It was another wild night of racing at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for round 13 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, and when it was all over it was rookie Trey Canard collecting his third win of the season with a near wire-to-wire victory in front of 51,509 spectators, some of whom traveled from his home state of Oklahoma to watch.
After passing KTM’s Mike Alessi, who took the holeshot, on the opening lap, Canard quickly opened up a small lead, a lead that was never seriously challenged. And that’s because many of the top contenders were busy falling, including San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart and TwoTwo Motorsport Honda’s Chad Reed, who, once again, had their paths meet in a turn with both riders going down. But it wasn’t malicious on either rider’s part.The two were battling for second place on the ninth lap when, after a whoop section, Stewart, who was running third, lost control of his bike, grabbed a handful of throttle and couldn’t slow down for the turn. He slammed into the back of Reed, sending the Honda rider over the backside of a left-hand bowl turn, which caused Reed to endo and sail over the handlebars, leaving him pinned between the stadium’s concrete floor and his bike. It took Reed quite a bit of time to crawl out from underneath his bike, and he eventually rejoined the race in ninth. He would end up finishing eighth.Stewart got up in fifth and would finish out the night in fourth.
Meanwhile, while Canard was running up front, defending Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey was running second until tangling with a lapped rider on the 11th lap, which put the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider to the ground. He got up quickly but not before Ryan Villopoto could ride past him. Villopoto went on to finish second, while Dungey took third, not far behind the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider.
GEICO Powersports Honda’s Kevin Windham finished fifth ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Andrew Short and MotoConcepts Yamaha’s Tommy Hahn, who was making his return after an injury.Finishing ninth was Valli Motorsports Yamaha’s Austin Stroupe and finishing 10th was Alessi on the Red Bull KTM.
“I’m so grateful,” said winner Canard. “So many people from home are here. This is such an awesome day and I’m just so thankful. I knew I needed another good start and it happened again. I tried to put in (20) solid laps, (but) the whoops were really tough. I’m just going to keep doing the best I can. That’s all I can control.”
Once again, the points standings were shaken up a bit, with Reed dropping out of first place and giving way to Villopoto, who once held a 26-point lead. He now has a six-point lead over Reed with four more rounds left (St. Louis, Seattle, Salt Lake and Las Vegas). And Dungey is just one point behind Reed, so only seven points separate the top three in the series. Stewart is 21 points back in fifth.The East Lites final saw an exciting race between the top two contenders, Dean Wilson and Justin Barcia.Barcia, on the GEICO Powersports Honda, grabbed the holeshot in the main event but gave way to DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes on the second lap. Three laps later, however, Barcia got him back just before the Yamaha rider got out of shape, ran into the Tuff Blocks and crashed, putting him way back.Barcia held the lead until Wilson came calling on his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Wilson caught up to Barcia and passed the Honda rider on the 13th lap, but Barcia retaliated a lap later.Barcia took the white flag while leading but a few turns from the finish line, Wilson cut to the inside of Barcia in a turn, passed him and held on for the exciting win that had the large crowd on its feet.Third place went to Barcia’s teammate Blake Wharton.”This (win) means so much,” said Wilson. “It wasn’t an easy race. I’ve been battling the stomach flu all day. I just kept pushing and didn’t give up. It went all to way to last lap, which was fun for everyone here. I made a pass on him and he got me back, then I got by again, he stuffed me and I stalled. I had one last chance to get him and I stuck it.”By beating Barcia, Wilson gained a few precious points on the class leader but is still 13 points behind the Honda rider with two rounds left.
Results
SUPERCROSS: 1. Trey Canard (Hon); 2. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw); 3. Ryan Dungey (Suz); 4. James Stewart (Yam); 5. Kevin Windham (Hon); 6. Andrew Short (KTM); 7. Tommy Hahn (Yam); 8. Chad Reed (Hon); 9. Austin Stroupe (Yam); 10. Mike Alessi (KTM); 11. Weston Peick (Yam); 12. Fabien Izoird (Kaw); 13. Chris Blose (Kaw); 14. Michael Byrne (Suz); 15. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 16. Kyle Regal (Yam); 17. Justin Brayton (Yam); 18. Nick Wey (Yam); 19. Cole Seely (Hon); 20. Davi Millsaps (Yam).EAST LITES SUPERCROSS MAIN: 1. Dean Wilson (Kaw); 2. Justin Barcia (Hon); 3. Blake Wharton (Hon); 4. Malcolm Stewart (Suz); 5. Matt Lemoine (Kaw); 6. Darryn Durham (Hon); 7. Blake Baggett (Kaw); 8. Gannon Audette (Yam); 9. Alex Martin (Hon); 10. Tyler Bright (Hon); 11. Hunter Hewitt (Suz); 12. Jason Anderson (Suz); 13. Taylor Futrell (Hon); 14. Lance Vincent (Hon); 15. Hunter Clements (Hon); 16. Levi Kilbarger (Hon); 17. Ryan Sipes (Yam); 18. A. Cantanzaro (Hon); 19. Justin Sipes (Kaw); 20. Nicholas Myers (Hon).
SUPERCROSS POINTS STANDINGS: 1. Ryan Villopoto (255); 2. Chad Reed (249); 3. Ryan Dungey (248); 4. Trey Canard (239); 5. James Stewart (234); 6. Andrew Short (174); 7. Kevin Windham (150); 8. Justin Brayton (141); 9. Davi Millsaps (128); 10. Ivan Tedesco (114).EASTERN REGIONAL SUPERCROSS LITES POINTS STANDINGS: 1. Justin Barcia (160); 2. Dean Wilson (147); 3. Ryan Sipes (119); 4. Blake Baggett (114); 5. Blake Wharton (109); 6. Matt Lemoine (96); 7. P.J. Larsen (80); 8. Malcolm Stewart (73); 9. Alex Martin (59); 10. Lance Vincent (56).
