— AMA Monster Energy Supercross – Round 10 – Daytona
— Smarty’s Report
Daytona 450 Class Report: Daytona is kind of like going to bed with Jennifer Hawkins then waking up next to your best mates ugly sister. And I say that with all of the respect in the world for the ugly sisters of mankind but honestly, sometime things just don’t work out as you would hope.
Daytona is where legends are made while at the same time heroes are brought to their knees and there was a little of both in 2013 with Ryan Villopoto coming away with the race win and the series points lead after the star of the series so far Davi Millsaps just couldn’t get his mojo going on the toughest circuit on the calendar.
So let’s start with the…um, start. RV popped out of the first corner only to be confronted with Justin Barcia’s Honda parked in the middle of the track waiting for Villopoto to pass. Why? Barcia got into a tank-slapper leading into the tight left hander and actually jumped over the tuff-boxes and essentially cut the track to take the lead.
Fortunately ol’ ‘Bam-Bam’ Barcia had the sense to let RV and KTM350 mounted Ken Roczen pass before returning to the top three spot ahead of Ryan Dungey, Trey Canard, James Stewart and Chad Reed while Eli Tomac was back in 11th and Millsaps in 13th.
Several corners later RV almost slid out handing the lead to of all people, Ken Roczen who was having a crack at the premier class while the 250SX West series that he is leading is having a break.
Roczen led Barcia and RV for several laps before Villopoto swept to the lead and eventual five second win. At about the same time that RV hit the lead James Stewart hit the ground and fell back to be just inside the top ten and just as Chad Reed found his rhythm his right hand boot caught a tuff box and the Aussie was ripped from his Honda in spectacular fashion.
Now, remember the lap times at Daytona are around 1 minute 20 second plus so the 20 lap main goes on forever and at the halfway mark RV led Barcia, Dungey, Roczen, Canard, Stewart, Reed, Tomac, Brock Tickle and just entering the top ten is championship leader Millsaps.
The final moves were put down in the dying laps with Dungey moving by Barcia while Tomac was dive bombing his way up to fourth place (he almost caught Barcia) and dragging Reed along with him while Canard salvaged sixth after passing the impressive Roczen with just a few laps remaining.
The three Suzuki’s of Stewart, Tickle and Millsaps came across the line to finish off the top ten with Millsaps in particular looking very uncomfortable on the super rutted track, rumor is that he has a knee problem but that has not been confirmed. Stewart claims that he chose the wrong front tyre and couldn’t get comfortable.
With seven rounds remaining Ryan Villopoto is now two points up on Millsaps and 14 points up on Ryan Dungey who always seems to put himself in the championship hunt.
Villopoto was his usual talkative self (NOT) after the race. “It was good, we were a little off in the qualifier but I ripped a great start in the main then I slid out, the berm just kind of went away and I made a mistake, but I was able to get back and pass those guys.”
“The track could have used a little better lighting, man, there were some sections that were really gnarly that they could possibly have maintained throughout the day or before the main,” said RV of the track.
Justin Barcia had this to say. “It was really gnarly, those guys were bad dudes, Ryan and Ryan. But it feels good to be up there with those two guys that have won a lot of championships. I feel pretty good racing with those guys and being on the podium. I beat a lot of good guys tonight, but got beat by two really good guys so it doesn’t feel terribly bad. Track was brutal, rough, gnarly. More like a motocross track with big jumps.”
Daytona – 450SX Results
Main Event: 1. Ryan Villopoto. 2. Ryan Dungey . 3. Justin Barcia . 4. Eli Tomac. 5. Chad Reed . 6. Trey Canard . 7. Ken Roczen . 8. James Stewart . 9. Broc Tickle. 10. Davi Millsaps . 11. Matt Goerke. 12. Andrew Short . 13. Jake Weimer. 14. Les Smith. 15. Josh Hill. 16. Mike Alessi. 17. Ben Lamay. 18. Weston Peick. 19. Phil Nicolett. 20. Justin Brayton.
450SX Points after 10 of 17 Rounds: 1. Ryan Villopoto 202 Pts. 2. Davi Millsaps 200 Pts. 3. Ryan Dungey 188 Pts. 4. Trey Canard 163 Pts. 5. Chad Reed 163 Pts. 6. Justin Barcia 152 Pts. 7. James Stewart 135 Pts. 8. Andrew Short 122 Pts. 9. Justin Brayton 104 Pts. 10. Broc Tickle 99 Pts. 11. Matt Goerke 95 Pts. 12. Mike Alessi 79 Pts. 13. Jake Weimer 78 Pts. 14. Weston Peick 45 Pts. 15. Eli Tomac 40 Pts. 16. Josh Grant 40 Pts. 17. Jimmy Albertson 38 Pts. 18. Kyle Chisholm 38 Pts. 19. Matt Lemoine 34 Pts. 20. Vince Friese 30 Pts.
