Monster Energy Supercross: Toronto 2010

Ryan Villopoto leads Davi Millsaps and Kevin Windham during their heat race. Click any image for a larger version.

Ready for a trip north of the border? And maybe more importantly, the way to put the “world” in FIM World Supercross Championship? Yep, it’s the annual run to Toronto for the tenth round of the Monster Energy Supercross series for 2010.

While the last two visits here had featured a track that appeared to constructed of something that more closely resembled Playdough, this time around it wasn’t nearly as spongy or rutted. Instead, it was harder, had more than its fair share of rocks (of all sizes), and made for a tough test to see who could adapt.

The heat races in the Supercross class didn’t provide any real big surprises. The two riders atop the standings, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto each took their respective heat win, and for now, nearly everyone is focused on those two as the riders who’ll duke it out for the title. Despite a win last week, Villopoto was still looking at a 20-point deficit as they lined up for the main event, but he was also looking to trim the lead.

Trey Canard grabbed a huge holeshot and led a lap before Ryan Villopoto moved by.

However, Trey Canard is on his own program, while he fills in at Honda Red Bull Racing for an injured Andrew Short, and he’s been taking maximum advantage of the opportunity. This week he nailed a monster holeshot in the main event, and jumped out front with Villopoto and Dungey hot on his heels. It was apparent that Villopoto wanted to get around Canard in a hurry, and he put in an early charge to make his way by that had him in the lead after lap one. It took Dungey another four laps to get by Canard (after showing him a few wheels in corners) and that was pretty much the difference. By then Villopoto had stretched out a comfortable lead, and from there he rode it out to his fifth win of the season. Make it Villopoto, Dungey and Canard for the podium.

Kevin Windham scored fifth in Toronto.

The biggest change was probably Davi Millsaps (Honda Red Bull Racing), who was running in fourth for much of the race, but crashed out at around the three-quarter mark in the race. Ivan Tedesco (Valli Motorsports Rockstar Yamaha) finished in fourth spot, with Kevin Windham moving from midpack at the start, to grab fifth. Sixth through tenth went to Josh Hill (San Manuel / Yamaha / JSE), Nick Wey (TiLube / Babbit’s Kawasaki), Tommy Hahn (Rockstar Energy Suzuki), Justin Brayton (JGRMX Toyota/Muscle Milk/Yamaha), and Matt Boni (Rockstar/Hart & Huntington). That’s a solid comeback for Boni, who’d had a seriously rough start to his season.

Ryan Dungey was second here, and still leads by 17 points.

In the Lites class there was no shortage of drama. Christophe Pourcel (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) and Justin Barcia (GEICO Powersports Honda) had already reacquainted themselves in the heat race, when Pourcel put an aggressive pass on Barcia. Depending on whether you asked Barcia (“He was trying to kill me”) or Pourcel (“It was clean”) you got a different version, but no one hit the deck, and to us it was just a good, solid racing move…but it also set the stage for the main event.

Christophe Pourcel moves his way around Justin Barcia in the heat race.

When the gate dropped, it was Barcia jumping out to the early lead, with Austin Stroupe (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), and Dean Wilson (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) in tow. Pourcel was fourth, and he had chided himself after Atlanta for not being aggressive enough in passing his teammate early in the race. He made up for it this time around, nudging his way by early, and moving into the top three.

The Lites class heads towards turn one, and Justin Barcia (GEICO Powersports Honda) scored the holeshot.

Barcia was already starting to stretch out a lead when he snagged a Tuf Block on his footpeg in a sand section. That allowed Stroupe and Pourcel to catch back up, but it also looked like he might suffer the same misfortune as Josh Grant at A1 in 2009…with the cover wrapping itself in his rear wheel. Luckily for Barcia it managed to untangle itself from the peg before causing any issue.

Barcia picked up a race souvenir. Fortunately, it shed itself from his bike before it became one that dropped him out of the lead.

Pourcel caught a Tuf Block cover of his own later in the race, but after nearly coming to a stop, he made sure his didn’t hang out for long. But it also didn’t help him extend his three-win streak, or his points lead.

Barcia hung on for the win, despite a late-race off-track excursion that probably raised his pulse rate, and he was followed across the line by Stroupe (with his fourth straight second-place finish), and Pourcel, who looked rather disgusted. His points lead has now been trimmed to seven points, but there’s a 24-point gap back to his teammate, in third.

Austin Stroupe has four straight second-place finishes, and he's looking for that first win.

