Race Report: Seattle 2011 1



Round 15 of the 2011 Monster Energy Supercross continued the theme of the last several races…an ever-tightening points race at the top, which should lead to one of the most exciting series conclusions ever.


After the night's racing at Qwest Field, Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy Kawasaki) added one more point to his series lead, which is now six over Chad Reed (TwoTwo Motorsports Bel Ray Racing). But the big mover was James Stewart (San Manuel Red Bull Yamaha), who trimmed seven points from his deficit. And by the time you add in Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) who's only one point behind Reed, you now have four riders within nine points of each other, and just two rounds remaining.


450 Main Event



For the second week in a row, Ivan Tedesco (Hart & Huntington/Dodge/Kawasaki) led the 450 class into the first turn, followed by his teammate, Chris Blose, Reed, Stewart, Dungey, and Mike Alessi (Red Bull KTM). Towards the back of the pack there was a bit of carnage, with Austin Stroupe (Valli Motorsports Rockstar Yamaha), Davi Millsaps (Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGRMX), and much to the crowd's disappointment, their local hero, Ryan Villopoto.




Reed made quick work of Tedesco and Blose, and took over the lead early on, but Stewart was also on the move, and he made his way by Reed before lap one was completed. Stewart and Reed ran 1-2 for nearly the rest of the main event.



Kevin Windham (GEICO Powersports Honda) had set the fastest 450 lap time in practice, and he'd settled into third place early on, though he and Alessi battled back and forth…at least before Mike got cross-rutted and crashed right at the mid-point of the main.



Ryan Villopoto was putting in a furious charge after his first turn troubles, and had made it to tenth place after only one lap. He then was picking off a rider a lap for the next four laps, and was already up to sixth. After the main, Villopoto reported, "I can't tell you what happened on the start, but it wasn't a great one. It's just frustrating sometimes when you don't know. There are other times when I know I was late, or I wheelied for sure, and some starts where I can't pinpoint it. I actually went over Austin when he went down. I got stuck on the Tuf Blocks got off there and was on my way."




Ryan Dungey had some troubles of his own on lap one, had dropped all the way to 14th, and was making a methodical climb through the pack.


Near the end of the main, Chad Reed went down, which handed second spot to Windham. Afterward, Reed said, "I don't even know what I did. It kind of looks like I cross-rutted a little bit, I didn't make it clean up onto the table, and then when I tried to drive off of the tabletop, it just caught my pegs and threw me straight out front. I'm pretty bruised up…that one hurt." Chad was able to remount, and hold off Villopoto at the end, hanging onto third spot.



After scoring a second-place finish, Windham was clearly pretty pumped about making his first podium appearance of the season (though he was definitely in contention for a win at Houston before crashing). Following the podium celebration, he said, "I'm just glad to be up there. Honestly, when you go that long without a podium, it kind of feels like a win to be anywhere up there." As for the track, he said, "The Dirt Wurx guys did the best they could to keep this thing going, but they had their work cut out for them today. I think everytime they worked it, it just pumped more water up to the top of the surface. It was a very, very tough race course. One that, with the exception of the fans, you almost wish the skies would have opened up and kind of made it more sloppy, to be honest."




With his win, and some trouble for his competitors, it was a very big win for Stewart. "It was one of the better rides I've had all year. Honestly it was kind of a blur. I had some good lines going, and I was able to do it…not easy, but just kind of take my time and make sure I got the whoops good, and make sure I got the rhythm. I had one sketchy moment over the triple over there. I just full-on bottomed out and came up a little short, but it was awesome. It was just clicking for me."




At the previous round in St. Louis, James had mentioned that he wasn't thinking about the championship. Had that changed after Seattle? "Honestly, I still don't care. Only because I lost a bunch of points in a hurry, and I can gain a whole bunch. My goal is, all I can do is win the race. I'm not going to take anybody out to try and win the championship, I just want to go out there and try and do my thing, and if I win it, I win it. If I don't, I don't. For sure the points are tightening up, and we'll see what happens."


250 Main Event



After the gate dropped in the Lites main event, it was the Troy Lee Designs / Lucas Oil / Honda duo of Cole Seely and Travis Baker leading the way. With Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Tyla Rattray and series points leader Josh Hansen hot on their tails. But as they crossed the finish line for the first time, it was the other member of the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki crew, Broc Tickle, who'd moved into second spot…and Cole Seely slowly pulled away to a comfortable lead.




Kyle Cunningham (DNA Shred Stix / Star Racing / Yamaha) moved by Hansen and into third spot, though Josh appeared to be struggling a bit. A pair of crashes during practice had definitely wounded him a bit. In fact, we hear that he'd bent the crossbar with his chest in one, and had bent the plate in his surgically repaired finger, as well. Cunningham stayed in third until lap six, when he went down, losing four spots in the process. For his part, Hansen eventually finished sixth.


The other rider making a serious charge was GEICO Powersports Honda's Eli Tomac, who'd started in seventh, and had made it to third by lap six, after passing Travis Baker, Tyla Rattray, and Hansen. Then on lap 12, he moved into second, passing Broc Tickle.


While Tickle had to settle for third, the bonus was that moved into the points lead by two, ahead of Josh Hansen. But he still feels like he has some work to do. "I'm a little frustrated with tonight. I'm going to get some riding done these next two weeks and try to loosen up a little bit. I rode way too tight tonight, and struggled a lot. I have two points over Hansen, and seven over Tomac, and it's going to come down to Vegas for sure. I'm just going to have to put my head down. Since I broke my collarbone it's been pretty gnarly. All I've been doing is training and riding and rehab. I'll keep doing that and I'll be ready."




