2011 AMA Supercross Jacksonville Insider

Scientists said that the moon in the sky appeared the biggest in more than 20 years over the past weekend. Based on the crazy night of racing in Round 11 of the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, I tend to agree with that statement. The series was completely turned on its head after the two frontrunners in the standings, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto and San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart, both suffered extreme setbacks in Jacksonville. There were no shortages of gasps from the crowd as crashes led to a shuffling in the standings, pushing the competition even closer as racers now head into the last six rounds.
 
Jacksonville was hot and the weather transformed the track into a dust bowl with water trucks having to constantly rehydrate the surface throughout the day. In typical fashion Stewart dominated both of the timed qualifying sessions, even throwing in a flashy whip at the end to show he was comfortable and having a good time at his home race in Florida. Meanwhile, RV finished his afternoon session with the fifth-best time that was just under a second from Stewart’s best.
 
In the first 450 heat of the evening Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi shot to the front with the holeshot, but he once again proved unable to hold his ground. Later in the contest, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, who secured the second-best time in qualifying, grabbed the lead and went on to win ahead of Honda’s Trey Canard and Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco.
 
Things got interesting and rather ugly in Heat 2, which featured the likes of Villopoto, Stewart and TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed. Stewart managed to slither into the lead after exiting the first turn, and just moments later Villopoto was in the dirt and heading for the LCQ. Stewart would go on to earn the win followed by Reed and KTM’s Andrew Short.

The first indicator that the night’s racing was going to be bizarre took place in the Supercross LCQ. Most expected Villopoto to quickly take the lead and run away with it in order to qualify for the main, but Jacksonville had other plans for RV. Out of the gates and through the first turn Villopoto took another digger. Fans were in shock as the current leader in the series remounted and attempted to get back on the track. His misfortune was compounded when he crashed a second time trying to wheelie across the tuff blocks – making it nearly impossible to recover and qualify for the main. Despite the uphill struggle RV saddled-up and tried as best he could to recover throughout the next six laps. However, frontrunners Fabien Izoird and Kyle Patridge were way out front and too far to reach. This realization quickly set in throughout the stadium while RV gave it his all. Villopoto finished outside the top-two. He wasn’t going on to the main. Insanity.
 
But hold on folks, there’s more. In the main event of the evening Alessi proved to be on fire out of the gates by taking another holeshot. Stewart was just behind the KTM rider and heading through the rhythm section when - Wham! The ’09 champ collided with Matt Goerke and was down in pain. Fans watched breathlessly as Stewart was looked over by the Asterisk medical crew, strapped to a stretcher and carted off the track. Meanwhile Canard had set up a sizeable lead ahead of Reed and Dungey, with Short and Tedesco rounding out the top-five.
 
It was a shock not to have the series’ main contenders in action, but it hardly affected the quality of racing. Things became tense in the main when Reed began making up time on Canard through the whoops. With three laps to go the crowd started getting anxious as Reed came up to Canard’s rear wheel. A squeeze there, a block there, side by side – fans were on their feet as Reed made the pass ahead of Canard. With less than a lap to go and with it all on the line, Canard kicked it into overdrive and made a comeback. Despite an attempt by Reed in the final corner, Canard landed his second win of the season under intense pressure.
 
“I really needed this win,” said Canard. “I can’t tell you enough how much this means to me. I got nervous at one point and looked at the board and realized how close it really was. I put on a fight and it really paid off tonight.”
 
The results thoroughly shook up the standings as Reed moved to within seven points of Villopoto.
 
“The track was tough and slick in some sections,” said Reed. “I played it smart out there, and like I say, anything can happen at any given time. We’ve come a long way and it isn’t over yet.”
 
While Round 11 appeared to give Stewart an advantage with the absence of Villopoto in the main, it ended up costing Stewart big time. No official word has been given on Stewart’s condition, and after failing to earn any points he dropped back to fourth in the standings.
 
Earlier in the evening the Lites class took to the track with Geico Honda’s Justin Barcia becoming the first repeat winner in the East championship. Despite an injured wrist he pulled a strong holeshot ahead of the field and led from start to finish.
 
Trailing the leader in the early laps was Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson and Barcia’s teammate, Blake Wharton. Things got ugly for Wharton, who was tripped-up through the whoops and had to stamp a DNF into his 2011 stats. Following his recent struggles with starts, Wilson maintained a steady pace to finish on the podium in second, a result which left him pleased as the Scotsman continues to search for his second win.
 
By taking his second win Barcia increased his lead in the series to 17 points ahead of Ryan Sipes. Meanwhile, Kawasaki’s Blake Baggett was unable to qualify for the main after crashing in the LCQ. He dropped down two positions in the standings and is now 31 points behind the leader.