The race for the
Monster Energy AMA Supercross title just got a little tighter and a little more interesting with Davi Millsaps’ win at the San Diego round this past weekend. Millsaps became the fourth winner in five rounds with his breakaway performance at Qualcomm Stadium, and thanks to relatively poor finishes by series points leader Ryan Dungey and Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, the point spread between the top three contenders now stands at 10 points, with Dungey topping the standings with 105 points, followed by Josh Hill with 101 and then Villopoto with 95. Meanwhile, Millsaps sits in fourth with 82.
Davi Millsaps moved into fourth place in the series standings with his win at San Diego.
Millsaps’ victory gave him his first podium finish of the year, not to mention his first 450-class Supercross win since topping the Detroit round in 2008. Millsaps also had a win in Atlanta earlier that year, but a series of injuries and illnesses plagued the Georgian for the next two years, keeping him from reaching his full potential. Millsaps’ performance in San Diego is a good indication that he’s healthy and ready to become a factor in the elite class again. After the race he was quick to thank his crew and his wife for believing in him.
“It’s unbelievable to have my whole crew here for this race,” said Millsaps. “They’ve been behind me through all the bad times and they just kept telling me I could win and I was glad to finally get it for them.”
One of the most consistent performers of the series this year has been Josh Hill. The San Manuel
Yamaha rider now has three-straight runner-up finishes and seems to be getting faster with each race.
Josh Hill sits second in points.
“I’m learning every single weekend and I’m getting faster each time I go out,” said Hill. “It’s just a matter of time now, as long as I stay consistent and don’t do anything stupid.”
Meanwhile, Dungey’s run of three-straight podiums, which includes two wins, ended two weekends ago in San Francisco after he crashed spectacularly on his Rockstar Makita
Suzuki while leading the final. His bad luck continued in San Diego, resulting in a crash in the first turn and another crash on the opening lap. Still, the Minnesota-native made an impressive run through the pack on a course that was fairly tough to pass on, eventually ending the race with a sixth-place finish and maintaining his position at the top of the series standings.
Villopoto, winner of the San Francisco round, got a bad start in the San Diego final, but was able to salvage a fourth on his Monster Energy
Kawasaki, and remains a favorite in the title chase.
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Honda rider Andrew Short ran in second place for much of the San Diego race, but suffered a horrific crash over a triple with three laps to go. At this point, Short is still being evaluated to see if any significant injury results from the get-off. It would be a shame to see Short, who currently sits seventh in the standings, miss any rounds. Short entered the San Diego race in fourth overall.
(It was announced since this story went live that Short damaged his lower leg and will be out for six weeks or so – Editor)
Jake Weimer has now won four of the five races held in the West Region Lites division.
In the Lites division, Jake Weimer is the clear-cut leader of the field now, with four wins in five races. GEICO Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard owns the other win, and came into San Diego with high hopes, but fell when he was battling with Weimer early in the race. He fell again later in the race and finished sixth.
Weimer has a head of steam heading into the final three rounds of the West series, but he is not yet ready to celebrate.
“At this point, with my points lead and the way things are winding down, it’s important to be smart,” said Weimer. “It’s always cool to be the fastest guy on the track, but at the end of the day you got to be smart about it.”
