and Jake Weimer (55.3).
Ryan Villopoto quickest in timed practice 450 SX
Opening ceremonies. And a big shocker. Kevin Windham has announced his retirement. He did two of his famous ‘transfers’, one of his famous ‘nose wheelies’ …. and … is retired from professional racing. Read Kevin’s quotes on his retirement here.
Kevin Windham in action earlier this season …
7:38pm. The first 250 heat takes off. The early leader is number 40, Martin Davalos. But Ryan Sipes number 35 makes a move on Davalos to take over the lead!
Lap four of this six lap race – Davalos does a nice jump at the start of a big jump section and passes Sipes back for the lead. And then just a few hundred yards later – Sipes passes him back! It’s Sipes out front, Davalos right behind, and Sipes’ Rockstar Suzuki team-mate Jason Anderson right behind in third.
Sipes is going to win … and the last corner before the checkered flag – Anderson makes the pass on Davalos! It’s Sipes, Anderson, and Davalos 1, 2, 3.
250 Heat 2. It was Jessy Nelson of TLD with the early lead … but Kenny Roczen (94) goes by quickly. And he’s already pulling out a lead. Nelson is second … and he’s got Eli Tomac right behind him.
Tomac moves into second. It’s Roczen, a former world motocross champion, leading Tomac – the current 250 West Regional Supercross Champion. Should be good …
Roczen and Tomac are way ahead of third place Zach Osborne. There are two laps to go in this six lap heat …
This is a difficult supercross track. Lots of obstacles. And the condition of the track – in some parts dusty in the afternoon, is now perfect.
Ken Roczen has won this race. Eli Tomac finishes just over 2 seconds behind Roczen. Third is Jessy Nelson, then Tyla Rattray, Dakota Tedder, and Osborne drops to sixth.
450 Supercross Heat 1: Looks like a big crash as they head down the start straight. And it includes series points leader Davi Millsaps. Justin Brayton is in the lead. Millsaps mechanics rush his bike back out to the pits, as Davi walks slowly in that direction as well.
This race will go eight laps. The top eight at the halfway point are: Justin Brayton, Mike Alessi, Trey Canard, Robert Kiniry, Josh Grant, Vince Friese, Matt Lemoine, and Ben LaMay. Ryan Dungey is 11th!
Justin Brayton wins this race by a nice margin. Trey Canard finishes second. Mike Alessi third. Then it’s Kiniry, Grant, Friese, Lemoine, Jake Weimer, Ryan Dungey, and Ben LaMay tenth. Dungey qualifies.
450 Supercross Heat 2: It’s the number 1 of Ryan Villopoto in the lead. Matt Goerke is second. James Stewart is third. The pace is frenetic.
With Villopoto already pulling a lead at the end of lap one, Stewart moves to second. And then it’s Kyle Chisholm, Chad Reed up to fourth, Broc Tickle, Matt Goerke, Andrew Short, Weston Peick, Justin Barcia and Chris Blose round out the top ten.
Reed has moved to third. The top three are quite spread out – Villopoto first, Stewart second, Reedy third.
Ryan Villopoto dominates this race. Stewart is second, Reed third.
The 450 LCQ. This race goes six laps. And only the top two advance to the Main Event. And there are two top riders in this race – Justin Barcia and Davi Millsaps.
Out front on the first lap – it’s Justin Barcia, followed by Davi Millsaps!
On lap five, Millsaps makes a nice move on Barcia and takes over the lead. These two are going at it pretty aggressively considering it’s an LCQ. Millsaps wins it! Barcia second! They go to the Main …
It’s time for the 250 Main Event. 15 laps. At 9:23pm it’s Ken Roczen and Cole Seely side by side in the first corner! Seely emerges the leader. There are a couple of falls as well – we can see Max Anstie limping off the track.
The three fastest guys in the class are up front. It’s currently Cole Seely leading Ken Roczen, and Eli Tomac is chasing both of them.
Those top three riders have checked out. Five laps in they are way ahead of the rest of the pack. Seely leads, and Tomac is very close on Roczen.
The top three are very close … and at the end of lap 9 Tomac goes past Roczen on the inside of a left hander corner before the finish jump.
On the start of lap 11, Tomac goes around the outside of the first corner and passes Seely for the lead! It’s Tomac, Seely, Roczen – all still close!
Tomac is starting to pull a slight lead, and Roczen has pushed past Seely. It’s Tomac one, Roczen two, Seely three.
