Results Sheet: Anaheim 1 2012 7

In anything, whether or not something is a surprise depends on what it is you expect. When the guy with the number-one plate on his bike wins the race, it’s kind of hard to say that it’s a surprise, isn’t it? But if you expected James Stewart, or Ryan Dungey, or Chad Reed, or anybody else to win, then it does seem surprising.

The same goes for the Lites class, but to a lesser degree. Cole Seely won two races last year, so to say that it’s a surprise that he won A1 really only depends on what you expected, because it’s not like it was ever really completely unlikely.

The Anaheim 1 track was really kind of reminiscent of the “throwback races” they’ve had in the past few years, where they throw in some old-school obstacles to try and give the track an older feel. It was a winding track that was good at breaking a racer’s rhythm, and there were a few sections with big, rolling jumps that were not like anything you’d see at a factory test track.

JGR/Toyota/Yamaha’s James Stewart and defending champ Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto were locked together throughout timed qualifying during the daytime at Anaheim 1, with Stewart ultimately putting in a fast lap to top Villopoto’s late in the final qualifying session, and it was a blazing lap – almost 1.3 seconds faster than Villopoto’s. Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey had a lap that put him third, another half second behind Villopoto, and then came Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Brayton and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer – although he was forced to get his time while riding in the B group of racers.

Perennial contender Chad Reed, still racing for his own team at TwoTwo Motorsports, sat eighth in qualifying.

In the Lites qualifying, Star-Valli Rockstar Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes was fastest over Troy Lee Designs Lucas Oil Honda’s Cole Seely, Monster/Dixon Yamaha’s Zach Osborne (who hasn’t raced supercross since 2008), GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac, and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson.

By the time the racers lined up at the gate for the night show, the moisture in the track started coming up, as dew formed everywhere. It was a much different track from practice/qualifying.

Lites Heat 1 saw Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Tyla Rattray grab the early lead, but GEICO Honda’s Wil Hahn made an aggressive move stick early and took over the lead, leading the rest of the way to take the heat win over Rattray, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin, and the TLD/Lucas Oil Honda duo of Cole Seely and Travis Baker.


Heat two was all Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Martin Davalos. Davalos led from the start and held off a late charge by Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson to take the win. Wilson was second over Star-Valli Rockstar Yamaha’s Nico Izzi, Osborne and JDR KTM’s Matt Moss.


To round it out in Lites qualifying, the LCQ was stacked. GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac went down off the start in his heat race, tangling bars with another rider right out of the gate, and didn’t make the main. He was in the LCQ, as was top timed qualifier Ryan Sipes, 2011 Southwick moto winner Gareth Swanepoel, and more. Tomac grabbed the holeshot from the very outside of the gate and never looked back, while Sipes went by Michael Leib to move into the second spot, where he’d finish. Third went to Leib, who finished just in front of Swanepoel, but only Tomac and Sipes continued to the main event.


On to 450 qualifying, the holeshot in heat one went to none other than MotoConcept’s Mike Alessi, who looks like he’s back to his old ways of getting good starts. He was passed early on by Reed, who cruised to the victory, but Alessi held strong in second all the way to the finish, while third went to defending champ Villopoto, who had to come through the field for third. Fourth went to JGR/Toyota/Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps over 450 rookie Ryan Morais (Star-Valli Rockstar Yamaha), fellow 450 rookie Broc Tickle (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Josh Hansen (Dodge Motorsports / Sycuan Casino / Hart & Huntington / Bel Ray Racing Team), newlywed Jimmy Albertson BTOsports.com), and Chris Blose (Motosport.com/TiLube/Foremost Kawasaki).


James Stewart’s winning percentage in his career in heat races is almost perfect. He didn’t disappoint at Angel Stadium. He won his heat race going away after passing his way through the top few riders, including eventual second-place finisher Ryan Dungey. Supercross.com/Honda-backed Andrew Short landed third over Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer, Dodge Motorsports / Sycuan Casino / Hart & Huntington / Bel Ray Racing Team’s Ivan Tedesco, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe, Jeff Ward Racing/DNA Energy’s Josh Grant, GEICO Honda’s Kevin Windham, and Jeff Ward Racing/DNA Energy’s Kyle Chisholm.

Then came the 450cc LCQ, where Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Brayton was the odds-on favorite after a first-turn fall in his heat race forced him into the LCQ. Brayton made short work of this one, but behind him it was pretty dramatic, as Dodge Motorsports / Sycuan Casino / Hart & Huntington / Bel Ray Racing’s Kyle Partridge held second after relinquishing the lead to Brayton, but went down as he began to get pressure from Honda privateer Tommy Hahn. Hahn had worked his way by Motosport.com/TiLube/Foremost Kawasaki’s Nick Wey to grab the spot. Hahn got the final transfer, while Wey finished third, then Aussie Cody Mackie and Star-Valli Rockstar Yamaha’s Austin Stroupe.

The Lites main was the first to go, and predictably it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates at the front early on, with Tyla Rattray leading over Dean Wilson, but Seely wasn’t about to wait around for the favorites to take round one. He worked his way by the leaders and took over, then began pulling away.

