LOS ANGELES, CA, JAN. 21 – TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed won tonight’s AMA Monster Energy Supercross final at Dodger Stadium, the Australian taking the lead from fast-starter Jake Weimer on the fifth lap and pulling away to a 2.98-second win over Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey.
Chad Reed made it three different winners out of three races.
It took two starts to get this one in the books as Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard and Ryan Morias crashed hard on the opening lap of the first go. The crash was a bad one with both riders needing medical attention on the track – thus a red flag brought a stoppage to the race. After a delay of some 15 minutes while Canard and Morais were being attended to, the race was restarted. Initial reports after the race were that Canard was shaken up but not badly injured. No word yet on Morais. Updated reports on Sunday morning, however, say that Canard suffered a back injury and underwent surgery on Saturday night while Morais suffered a broken jaw.
On the restart, Reed rebounded from his heat-race tip-over to get a third-place start, moving past JGR Yamaha’s James Stewart to take over second on the third lap. A lap later and he was on Weimer, making the pass for the lead on the fifth lap. There was no denying the Honda rider from that point on as he pulled a gap that he maintained to the finish -taking his first win of the 2012 season.
Ryan Villopoto stormed through from last to finish fourth.
“I’ve been bashing my head against the wall trying to figure out what the hell I’ve been doing wrong this year,” Reed said. “I switched to a tire that I used last year and it worked. I am going to keep trying to get better each week. I will take the good with the bad and keep moving forward. First and foremost I want to give a huge shout out to those two guys that crashed out. It was a tough night for everyone. It was a tough night for big red. I’m glad that we could put the Bel-Ray Honda out front and I hope those two guys recover pretty good.”
Dungey, meanwhile, was fourth when Reed took over at the front and he was in the catbird seat when Stewart made an aggressive pass on Weimer that knocked the Monster Energy Kawasaki to the ground. Dungey was hounding Stewart when the Yamaha man crashed on the 11th lap. From there, Dungey was able to cruise unmolested to second.
Stewart found himself with his hands full in the final laps. Monster Energy’s defending series champion Ryan Villopoto was dead last for the second week in a row after a first-turn crash – and for a second race in a row he again showed that he’s currently the fastest rider in the field. Villopoto motored through the field and had Stewart in his sights, challenging him for third on the final lap. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, Villopoto came up short and had to settle for fourth.
Fifth place went to Yoshimura Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe, the Australian 1.6 seconds ahead of JGR Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps. Hart & Huntington’s Josh Hansen ended up seventh with Monster Energy Pro Circuit’s Broc Tickle eighth, Geico Honda’s Kevin Windham ninth and MotoConcepts Mike Alessi 10th.
The top five in the final were all on different makes of motorcycle – Honda, KTM, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki.
With three rounds in the books, Dungey leads the title chase by four points over Reed and Villopoto, 67-63. Stewart is fourth in the series standings, 19 points behind Dungey. Weimer, who recovered to finish 11th after his run-in with Stewart, drops into a tie with Stewart for fourth. Windham is sixth with 43 points.
The Lites final was all about Eli Tomac, the Geico Honda rider storming to a 15.4-second win over Monster Energy Pro Circuit’s Dean Wilson. Tomac led out of the first corner and was never headed, pulling away to his first victory of the season. The win also put him in the championship points lead by a single point over Wilson, 63-62.
Eli Tomac gets the jump on his heat race. He went on to win the Lites final.
The points leader coming into Dodger Stadium, Tyla Rattray, ended up fourth in the final and drops to third in the title chase – though just three points behind Tomac.
“That was crazy. I stuck around in that first corner,” Tomac said. “I rode a solid 15 laps like I should have the rest of the season. You can’t compare when you get a good start – it’s like night and day.”
Wilson battled with Zach Osborne, finally getting the better of the GP rider on the 13th of 15 laps. Osborne held on to finish third – the first podium of his Supercross career – with Wilson second.
“Slipperiest track I’ve ridden this season,” Wilson said. “Eli [Tomac] is going to be a tough competitor the whole season. He’s really going fast.”
With Rattray fourth, fifth went to LCQ winner Jason Anderson.
It was a tough night for defending race champion Cole Seely, the Troy Lee Designs Honda rider going down in the first corner with Nico Izzi and Matt Moss. Seely, who won round one in Angel Stadium, remounted to finish 15th.
Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin also had a tough main event. The Frenchman was catching the Wilson/Osborne battle when he crashed hard into a tough block. He pulled out, though he didn’t suffer injury.
Supercross Final
1. Chad Reed (Honda)
2. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
3. James Stewart (Yamaha)
4. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
5. Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki)
6. Davi Millsaps (Yamaha)
7. Josh Hansen (Kawasaki)
8. Broc Tickle (Kawasaki)
9. Kevin Windham (Honda)
10. Mike Alessi (Suzuki)
Lites Final
1. Eli Tomac (Honda)
2. Dean Wilson (Kawasaki)
3. Zach Osborne (Yamaha)
4. Tyla Rattray (Kawasaki)
5. Jason Anderson (Suzuki)
6. Max Antsie (Honda)
7. Michael Lieb (Honda)
8. Matt Moss (KTM)
9. Martin Davalos (Suzuki)
10. Billy Laninovich (Honda)