Dean Wilson finished in fourth spot, while Ryan Sipes (MotoConcepts Yamaha) was fifth. Six through tenth was Brett Metcalfe (GEICO Powersports Honda), Kyle Cunningham (Valli Motorsports Rockstar Yamaha), Troy Adams (BTOSports.com/BBMX/Palmetto Suzuki), Michael Willard (Honda of Troy), and Nico Izzi (DNA Shred Stix / Star Racing / Yamaha).

In doing a little poking around, it sounds a little unclear whether we’ll return to Toronto in 2011, though it does sound for sure that we’ll make a trip north of the border. Montreal? Vancouver? Or a new venue? That remains to be seen.

We’ll be back in the U.S next weekend, making a first trip to the new stadium in Dallas, and that should be rather spectacular, just like the rest of the racing this season.

Want more from the weekend? Click here for the Vital MX Pit Bits from Toronto, or here for the Photo Blast from the Monster Energy Supercross in Toronto.

Results

2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Supercross Lites Heat 1

1. Dean Wilson

2. Martin Davalos

3. Kyle Cunningham

4. Ryan Sipes

5. Nico Izzi

6. Levi Kilbarger

7. Blake Baggett

8. Vince Friese

9. Michael Willard

Supercross Lites Heat 2
1. Austin Stroupe

2. Justin Barcia

3. Matt Lemoine

4. Troy Adams

5. Christophe Pourcel

6. Taylor Futrellt

7. James DeCotis

8. Steven Clarke

9. Adam Chatfield

Supercross Heat 1
1. Ryan Villopoto

2. Davi Millsaps

3. Kevin Windham

4. Ivan Tedesco

5. Tommy Hahn

6. Chris Blose

7. Jason Thomas

8. Casey Hinson

9. Teddy Parks

Supercross Heat 2
1. Ryan Dungey

2. Josh Hill

3. Trey Canard

4. Kyle Chisholm

5. Michael Byrne

6. Matt Boni

7. Nick Wey

8. Weston Peick

9. Justin Keeney

Supercross Lites LCQ
1. Brett Metcalfe

2. Jake Moss

Supercross Lites Main Event
1. Justin Barcia (Honda)

2. Austin Stroupe (Suzuki)

3. Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki)

4. Dean Wilson (Kawasaki)

5. Ryan Sipes (Yamaha)

6. Brett Metcalfe (Honda)

7. Kyle Cunningham (Yamaha)

8. Troy Adams (Suzuki)

9. Michael Willard (Honda)

10. Nico Izzi (Yamaha)

11. Vince Friese (Yamaha)

12. Adam Chatfield (Kawasaki)

13. Taylor Futrell (KTM)

14. Levi Kilbarger (Honda)

15. Martin Davalos (Yamaha)

16. James DeCotis (Honda)

17. Steven Clarke (Suzuki)

18. Jake Moss (Suzuki)

19. Blake Baggett (Suzuki)

20. Matt Lemoine (Suzuki)

Supercross Main Event
1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)

2. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)

3. Trey Canard (Honda)

4. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha)

5. Kevin Windham (Honda)

6. Josh Hill (Yamaha)

7. Nick Wey (Kawasaki)

8. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki)

9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)

10. Matt Boni (Honda)

11. Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha)

12. Michael Byrne (Yamaha)

13. Chris Blose (Honda)

14. Jason Thomas (Suzuki)

15. Weston Peick (Yamaha)

16. Teddy Parks (Kawasaki)

17. Justin Keeney (Kawasaki)

18. Casey Hinson (Honda)

19. Davi Millsaps (Honda)

20. Jarred Browne (Kawasaki)

21. Jake Oswald (Honda)

22. Adam Martin (Kawasaki)

23. Ryan Morais (Suzuki)

Supercross Lites East Point Standings
1. Christophe Pourcel 95

2. Austin Stroupe 88

3. Dean Wilson 71

4. Brett Metcalfe 65

5. Justin Barcia 64

6. Ryan Sipes 55

7. Blake Baggett 46

8. Nico Izzi 41

9. Kyle Cunningham 40

10. Vince Friese 39

11. Jake Moss 30

12. Martin Davalos 29

13. Troy Adams 28

14. Levi Kilbarger 28

15. Michael Willard 27

Supercross Point Standings
1. Ryan Dungey 214

2. Ryan Villopoto 197

3. Josh Hill 177

4. Davi Millsaps 152

5. Kevin Windham 147

6. Justin Brayton 136

7. Ivan Tedesco 135

8. Nick Wey 113

9. Kyle Chisholm 92

10. Tommy Hahn 89

11. Michael Byrne 89

12. Chris Blose 72

13. Andrew Short 69

14. Grant Langston 66

15. Trey Canard 63