Ryan Villopoto styling to another win.

The annual trek to Daytona International Speedway proved once again that there’s nothing quite like the Daytona Supercross by Honda. Once again, Ricky Carmichael was the designer for the track, and this year’s edition was very fast, and as always, very rough. The base material under the infield grass includes lots of sand, and they add in clay for the jumps…giving the riders a variety of surfaces to work with. While the jump faces and landings get some maintenance between races, it’s some of the sections between that get really rough, with nasty kickers and natural whoops that give the riders (and their tuners) a test.

Like the last few years, this one was held at night, with big Musco lighting rigs (like the ones used at the National in Thunder Valley) used to fill in some of the dark spots. Overall, we didn’t hear any complaints from the riders about the visibility. The oddest part of the event? That it was nowhere near the usual Florida springtime temperatures. In fact, it was downright chilly once the sun set. Of course, after the epic monsoon race from a couple seasons back, we’ve come to expect the unexpected from the Speedway.

Ryan Dungey still has a sizable points lead.

This time around, it was a Kawasaki sweep, with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto taking a relatively easy wire-to-wire win in the Supercross class ahead of Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, and Trey Canard taking third in his fill-in role with Honda Red Bull Racing. Villopoto now trails Dungey by 20 points.

It actually took two tries to get the 450 class underway, as Grant Langston suffered a nasty first lap crash, which brought out the red flag. Grant posted up that he will miss some races, but it appears to be nothing too serious.

Chad Reed (Monster Energy Kawasaki) had returned from the broken hand that he suffered in Phoenix to ride practice, but he was also dealing with a new injury…a fractured thumb suffered while practicing last week. The damage is in the last section of his thumb at the end, and doctors had told him that he wouldn’t risk further injury, but he opted to give it some additional time before lining up on the gate again.

Austin Stroupe leads the pack into turn two.

The Lites class provided another Kawasaki winner, with Christophe Pourcel (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) moving past series rival Austin Stroupe (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) about a third of the way through the main event to keep his perfect record for the season intact. He now has three wins in three races, though Stroupe is only nine points behind.

Pourcel’s teammate, rookie Dean Wilson scored his first podium at Daytona, with a third-place finish. He had to work his way past Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, and the two had an intense battle for the final podium spot.

Dean Wilson (108) and Blake Baggett (66) battle for the final podium spot.

Next up? We head north of the border to Toronto, for round ten of the 2010 Monster Energy Supercross series.

Want more from Daytona? Check out Pit Bits, and our huge Photo Blast.

Results
2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Daytona Beach, FL

Supercross Lites Heat 1
 1. Austin Stroupe
2. Darryn Durham
3. Ryan Sipes
4. Dean Wilson
5. Kyle Keylon
6. Troy Adams
7. Josh Lichtle
8. Levi Kilbarger
9. Michael Willard

Supercross Lites Heat 2
 1. Christophe Pourcel
2. Brett Metcalfe
3. Justin Barcia
4. Kyle Cunningham
5. Nico Izzi
6. Blake Baggett
7. Jake Moss
8. James DeCotis
9. Alex Martin

Supercross Heat 1
 1. Ryan Dungey
2. Kyle Chisholm
3. Kevin Windham
4. Justin Brayton
5. Grant Langston
6. Davi Millsaps
7. Ivan Tedesco
8. Chris Blose
9. Matt Boni

Supercross Heat 2
 1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Trey Canard
3. Josh Hill
4. Tommy Hahn
5. Nick Wey
6. Michael Byrne
7. Ryan Morais
8. Manuel Rivas Gomez
9. Jarred Browne

Supercross Lites LCQ
 1. Martin Davalos
2. Vince Friese

Supercross LCQ
 1. Jason Thomas
2. Heath Voss

Supercross Lites Main Event
 1. Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki)
2. Austin Stroupe (Suzuki)
3. Dean Wilson (Kawasaki)
4. Blake Baggett (Suzuki)
5. Justin Barcia (Honda)
6. Ryan Sipes (Yamaha)
7. Brett Metcalfe (Honda)
8. Darryn Durham (Honda)
9. Kyle Cunningham (Honda)
10. Martin Davalos (Yamaha)
11. Vince Friese (Yamaha)
12. Alex Martin (Honda)
13. Nico Izzi (Yamaha)
14. James DeCotis (Honda)
15. Josh Lichtle (Yamaha)
16. Jake Moss (Suzuki)
17. Troy Adams (Suzuki)
18. Kyle Keylon (Suzuki)
19. Michael Willard (Honda)
20. Levi Kilbarger (Honda)

Supercross Main Event
 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
2. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)
3. Trey Canard (Honda)
4. Kevin Windham (Honda)
5. Davi Millsaps (Honda)
6. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki)
7. Nick Wey (Kawasaki)
8. Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha)
9. Josh Hill (Yamaha)
10. Ryan Morais (Suzuki)
11. Jarred Browne (Kawasaki)
12. Michael Byrne (Yamaha)
13. Matt Boni (Honda)
14. Jason Thomas (Suzuki)
15. Manuel Rivas Gomez (Kawasaki)
16. Heath Voss (Honda)
17. Chris Blose (Honda)
18. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)
19. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha)
20. Grant Langston (Yamaha)

Supercross Lites East Point Standings
 1. Christophe Pourcel 75
2. Austin Stroupe 66
3. Dean Wilson 53
4. Brett Metcalfe 50
5. Blake Baggett 44
6. Justin Barcia 39
7. Ryan Sipes 39
8. Nico Izzi 30
9. Vince Friese 29
10. Jake Moss 27
11. Kyle Cunningham 26
12. Kyle Regal 24
13. Martin Davalos 23
14. Levi Kilbarger 21
15. Troy Adams 15

Supercross Point Standings
 1. Ryan Dungey 192
2. Ryan Villopoto 172
3. Josh Hill 162
4. Davi Millsaps 150
5. Kevin Windham 131
6. Justin Brayton 124
7. Ivan Tedesco 117
8. Nick Wey 99
9. Kyle Chisholm 82
10. Michael Byrne 80
11. Tommy Hahn 76
12. Andrew Short 69
13. Grant Langston 67
14. Chris Blose 64
15. James Stewart 51