Villopoto Dominates Daytona Supercross

Kit Palmer | March 6, 2010

Ryan Villopoto made it a Kawasaki sweep at tonight’s Daytona Supercross. After watching Christophe Pourcel win the Lites main event, Villopoto, on Monster Energy Kawasaki, came out swinging in the 450 final – twice. Villopoto got out in front early only to have to do it again when the race was red-flagged before the first lap was over because of a heavy crash suffered by J-Law Racing’s Grant Langston. Langston needed medical attention after clipping the top of a jump and going over the bars. His condition is not known at the moment, other than he did wave to the crowd and was talking when he was carried off the track and into the ambulance. It is believed he hit his head in the fall and is expected to be okay.Villopoto repeated his holeshot on the restart and never looked back. He led all 20 laps and took the checkered flag 4.5 seconds ahead of series points leader Ryan Dungey on the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki.”I had a great start, even better on the second go-around,” Villopoto said. “I felt good tonight. I came in here with 20 points to make up, so it’s all or nothing now.”For Dungey, the race was decided in the first couple of laps. He came out of the first turn in third place, right behind Josh Hill on the San Manuel Yamaha. While he fought to get around Hill, Villopoto managed to slip away and open up a quick five-second lead. Dungey finally got around Hill on lap three, but the damage was already done. Dungey managed to eat away a couple of seconds on Villopoto, but, in general, the two rider was basically maintaining the same speed. The closest Dungey ever got to Villopoto was about three seconds, but the gap usually stayed around in the four-second range.”I didn’t get a great start; I had my work cut out for me,” Dungey said. “You can’t come from behind like that – I had to go his pace and more.”Both Villopoto and Dungey pulled well clear of the third-place rider Trey Canard who is temporarily filling in for Andrew Short on the Red Bull factory Honda. Canard started in fourth, and then took over third when Hill started to drop back. By that time, the two front runners were long gone.Red Bull Honda’s Davi Millsaps was charging after getting off to a bad start. He worked his way into fourth and had Canard in his sights when his slid out in a turn during the second half of the race, allowing Kevin Windham, on the GEICO Powersports Honda, to catch him. The two Honda riders then engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the rest of the race with Windham coming out on top. He finished fourth and Millsaps fifth.Sixth went to Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn, followed by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Nick Wey, TiLube/Babbitts Yamaha’s Kyle Chisholm, Hill and Ryan Morias, who is now filling in for injured Matt Moss on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki.Valli Motorsports Yamaha’s Ivan Tedesco DNF’ed after colliding with Justin Brayton and injuring his hand early in the race.J-Law Racing’s Jason Lawrence did not race after getting banged up in a fall during practice.Another non-starter was Chad Reed who was hoping to make tonight his return. He rode practice and qualified quickest in the 450 class, but chose not to ride in the main, feeling that he just wasn’t ready to race. He will try again next week at Toronto.Daytona International SpeedwayDaytona Beach, FloridaResults: March 6, 2010 (Round 9 of 16)HEAT 1 (8 laps, 1-9 transfer): 1. Ryan Dungey (Suz); 2. Kyle Chisholm (Yam); 3. Kevin Windham (Hon); 4. Justin Brayton (Yam); 5. Grant Langston (Yam); 6. Davi Millsaps (Hon); 7. Ivan Tedesco (Yam); 8. Chris Blose (Hon); 9. Matt Boni (Hon); 10. Ryan Marshall (Kaw); 11. Bradley Ripple (Hon); 12. Kyle Partridge (Kaw); 13. Billy (Hon); 14. Branden Jesseman (Kaw); 15. Jeff Loop (Kaw); 16. Teddy Parks (Kaw); 17. Travis Bannister (Kaw); 18. Justin Keeney (Kaw); 19. Casey Hinson (Hon); 20. Ryan Clark (Hon).Race Time: 8 min., 50.192 sec.Margin of Victory: 4.204 sec.HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-9 transfer): 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw); 2. Trey Canard (Hon); 3. Josh Hill (Yam); 4. Tommy Hahn (Suz); 5. Nick Wey (Kaw); 6. Michael Byrne (Yam); 7. Ryan Morais (Suz); 8. Manuel Rivas (Kaw); 9. Jarred Jet Browne (Kaw); 10. Weston Peick (Yam); 11. Dan Reardon (Yam); 12. Heath Voss (Hon); 13. Jason Thomas (Suz); 14. Robert Fitch (Kaw); 15. James Povolny (Kaw); 16. Jacob Saylor (Kaw); 17. Cole Siebler (Hon); 18. Billy Ainsworth (Kaw); 19. Chad Reed (Kaw); 20. Jason Lawrence (Yam).Race Time: 8 min., 45.227 sec.Margin of Victory: 1.987 sec.LCQ (6 laps, 1-2 transfer): 1. Jason Thomas (Suz); 2. Heath Voss (Hon); 3. Bradley Ripple (Hon); 4. Robert Fitch (Kaw); 5. Billy Payne (Hon); 6. Justin Keeney (Kaw); 7. Dan Reardon (Yam); 8. Robert Marshall (Kaw); 9. Weston Peick (Yam); 10. James Povolny (Kaw); 11. Jeff Loop (Kaw); 12. Ryan Clark (Hon); 13. Teddy Parks (Kaw); 14. Cole Siebler (Hon); 15. Jacob Saylor (Kaw); 16. Billy Ainsworth (Kaw); 17. Kyle Partridge (Kaw); 18. Travis Bannister (Kaw); 19. Branden Jesseman (Kaw); 20. Chad Reed (Kaw); 21. Casey Hinson (Hon); 22. Jason Lawrence (Yam).Race Time: 6 min., 58.259 sec.Margin of Victory: 1.939 sec.MAIN EVENT (20 laps): 1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw); 2. Ryan Dungey (Suz); 3. Trey Canard (Hon); 4. Kevin Windham (Hon); 5. Davi Millsaps (Hon); 6. Tommy Hahn (Suz); 7. Nick Wey (Kaw); 8. Kyle Chisholm (Yam); 9. Josh Hill (Yam); 10. Ryan Morais (Suz); 11. Jarred Jet Browne (Kaw); 12. Michael Byrne (Yam); 13. Matt Boni (Hon); 14. Jason Thomas (Suz); 15. Manuel Rivas (Kaw); 16. Heath Voss (Hon); 17. Chris Blose (Hon); 18. Justin Brayton (Yam); 19. Evan Tedesco (Yam); 20. Grant Langston (Yam).Race Time: 21 min., 36.585 sec.Margin of Victory: 4.445 sec.

Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor

Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.