Report | Supercross Race (Round 9 – Daytona)

Posted by Rick Riley on Mar 6, 2011 in Motocross Racing News | 0 comments

Ryan Villopoto Strikes Again!!!

For the second consecutive year in the historic race city of Daytona, Ryan Villopoto had what it took to cross first in the main event and extend his overall lead in the standings considerably. It was also his second win in a row this year after winning in Atlanta, and his confidence is at an all-time high- and it shows. Bubba Stewart and his flashy pink dirtbike gear took the holeshot, and was doing  jumps that seemed impossible all night, but a fall on lap four gave RV2 the lead, which he kept for good. Cruising for most of the main event around a track designed by the G.O.A.T. himself, Ricky Carmichael (who has five Daytona wins to his credit), Villopoto looked strong, polished and ready to make 2011 his year for the Supercross title. And though there are plenty of  events left, if he races like he did here in Daytona, he will be hard to beat.

In the Lites division, we may have found a new star, as Blake Baggett captured the 15-lap Lites East Supercross event on a Kawasaki by a margin of 15.073 seconds. Talk about speed! He will certainly be one to keep an eye on going forward, as the East Supercross Lites standings start to take shape. The other big name in the Lites class is Justin Barcia, who did manage to take second while battling a nagging wrist injury. No small feat when you consider the importance of the wrists as it pertains to racing dirtbikes- Jeesh! When Barcia gets to full strength, it’s going to be fun watching these two guys go at it- here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

But the main event is where the true action took place. While Villopoto kept a nice, smooth pace around the track en route to the win, Stewart fell hard and was way back by the time he got back up and racing. His moves and break-neck speed thru the bottom half of the field was a joy to watch, as he eventually ran out of time and finished ninth. If he can stay upright, he’s truly the fastest man in Supercross- but it’s turning out to be a HUGE “if”.  Defending champion Ryan Dungey, who was rocking the super-cool Fox Retro Daytona Gear, continues to be hit with bad luck as he blew a motor in the qualifier and had to scramble the rest of the night. But showing the resolve of a champion, he did manage to get around the main and find the podium again with a third place finish. He came in behind a game Chad Reed, who is no stranger to the podium in Daytona- being a three-time champion of this event himself. He moved thru the pack beautifully in the second half of the main, pushing his Honda hard toward an impressive runner-up finish. Chad Reed has been racing really well of late, not ready to give way to many of the sports young guns, like Trey Canard and Andrew Short. Another exciting tidbit is the early success of Michael Byrne of the Team BTOSports / BBMX Suzuki, who has been back from injury for just two events but looked very fast and fluid out there and finishing a very solid fourteenth. Go Byrner!! But the night belonged to Villopoto, who extended his overall lead and is in the catbird seat for the title as we head into the second half of the season. Let’s take a look at the overall standings:

Supercross Results
1.	Ryan Villopoto	KAW
2.	Chad Reed	HON
3.	Ryan Dungey	SUZ
4.	Andrew Short	KTM
5.	Davi Millsaps	YAM
6.	Justin Brayton	YAM
7.	Kevin Windham	HON
8.	Ken Roczen	KTM
9.	James Stewart	YAM
10.	Mike Alessi	KTM
11.	Ivan Tedesco	KAW
12.	Matt Boni	KAW
13.	Trey Canard	HON
14.	Michael Byrne	SUZ
15.	Nick Wey	YAM
16.	Fabien Izoird	KAW
17.	Tye Simmonds	KTM
18.	Brett Metcalfe	SUZ
19.	C Blose	KAW
20.	Matt Goerke	KAW