While this was the first visit for the Monster Energy Supercross series to iconic Dodger Stadium, it’s not exactly a new venue…they’ll be celebrating their 50th anniversary next year. But in the meantime, everyone struggled to find their way around the new venue, and figure out the parking, seating, and pit areas. As for the riders, they were busy working on figuring out the track surface, which has been used in the past for the X Games. It proved to pack up hard and score some blue groove, much like their own training facilities. But it also got slick as the evening moisture came in, and that proved challenging.
Supercross Class
Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) and Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy Kawasaki) had shown their speed in the qualifiers, taking their respective heat races, while James Stewart (San Manuel Red Bull Yamaha) had overshot the first turn after grabbing the holeshot in his qualifier. We also had the scariest moment of the night, as Trey Canard (American Honda Racing) had a gnarly cartwheeling crash in a rhythm section. Fortunately he got up okay.
When the gate dropped for the main event, it was Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe who jumped out front, leading the first lap, and followed by his teammate, Ryan Dungey. But a crash set Metcalfe to midpack, , and at the end of lap two, it was Dungey, Stewart, Kevin Windham (GEICO Powersports Honda), Justin Brayton (Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGRMX), and Trey Canard (American Honda Racing). The guy on the move however, was Villopoto, who was ninth at the end of lap one, sixth, on lap two, and fifth on lap three.
The first big move of the race came on lap three, as Stewart took over the lead from Dungey. In the past, at that point some fans would have started to head for the exits, but that was just the start of the action. Dungey kept things close, and James wasn’t looking quite as smooth as usual. In fact, by lap six, when Villopoto joined the group, things were downright close between the three.
Villopoto worked his way past Dungey on lap nine, and was right on Stewart’s tail on lap 11 when he washed out the front end in a bowl turn. From there it was all Villopoto. Canard came up and swapped spots with Dungey for a couple laps, but finally slipped to fourth after a resurgent Stewart got by the Honda rider on lap 13…and then Dungey on lap 16…and that’s how they finished. Villopoto in first, Stewart second, and Dungey third.
Afterwards, Villopoto was beaming, Stewart was clearly mad that he’d let the opportunity for another win get away, and we’d guess that while he’s still not satisfied, Dungey is a lot closer to being on his game than we’d seen at the first couple rounds. This is getting good.
Supercross Lites Class
The Lites main event was an easy one for one rider...Cole Seely. He holeshot and led from wire aboard his Troy Lee Designs / Lucas Oil / Honda. For everyone else, however, it was a lot more work. Series points leader Josh Hansen (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) was also running up front early, but stalled his bike early in the main, dropping him to the tail end of the field. That left Eli Tomac (GEICO Powersports Honda), Ken Roczen (Red Bull KTM), and Kyle Cunningham (DNA Shred Stix / Star Racing / Yamaha) to battle it out behind him. That worked okay until Cunningham dove inside on the 180-degree turn before the finish, as Roczen was already finishing his turn and heading down the bowl. The collision sent both riders sprawling, and Martin Davalos (Rockstar Energy Suzuki) went down while trying to avoid them.
Meanwhile, Seely and Tomac continued to click off laps up front, but the guys to watch were in the rear of the field. Josh Hansen carved his way from 19th or so to fifth at the end. Ryan Morais (Rockstar Energy Suzuki) moved his way into fourth after a strong middle portion of the race to nail the final spot on the podium, and was pressuring Tomac hard at the end. Ken Roczen came back from his incident to score a sixth.
After sweeping the podium at the first round, and having two riders on there in Phoenix, this was the first round this season where there were no Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki riders. The top finisher there was Broc Tickle, who was fourth. That also narrowed the gap between Tickle and Hansen to a mere four points.
We’ll continue this next week, as the series moves to Oakland’s Coliseum.
Results
2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Los Angeles, CA
Supercross Lites Heat 1
1. Josh Hansen
2. Cole Seely
3. Ryan Morais
4. Broc Tickle
5. Antonio Balbi
6. Casey Hinson
7. Travis Baker
8. Scott Champion
9. Daniel Blair
Supercross Lites Heat 2
1. Martin Davalos
2. Ken Roczen
3. Eli Tomac
4. Nick Paluzzi
5. James DeCotis
6. Kyle Cunningham
7. Cody Gilmore
8. Jake Canada
9. Travis Bright
Supercross Heat 1
1. Ryan Dungey
2. Kevin Windham
3. Chad Reed
4. Ivan Tedesco
5. Austin Stroupe
6. Kyle Chisholm
7. Nick Wey
8. Mike Alessi
9. Jason Thomas
Supercross Heat 2
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Justin Brayton
3. Tommy Hahn
4. James Stewart
5. Kyle Regal
6. Davi Millsaps
7. Andrew Short
8. Tye Simmonds
9. Brett Metcalfe
Supercross Lites LCQ
1. Tyla Rattray
2. Ryan Marmont
Supercross LCQ
1. Trey Canard
2. Chris Blose
Supercross Lites Main Event
11. Cole Seely (Honda)
12. Eli Tomac (Honda)
13. Ryan Morais (Suzuki)
14. Broc Tickle (Kawasaki)
15. Josh Hansen (Kawasaki)
16. Ken Roczen (KTM)
17. Ryan Marmont (KTM)
18. James DeCotis (Honda)
19. Nick Paluzzi (Yamaha)
20. Kyle Cunningham (Yamaha)
21. Martin Davalos (Suzuki)
22. Travis Baker (Honda)
23. Antonio Balbi (Kawasaki)
24. Tyla Rattray (Kawasaki)
25. Daniel Blair (Kawasaki)
26. Travis Bright (Honda)
27. Jake Canada (Kawasaki)
28. Casey Hinson (KTM)
29. Scott Champion (Kawasaki)
30. Cody Gilmore (Kawasaki)
Supercross Main Event
1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
2. James Stewart (Yamaha)
3. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)
4. Trey Canard (Honda)
5. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)
6. Kevin Windham (Honda)
7. Chad Reed (Honda)
8. Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki)
9. Andrew Short (KTM)
10. Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha)
11. Nick Wey (Yamaha)
12. Austin Stroupe (Yamaha)
13. Davi Millsaps (Yamaha)
14. Chris Blose (Kawasaki)
15. Tye Simmonds (KTM)
16. Kyle Regal (Yamaha)
17. Mike Alessi (KTM)
18. Jason Thomas (Suzuki)
19. Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki)
20. Tommy Hahn (Yamaha)
Supercross Lites West Point Standings
1. Josh Hansen 66
2. Broc Tickle 62
3. Cole Seely 59
4. Ryan Morais 55
5. Eli Tomac 49
6. Tyla Rattray 42
7. Martin Davalos 40
8. Travis Baker 35
9. Ken Roczen 32
10. Nick Paluzzi 30
Supercross Point Standings
1. Ryan Villopoto 72
2. James Stewart 67
3. Ryan Dungey 58
4. Trey Canard 56
5. Chad Reed 48
6. Brett Metcalfe 39
7. Andrew Short 37
8. Justin Brayton 36
9. Kyle Chisholm 33
10. Kevin Windham 32
1/23/2011 8:39pm
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