Eli Tomac wins his third 250 West Supercross Main in a row
The 450 Supercross Main Event. 20 laps. At 9:57pm Jake Weimer number 12 rockets into the lead. He’s chased by the two Honda Muscle Milk riders – Justin Barcia and Trey Canard!
On lap 2, Trey Canard moves into the lead! It’s Canard, Weimer, Barcia. Davi Millsaps is fourth. Chad Reed is sixth. James Stewart seventh. Ryan Dungey eighth. And Ryan Villopoto is on the move …
Hectic lap. Barcia lands hard from a jump – looks like he hurt his wrist. He is pulling off the track. Villopoto has moved all the way up to second. (Later on some have said he might of hit his face or nose quite hard. TBD.)
As they settle now starting lap six, it’s Canard leading Villopoto by about 2 seconds. By the end of this lap though – Villopoto has rushed right past Canard and into the lead!
Lap seven now – Villopoto already stretching his lead. Canard is second. Davi Millsaps is third. Chad Reed is fourth. Weimer is fifth. And Stewart goes down in a tight right hand corner – he is up and running … outside the top ten.
Lap 12 – Ryan Villopoto is leading by a big margin over Trey Canard. Davi Millsaps is third, and he’s being chased by Chad Reed. Then it’s Jake Weimer, Andrew Short, and Ryan Dungey.
As they start lap 16, Reed moves past Millsaps. And then Millsaps returns the favor! As they start lap 18, Millsaps spins the rear tire a bit too much, and Reed moves by!
This race belongs to Ryan Villopoto. It’s his first supercross main event victory since April of 2012. Trey Canard is second, Chad Reed third. (Results below.)
Dungey, Tickle, Villopoto watch 250 SX practice
Davi Millsaps before heading out to practice
250 West Main Event Results:
- Eli Tomac – HON
- Ken Roczen – KTM
- Cole Seely – HON
- Zach Osborne – HON
- Jake Canada – HON
- Christian Craig – HON
- Jason Anderson – SUZ
- Tyla Rattray – KAW
- K Cunningham – YAM
- Jessy Nelson – HON
- M Stewart – KTM
- Martin Davalos – KAW
- Travis Baker – YAM
- Dakota Tedder – KAW
- Scott Champion – HON
- Diilan Epstein – KAW
- Max Anstie – SUZ
- Joey Savatgy – KTM
- Ryan Sipes – SUZ
- Michael Leib – HON
250 West Point standings:
- Eli Tomac – 75
- Ken Roczen – 66
- Cole Seely – 58
- Zach Osborne – 47
- Christian Craig – 35
- Tyla Rattray – 35
- Kyle Cunningham – 35
- Jason Anderson – 32
- Ryan Sipes – 31
- Martin Davalos – 30
- Jessy Nelson – 30
- Malcolm Stewart – 29
- Max Anstie – 26
- Joey Savatgy – 23
- Jake Canada – 19
- Michael Leib – 16
- Travis Baker – 14
- Austin Politelli – 13
- Blake Baggett – 7
- Tedder, Cachia – 7
450 Main Event Results:
- Ryan Villopoto – KAW
- Trey Canard – HON
- Chad Reed – HON
- Davi Millsaps – SUZ
- Jake Weimer – KAW
- Ryan Dungey – KTM
- Andrew Short – HON
- Justin Brayton – YAM
- Matt Goerke – KTM
- Josh Grant – YAM
- Broc Tickle – SUZ
- James Stewart – SUZ
- Weston Peick
- Mike Alessi – SUZ
- Kyle Chisholm
- Vince Friese
- Chris Blose
- Robert Kiniry
- Matt Lemoine
- Justin Barcia
450 Point standings:
- Davi Millsaps – 63
- Trey Canard – 60
- Chad Reed – 56
- Ryan Villopoto – 54
- Ryan Dungey – 48
- Jake Weimer – 47
- Andrew Short – 41
- Justin Barcia – 40
- James Stewart – 36
- Josh Grant – 32
- Justin Brayton – 31
- Matt Goerke – 25
- Broc Tickle – 22
- Kyle Chisholm – 22
- Weston Peick – 22
- Kevin Windham – 21
- Matt Lemoine – 13
- Vince Friese – 12
- Mike Alessi – 9
- Robert Kiniry – 5
I’m going to win tonight, and you are going to retire???
