Honda’s Davi Millsaps turned in a strong performance at Detroit’s Ford Field, tonight, en route to his second win of this year’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series.
Millsaps passed holeshotter Eric Sorby of the MotoXXX Team on the second lap and then quickly put a full straightaway on the pack, before eventually taking the checkers with two seconds to spare over Kawasaki’s Timmy Ferry. Meanwhile Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Kevin Windham rounded out the podium in third.
Series points leader Chad Reed had a difficult night, and eventually took 12th in the final. In the opening practice session of the day, the San Manuel Yamaha rider went down hard at the end of a rhythm section and was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries to his chest and shoulder. After spending four hours in the emergency room, Reed returned to the track in time for the heat races. Though he was too sore to race, he did make two laps, which made him eligible to use his provisional to get into the main event.
In the final, Reed ran a relatively slow pace but still managed to work his way into 12th, keeping himself in the title hunt ahead of Windham with three rounds to go.
Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill ran a stead pace to finish fourth, while Honda’s Andrew Short was fifth.
“I found some really good lines in practice and got a good start in the main and took care of the rest,” said Millsaps. “It was unfortunate what happened to Chad today but I felt like I rode a good race and really earned it tonight.”
Reed’s injury has drastically tightened the points chase in the AMA Supercross class, with Windham now sitting just 16 points back with three races remaining.
“It will be interesting to see how Chad bounces back from his injury,” said Windham. “It should be an interesting finish in the series. Today was really an emotional roller coaster for me. I came in here 27 points back and after his crash in the first practice it really pulled a 180 for me, and the season.”
In the Lites division, Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto took his third victory of the season after grabbing the holeshot to start the main event.
Boost Yamaha’s Ryan Morais had his best ride of the year with a second while Villopoto’s teammate Kawasaki’s Brendan Jesseman was third.
Like the Supercross class, series points leader Trey Canard had his share of problems too. Canard crashed on lap seven and then had a difficult time restarting his bike, and was only able to salvage a 10th, which reduced his lead to three points in the Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites standings with one race remaining.
“I got off to a bad start this year and put myself in a hole out of the gate,” said Villopoto. “I came around there and saw that (Canard) was down. It was definitely what I needed and it’s good to be down just three points down with one race to go.”
AMA Supercross Class Results
1. Davi Millsaps (Hon)
2. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
3. Kevin Windham (Hon)
4. Josh Hill (Yam)
5. Andrew Short (Hon)
6. Travis Preston (Kaw)
7. David Vuillemin (Suz)
8. Charles Summey (Yam)
9. Heath Voss (Hon)
10. Jason Thomas (Hon)
AMA Supercross Lites Class Results
1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Ryan Morais (Yam)
3. Branden Jesseman (Kaw)
4. Nico Izzi (Suz)
5. Matt Goerke (KTM)
6. Tyler Bowers (Yam)
7. Kyle Partridge (Hon)
8. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
9. Travis Sewell (Suz)
10. Trey Canard (Hon)