Daytona 250SX Class Report: Marvin Musquin dominated the 15 lap 250SX main event and did it with style. The former World Motocross Champion was one of the few riders who managed to tame the Daytona track while the championship favorite Dean Wilson was exactly the opposite and went from challenging Musquin for the lead to finishing a distant fourth.
Championship leader Wil Hahn was patient in his approach to Daytona and he moved into second ahead of Wilson at around the ten lap mark and not long after Jeremy Martin put in a strong ride to third place forcing Wilson back to fourth and Blake Wharton in fifth.
Marvin was absolutely wrapped to take his first SX win. “I’ve been dreaming about this, my first win in supercross ever, I had a great day, it was so much fun, it cannot of been any better. I love the sand. I did it, let’s move on to the next race, and see how the championship goes.”
With three rounds remaining Hahn has a five point lead over Wilson and 14 points ahead of Musqin. “Tonight was good. I think I closed a little bit on the practice times. It was close enough. I got a heat win, happy about that. Got a good gate pick for the main. In the main I didn’t get the greatest start, I didn’t get a bad one either. I just tucked on the inside, everyone pushed out. I was just patient tonight. Maybe a little too patient because by the time I got into second Marvin was gone. So hats off to Marvin, he rode awesome. I’m just happy to leave here with a little bit bigger of a lead and keep that red plate on my Honda,” said Hahn after the race.
Aussie Jackson Richardson qualified 29th out of the 58 hopefuls before managing a credible 12th in his heat but the young Queenslander couldn’t make it out for the LCQ while another Aussie Taylor Potter qualified 39th to scraped into the main program before finishing 16th in his heat and 12th in the LCQ.
Arlington – 250SX Results
250SX Main Event: 1. Marvin Musquin. 2. Wil Hahn. 3. Jeremy Martin. 4. Dean Wilson. 5. Blake Wharton. 6. Justin Hill. 7. Kyle Peters. 8. Zack Freeberg. 9. Cole Thompson. 10. Vince Friese. 11. Mitch Oldenburg. 12. James Decotis. 13. Peter Larsen. 14. AJ Catanzaro. 15. Lance Vincent. 16. Brady Kiesel. 17. Daniel Herrlein. 18. Zach Bell. 19. Gavin Faith. 20. Shawn Rife.
250SX East Points after 4 of 7 Rounds: 1. Wil Hahn 92 Pts. 2. Dean Wilson 87 Pts. 3. Marvin Musquin 78 Pts. 4. Blake Wharton 76 Pts. 5. Jeremy Martin 52 Pts. 6. Justin Hill 51 Pts. 7. Vince Friese 50 Pts. 8. Kyle Peters 45 Pts. 9. James Decotis 43 Pts. 10. Gavin Faith 40 Pts 11. Cole Thompson 37 Pts. 12. Mitch Oldenburg 35 Pts. 13. Zach Bell 29 Pts. 14. Lance Vincent 28 Pts. 15. Zack Freeberg 22 Pts. 16. Peter Larsen 19 Pts. 17. AJ Catanzaro 18 Pts. 18. Gareth Swanepoel 13 Pts. 19. Jackson Richardson 11 Pts. 20. Levi Kilbarger 11 Pts.
250SX West Region Point Standings: 1. Ken Roczen 138pts KTM. 2. Eli Tomac 121pts Hon. 3. Cole Seely 95pts Hon. 4. Jason Anderson 88pts Suz. 5. Kyle Cunningham 83pts Yam. 6. Martin Davalos 82pts Kaw. 7. Zach Osborne 82pts Hon. 8. Joey Savatgy 62pts KTM. 9. Christian Craig 62pts Hon. 10. Jessy Nelson 60pts Hon. 11. Tyla Rattray 58pts Kaw. 12. Austin Politelli 57pts Hon. 13. Travis Baker 53pts Yam. 14. Malcolm Stewart 46pts KTM. 15. Max Anstie 38pts Suz. 16. Ryan Sipes 31pts Suz. 17. Josh Cachia 29pts KTM. 18. Jake Canada 21pts Hon. 19. Jean Carlos Ramos 21pts Kaw. 20. Michael Leib 16pts Hon.
Next week the SX riders head back to the stadium tracks and this time is will be the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis that will host round 11.