"I've changed a lot in these last two weeks. I'm hungrier than I ever have been."


Seely's win was his second of the season, and first since a stint with American Honda Racing on a 450 as a fill-in rider for Josh Grant. "I got another one under the belt. I've had some ups and downs since L.A., but I finally pulled off another one and I'm pumped."


Did he feel like the time on the 450 had helped him out? "I can relate this track to Indy, so I've very thankful that I got to ride those rounds, and it was a good experience, and this is definitely an East Coast style track. I think it helped, and I'm pumped to pull off a win tonight."


"The main thing was just experience. Seeing how that team operates and we can bring it over here. Just racing those East Coast tracks, compared to what we see on the West Coast, just having that experience along with being on that bike, just makes it that much more intense and that much more I can take from it and gain from the experience."


As for the night's main event, he said, "I think we all know the moment about lap three when I almost threw it all away. But I held onto it and I was pumped I could, and I still made the triple after that. It was definitely longer than the L.A. race because the track was so rutted and I was thankful that I could ride loose and smooth and make it the whole 15 laps."



When it came to the technique for the whoops, he smiled and said, "Lean back and pin it was pretty much the technique. I thought the guys were behind me the whole tie. I couldn't see anyone behind me, so I was like kind of freaking out when lappers would get in my way. I had to double the triple twice, and I almost blew up my bike death-revving at people. It was definitely good when I finally looked back on like lap eight or nine and saw them way back there I was just so pumped that I had a little time to breathe and regain my focus and get through the last couple laps."



With Seattle crossed off the calendar, the series will take a break next weekend for Easter, and reconvene in two weeks in Salt Lake City. We'll be there, so be sure to stop back and get a good look at the action.


Results

2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross

Seattle, WA


Supercross Lites Heat 1


1. Cole Seely

2. Broc Tickle

3. Tyla Rattray

4. Ryan Morais

5. Travis Baker

6. Tommy Weeck

7. Ben Evans

8. Topher Ingalls

9. Tevin Tapia


Supercross Lites Heat 2

1. Josh Hansen

2. Kyle Cunningham

3. Eli Tomac

4. Martin Davalos

5. Nick Paluzzi

6. Gared Steinke

7. Brad Nauditt

8. Preston Mull

9. Travis Bright


Supercross Heat 1

1. James Stewart

2. Andrew Short

3. Mike Alessi

4. Austin Stroupe

5. Kyle Regal

6. Chris Blose

7. Chad Reed

8. Cole Siebler

9. Jason Thomas


Supercross Heat 2

1. Kevin Windham

2. Ryan Villopoto

3. Ryan Dungey

4. Nick Wey

5. Ivan Tedesco

6. Tommy Hahn

7. Tyler Bowers

8. Davi Millsaps

9. Vince Friese


Supercross Lites LCQ

1. Donald Vawser

2. Parker Eckman


Supercross LCQ

1. Michael Byrne

2. Fabien Izoird


Supercross Lites Main Event

1. Cole Seely (Honda)

2. Eli Tomac (Honda)

3. Broc Tickle (Kawasaki)

4. Kyle Cunningham (Yamaha)

5. Tyla Rattray (Kawasaki)

6. Josh Hansen (Kawasaki)

7. Ryan Morais (Suzuki)

8. Martin Davalos (Suzuki)

9. Travis Baker (Honda)

10. Gared Steinke (Kawasaki)

11. Ben Evans (Kawasaki)

12. Topher Ingalls (Honda)

13. Nick Paluzzi (Yamaha)

14. Tommy Weeck (Honda)

15. Preston Mull (Kawasaki)

16. Travis Bright (Honda)

17. Donald Vawser (Kawasaki)

18. Parker Eckmann (Honda)

19. Brad Nauditt (Honda)

20. Tevin Tapia (KTM)


Supercross Main Event

1. James Stewart (Yamaha)

2. Kevin Windham (Honda)

3. Chad Reed (Honda)

4. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)

5. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)

6. Mike Alessi (KTM)

7. Kyle Regal (Yamaha)

8. Davi Millsaps (Yamaha)

9. Tommy Hahn (Yamaha)

10. Andrew Short (KTM)

11. Michael Byrne (Suzuki)

12. Nick Wey (Yamaha)

13. Fabien Izoird (Kawasaki)

14. Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki)

15. Jason Thomas (Suzuki)

16. Vince Friese (Yamaha)

17. Tyler Bowers (Kawasaki)

18. Cole Siebler (Kawasaki)

19. Chris Blose (Kawasaki)

20. Austin Stroupe (Yamaha)


Supercross Lites West Point Standings

1. Broc Tickle 145

2. Josh Hansen 143

3. Eli Tomac 138

4. Cole Seely 113

5. Ryan Morais 110

6. Tyla Rattray 96

7. Kyle Cunningham 89

8. Ken Roczen 83

9. Martin Davalos 82

10. James DeCotis 67


Supercross Point Standings

1. Ryan Villopoto 293

2. Chad Reed 287

3. Ryan Dungey 286

4. James Stewart 284

5. Trey Canard 255

6. Andrew Short 196

7. Kevin Windham 187

8. Davi Millsaps 156

9. Justin Brayton 141

10. Ivan Tedesco 134


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