Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto had a fantastic return to Supercross racing by winning the 20-lap race in front of his hometown crowd.
Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto won his first-ever Supercross motorcycle race this evening in front of his hometown crowd at Qwest Field in Seattle Washington. Villopoto who had missed the last three Supercross rounds due to a viral infection looked like a man on a mission throughout the 20-lap race.
"It’s awesome. I can’t thank my team enough and everybody that put effort into it," said an elated Villopoto. "It hasn’t been the year we wanted but they never gave up. I could see James and Chad out of the corner of my eye sometimes. I just focused on Mike (Alessi) and he made that mistake. The track was super tricky tonight and there were some slick spots so you really had to ride smart.”
At the start of the race it was yet another holeshot by the master of the start, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi. Behind were Villopoto, Honda Red Bull’s Davi Millsaps, and his teammate Andrew Short. Points leader and reigning Supercross champion, Chad Reed was in 18th position aboard his Rockstar Makita Suzuki, while his nemesis, San Manual Yamaha’s James Stewart was in 11th at the end of the first lap.
Up front the running order remained the same until Lap 7 when Stewart finally made a move on Short after hounding him for three laps which moved him into fourth place. Farther back, Reed was trying to make up from his horrible start and had already positioned his RM-Z450 machine into 13th.
On the next lap, Villopoto charged to the front taking Millsaps with him after Alessi bobbled in the corner. Shortly after Stewart would also find his way past Alessi.
At the halfway point of the race the running order was: Villopoto, Millsaps, Stewart, Alessi, and Short. While Reed circulated in 11th position. For the next few laps Millsaps and Stewart would battle back and forth with both riders routinely trading positon until Stewart took it for good with only four laps to go.
Villopoto would hold onto the lead taking the checkered flag by a margin of almost 8-seconds over Stewart. Millsaps took the final podium position over Alessi. Similar to the Jacksonville round, Short brought home another fifth place with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Josh Grant finishing behind him and Reed salvaging some points in seventh place, his worst finish of the season.
"Tonight was very disappointing," said Reed. "It all fell apart at the start for me and I wasn’t able to recover, I just ran out of laps to do anything about the guys in front."
Reed’s seventh place finish allowed Stewart to take over the points lead with Stewart netting 332 points to Reed’s 329 with only one race left (Salt Lake City) before the season finale in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 2.
Seattle Supercross Race Results:
1. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki KX450F
2. James Stewart, Yamaha YZ450F
3. Davi Millsaps, Honda CRF450R
4. Mike Alessi, Suzuki RM-Z450
5. Andrew Short, Honda CRF450R
6. Josh Grant, Yamaha YZ450F
7. Chad Reed, Suzuki RM-Z450
8. Paul Carpenter, Kawasaki KX450F
9. Ivan Tedesco, Honda CRF450R
10. Kevin Windham, Honda CRF450R
11. Nick Wey, Yamaha YZ450F
12. Heath Voss, Honda CRF450R
13. Thomas Hahn, Kawasaki KX450F
14. Matt Boni, Honda CRF450R
15. Justin Thomas, Honda CRF450R
Supercross Overall Points:
1. James Stewart, 332
2. Chad Reed, 329
3. Andrew Short, 241
4. Josh Grant, 208
5. Kevin Windham, 204
In Supercross Lites motorcycle racing action it was Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey who took the win tonight in
With his win tonight, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey is one step closer to his first ever West Coast Supercross Lites title.
Seattle. The entire 15-lap race was all about Dungey. He led each of the races 15 laps eventually taking the checkered flag some 3-seconds in front of second place finisher Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Morais.
Morais seized control of second place on Lap 3 when he passed Troy Lee Design’s Jake Moss and would hold on to it through the remaining twelve laps. Behind, Geico Powersports Honda Trey Canard moved past Moss taking over third position a few laps later.
For the next few laps the running order was the same with Dungey out in front, followed by Morais, Canard, Moss. Meanwhile, fellow Monster Energy Kawasaki pilot Jake Weimer had begun closing in on Moss and would make the pass on him good for fourth place with only five laps to go.
All five of the front runners would hold onto their position at the end of the race while Troy Lee Design’s Jimmy Albertson ended up acing Motosport’s Kyle Cunningham for sixth and Albertson’s teammate Chris Blose beating out Star Racing Yamaha’s Michael Hall for seventh position.
Seattle Supercross Lites Race Results:
1. Ryan Dungey, Suzuki RM-Z250
2. Ryan Morais, Kawasaki KX250F
3. Trey Canard, Honda CRF250R
4. Jake Weimer, Kawasaki KX250F
5. Jake Moss, Honda CRF250R
6. Kyle Cunningham, Kawasaki KX250F
7. Jimmy Albertson, Honda CRF250R
8. Chris Blose, Honda CRF250R
9. Michael Hall, Yamaha YZ450F
10. Jeff Alessi, Honda CRF250R
11. P.J. Larsen, Kawasaki KX250F
12. Sean Borkenhagen, Honda CRF250R
13. Dan Reardon, Honda CRF250R
14. Alex Martin, Honda CRF250R
15. Derek Costella, Honda CRF250R
Supercross West Coast Lites Overall Points:
1. Ryan Dungey, 160
2. Jake Weimer, 151
3. Ryan Morais, 146
4. Justin Brayton, 103
5. Chris Blose, 95
