Honda's Trey Canard (No. 41) overcame a late pass by Chad Reed to claim his second win of 2011. James Stewart (below) was left in a world of hurt after crashing out in the first lap.
Without a cloud in the sky and under a full moon the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series took an unexpected turn with Honda’s Trey Canard claiming top honors ahead of TwoTwo Motorsports' Chad Reed and Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey. The Lites class was led by Geico Powersports Honda’s Justin Barcia, who achieved his second-win of the season in front of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson and Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes.
Supercross
Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi nabbed the holeshot in the Supercross main with San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart colliding hard in the first rhythm section with Matt Goerke. The race was already minus Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto, who failed to qualify after a hard crash in the LCQ. Canard quickly overtook Alessi for the lead followed by Reed, JGRMX Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps and Dungey. Alessi’s KTM teammate, Andrew Short, jumped into fourth ahead of Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco, while Stewart was being transported off the track on a stretcher.
More than halfway into the competition Canard continued his lead as the three-frontrunners remained unchanged. Cole Seely, who filled in for the injured Josh Grant, was running 17th with five laps left. Meanwhile Reed began picking up his pace and making gains on Canard. The leader especially lost time in the whoops, allowing Reed to get right up on Canard’s rear wheel. On Lap 18 Reed charged into the lead, but Canard didn’t give up easily and less than a lap later Canard was back up front. In the end Canard would claim his second victory of the season in dramatic fashion.
“I thought I did really well for the first 10 or 12 laps,” said Canard. “Luckily when Chad [Reed] got around me I just stayed in it and was able to turn it up in the last couple of laps.”
Reed came in runner-up, with Dungey once again rounding out the top-three.
“The race went pretty good,” said Dungey. “Coming into the main event after winning the heat race felt good and we just tried to carry that momentum. I came into the first turn and wasn’t in the front yet. I tried to make as many passes as I could and got into third. At that point I just tried to make up as much time as I could on the leaders, but made a pretty big mistake and shuffled back a little bit. All in all it was a great night.”
After crashing hard and failing to finish the race Stewart dropped down to fourth in the series. The event also witnessed RV fail to make the main event, resulting in his lead being cut down to just seven points over Reed.
2011 AMA Supercross Jacksonville Results:
1. Trey Canard (Honda)
2. Chad Reed (Honda)
Jacksonville Supercross podium (from left to right): Chad Reed, Trey Canard and Ryan Dungey.
3. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)
4. Kevin Windham (Honda)
5. Andrew Short (KTM)
6. Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki)
7. Mike Alessi (KTM)
8. Austin Stroupe (Yamaha)
9. Nick Wey (Yamaha)
10. Chris Blose (Kawasaki)
11. Fabian Izoird (Kawasaki)
12. Michael Byrne (Suzuki)
13. Jason Thomas (Suzuki)
14. Jarred Borwne (Yamaha)
15. Cole Seely (Honda)
2011 AMA Supercross Championship Points:
1. Ryan Villopoto, 221
2. Chad Reed, 214
3. Ryan Dungey, 203
4. James Stewart, 198
5. Trey Canard, 194
6. Andrew Short, 145
7. Justin Brayton, 121
8. Kevin Windham, 121
9. Davi Millsaps, 118
10. Brett Metcalfe, 107
Supercross Lites
Honda's Justin Barcia also made it his second win of the season ahead of Dean Wilson and Ryan Sipes.
Barcia snared the holeshot in the Lites main with a major crash taking place in the first straight that involved Suzuki City’s Malcolm Stewart. Barcia was followed by Wilson, Geico Honda’s Blake Wharton and Sipes. Kawasaki’s Matt Lemoine rounded out the top-five riders in the first few laps as Barcia continued posting consistent lap times ahead of the field. On Lap 4 Wharton hit the dirt while running through the whoops, dropping back to 17th. Despite Barcia’s wrist injury, the Honda rider managed to create a decent gap between himself and Wilson. Meanwhile, Sipes began falling off the pace of the two frontrunners.
In the final laps Wilson encountered struggles with lappers, dropping further away from Barcia. With the white flag out Barcia was leading by more than six seconds. He eventually claimed the win ahead of Wilson, who rode steadily despite being unable to match Barcia’s pace.
“I had a really tough day out there today and really had to push it," said Barcia. “The whoops were gnarly. I plan on going home and building some big whoops at home to get more practice on them. I’m just pumped to win tonight.”
“I wanted to win tonight, but I am happy to take second,” said Wilson. “I got some work cut out for me this upcoming week.”
Sipes rounded out the podium in third following his win last week in Indianapolis, with Lemoine and KTM’s P.J. Larsen rounding out the top-five.
2011 AMA Supercross Lites Jacksonville Results:
1. Justin Barcia (Honda)
2. Dean Wilson (Kawasaki)
3. Ryan Sipes (Yamaha)
4. Matt Lemoine (Kawasaki)
5. P.J. Larsen (KTM)
Kawasaki's Dean Wilson claimed second in the order behind Barcia in JAX.
6. Darryn Durham (Honda)
7. les Smith (Honda)
8. Taylor Futrell (Honda)
9. Hunter Hewitt (Suzuki)
10. Justin Sipes (Kawasaki)
11. Lance Vincent (Honda)
12. AJ Catanzaro (Honda)
13. Kyle Keylon (Suzuki)
14. Sean Lipanovich (Suzuki)
15. Bradley Ripple (Honda)
2011 AMA Supercross Lites Championship Points:
1. Justin Barcia, 116
2. Ryan Sipes, 99
3. Dean Wilson, 97
4. Blake Baggett, 85
5. Blake Wharton, 69
6. Matt Lemoine, 69
7. P.J. Larsen, 62
8. Malcolm Stewart, 53
9. Jason Anderson, 44
10. Lance Vincent, 43
