Race Report: Oakland 2011

Supercross returned to the home of the A’s and Raiders, Oakland’s Alameda County Coliseum, for the first time in 27 years on Saturday night, and Broc Tickle (Lites), and James Stewart (Supercross) took the wins.

There had been on-and-off drizzle during the day, but the skies really opened up right before the start of the main events, leaving the track slick, and making visibility tough.

Supercross Class

When the big-bore class blasted off the line, it was Chad Reed (TwoTwo Motorsports Bel Ray Racing) getting the early jump, but a slide in the first sweeper allowed Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy Kawasaki) to move to the inside and grab the early lead ahead of James Stewart (San Manuel Red Bull Yamaha). He ran up front for two laps, but lost the front end in a 180-degree bowl turn, handing the lead to Stewart, and dropping back to fourth after quickly remounting.

The early part of Stewart’s day had been rough, with a pair of crashes in practice, and he’d sat out the last session of the day. But he showed no ill affects, as he led comfortably over the last 18 laps.

There was plenty of action back in the pack, however, as Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) moved from fourth at the start of the race, to second just past the halfway point. But a combination of lapped traffic, and a tenacious Chad Reed, led to him being passed for second right before the checkered flag, and him being pretty upset afterwards. Ryan Villopoto had second crash, but still finished in fourth spot.

Another huge battle was waged between Brett Metcalfe (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), Trey Canard (American Honda Racing), Kevin Windham (GEICO Powersports Honda), and Davi Millsaps (Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGRMX). Davi was running in fifth early in the main, and showing much better speed than in the early part of the season. But Metcalfe put on a good charge from 12th on lap one, and Canard came from even deeper in the field (15th) to work their way into fifth and sixth, respectively. Kevin Windham (GEICO Powersports Honda) was seventh, and while Millsaps slipped to eighth at the end, it was still his best result of the season to date.

In the points chase, things have tightened up, and Stewart now leads the series by just two points over Villopoto.

Lites

GEICO Powersports Honda’s Eli Tomac was the early frontrunner in the Lites main event, and looked ready to capitolize on the opportunity to take his first Supercross win, as he led the first three laps. But a bobble dropped him back to fourth spot, and the lead to Ken Roczen (Red Bull KTM), whose butt patch had an Al Davis quote of, “Just win, baby.”

Unfortunately that wasn’t in the cards for this week, as Lites West series points leader Josh Hansen took the top spot away at the 1/3 mark of the 15-lap main, and he held the top spot for the next four laps, which is when he was passed by his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate, Broc Tickle. Broc held on for the win, his second in the class, and in the process, trimmed Hansen’s lead in the series to a single point.

The podium consisted of Tickle, Hansen and Tomac, who fought his way back to third, while Roczen and Tyla Rattray (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) rounded out the top five.

While the series moves back to Southern California next weekend for the second annual breast cancer awareness and fundraising weekend, we may be in for some additional mud on the pink-tinged race, as the forecast early in the week doesn’t look too promising.

Results

2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross

Oakland, CA

Supercross Lites Heat 1

1. Broc Tickle

2. Ryan Morais

3. Cole Seely

4. Travis Baker

5. Antonio Balbi

6. Nick Paluzzi

7. Kyle Cunningham

8. Martin Davalos

9. Jake Canada

Supercross Lites Heat 2
1. Josh Hansen

2. Eli Tomac

3. Ken Roczen

4. Tyla Rattray

5. Casey Hinson

6. Ben Evans

7. James DeCotis

8. Bruce Rutherford

9. Gared Steinke

Supercross Heat 1
1. James Stewart

2. Trey Canard

3. Davi Millsaps

4. Austin Stroupe

5. Kyle Regal

6. Kyle Chisholm

7. Ivan Tedesco

8. Vince Friese

9. Nick Wey

Supercross Heat 2
1. Justin Brayton

2. Chad Reed

3. Ryan Villopoto

4. Kevin Windham

5. Ryan Dungey

6. Andrew Short

7. Brett Metcalfe

8. Matt Boni

9. Weston Peick

Supercross Lites LCQ
1. Ryan Marmont

2. Scott Champion

Supercross LCQ
1. Chris Blose

2. Dan Reardon

Supercross Lites Main Event
1. Broc Tickle (Kawasaki)

2. Josh Hansen (Kawasaki)

3. Eli Tomac (Honda)

4. Ken Roczen (KTM)

5. Tyla Rattray (Kawasaki)

6. Ryan Morais (Suzuki)

7. Kyle Cunningham (Yamaha)

8. James DeCotis (Honda)

9. Bruce Rutherford (Kawasaki)

10. Ryan Marmont (KTM)

11. Gared Steinke (Yamaha)

12. Ben Evans (Kawasaki)

13. Nick Paluzzi (Yamaha)

14. Jake Canada (Kawasaki)

15. Antonio Balbi (Kawasaki)

16. Martin Davalos (Suzuki)

17. Scott Champion (Kawasaki)

18. Casey Hinson (KTM)

19. Travis Baker (Honda)

20. Cole Seely (Honda)

Supercross Main Event
1. James Stewart (Yamaha)

2. Chad Reed (Honda)

3. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)

4. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)

5. Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki)

6. Trey Canard (Honda)

7. Kevin Windham (Honda)

8. Davi Millsaps (Yamaha)

9. Andrew Short (KTM)

10. Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki)

11. Chris Blose (Kawasaki)

12. Matt Boni (Kawasaki)

13. Vince Friese (Yamaha)

14. Wpei (Yamaha)

15. Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha)

16. Dan Reardon (KTM)

17. Kyle Regal (Yamaha)

18. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)

19. Austin Stroupe (Yamaha)

20. Nick Wey (Yamaha)

Supercross Lites West Point Standings
1. Josh Hansen 88

2. Broc Tickle 87

3. Ryan Morais 70

4. Eli Tomac 69

5. Cole Seely 60

6. Tyla Rattray 58

7. Ken Roczen 49

8. Martin Davalos 45

9. Kyle Cunningham 44

10. James DeCotis 40

Supercross Point Standings
1. James Stewart 92

2. Ryan Villopoto 90

3. Ryan Dungey 78

4. Trey Canard 71

5. Chad Reed 70

6. Brett Metcalfe 55

7. Andrew Short 49

8. Kevin Windham 46

9. Justin Brayton 39

10. Kyle Chisholm 39