Seely led Rattray and Wilson while those two fought off the advances of Wil Hahn, who ended up going down hard and breaking his nose – but still finishing eighth. With him dropping out of the lead battle, eyes turned to his teammate Eli Tomac about halfway through the race, as he had come from way back and was running laptimes significantly faster than the guys in front of him. On the last lap, he caught Wilson, who looked to be almost cruising in third. Wilson couldn’t hold Tomac off, and when he tried, he ended up going off the track and crashing awkwardly over a Tuff Block. It took him a while to get up and running again, and he finished sixth, while Tomac finished third, just behind Tyla Rattray.


Seely took home his third-ever Lites SX win, and carries the points lead into Phoenix next weekend for the first time in his career.

In the 450 class, Ryan Villopoto grabbed the holeshot, and that was that. It was almost alarming how quickly he began to put time on Chad Reed in second place, and before long Reed was coming under pressure from Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey. Those two were joined by James Stewart before long, and Dungey went down. Dungey got back up quickly, though, and caught back up to Stewart, and the Stewart/Dungey/Reed freight train battled it out over second until Stewart went down himself late in the race, handing third to Dungey. Dungey then concentrated on reeling in Reed, but came up just a tad short at the finish.


Still, while Villopoto’s win was impressive (if not kind of boring), Dungey officially scored the first-ever podium for KTM in the 450cc class, ever. And he did it in his first try.

After Stewart’s fall, he struggled with what looked like a bent-up motorcycle and finished sixth, one spot behind Jake Weimer, whose race was an exciting one. Weimer was pressuring Justin Brayton early in the main event, but at the tail end of the top ten, when Weimer made a mistake and went off the track, giving up three or four spots. Weimer was well outside the top ten, but grabbed fifth at the finish, and was again all over Brayton, who finished fourth.

Andrew Short was seventh in his first race for his new race team, and GEICO Honda’s Kevin Windham was eighth, Mike Alessi was ninth, and Dodge Motorsports / Sycuan Casino / Hart & Huntington / Bel Ray Racing Team’s Josh Hansen was 10th.

Results
2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Anaheim, CA

Supercross Lites Heat 1
1.    Wil Hahn
2.    Tyla Rattray
3.    Marvin Musquin
4.    Cole Seely
5.    Travis Baker
6.    Jackson Richardson
7.    Vince Friese
8.    Max Anstie
9.    Billy Laninovich

Supercross Lites Heat 2
1.    Martin Davalos
2.    Dean Wilson
3.    Nico Izzi
4.    Zach Osborne
5.    Matt Moss
6.    Teddy Maier
7.    Jason Anderson
8.    Christian Craig
9.    Ryan Marmont

Supercross Heat 1
1.    Chad Reed
2.    Mike Alessi
3.    Ryan Villopoto
4.    Davi Millsaps
5.    Ryan Morais
6.    Broc Tickle
7.    Josh Hansen
8.    Jimmy Albertson
9.    Chris Blose

Supercross Heat 2
1.    James Stewart
2.    Ryan Dungey
3.    Andrew Short
4.    Jake Weimer
5.    Ivan Tedesco
6.    Brett Metcalfe
7.    Josh Grant
8.    Kevin Windham
9.    Kyle Chisholm

Supercross Lites LCQ
1.    Eli Tomac
2.    Ryan Sipes

Supercross LCQ
1.    Justin Brayton
2.    Tommy Hahn

Supercross Lites Main Event
1.    Cole Seely (Honda)
2.    Tyla Rattray (Kawasaki)
3.    Eli Tomac (Honda)
4.    Marvin Musquin (KTM)
5.    Ryan Sipes (Yamaha)
6.    Dean Wilson (Kawasaki)
7.    Jason Anderson (Suzuki)
8.    Wil Hahn (Honda)
9.    Zach Osborne (Yamaha)
10.    Travis Baker (Honda)
11.    Matt Moss (KTM)
12.    Nico Izzi (Yamaha)
13.    Teddy Maier (Honda)
14.    Billy Laninovich (Honda)
15.    Vince Friese (Honda)
16.    Max Anstie (Honda)
17.    Ryan Marmont (KTM)
18.    Jackson Richardson (Honda)
19.    Martin Davalos (Suzuki)
20.    Christian Craig (Honda)

Supercross Main Event
1.    Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
2.    Chad Reed (Honda)
3.    Ryan Dungey (KTM)
4.    Justin Brayton (Honda)
5.    Jake Weimer (Kawasaki)
6.    James Stewart (Yamaha)
7.    Andrew Short (Honda)
8.    Kevin Windham (Honda)
9.    Mike Alessi (Suzuki)
10.    Josh Hansen (Kawasaki)
11.    Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki)
12.    Broc Tickle (Kawasaki)
13.    Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki)
14.    Kyle Chisholm (Kawasaki)
15.    Ryan Morais (Yamaha)
16.    Davi Millsaps (Yamaha)
17.    Jimmy Albertson (Suzuki)
18.    Chris Blose (Kawasaki)
19.    Josh Grant (Kawasaki)
20.    Tommy Hahn (Honda)