It’s safe to say that Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto is indeed on a roll after sewing up his third straight win and fourth of the year in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. Villopoto’s latest victory came in front of 53,952 fans at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where he led every lap after passing fast starter Jeff Alessi on the Motoconcepts Suzuki. He pulled Chad Reed, on the TwoTwo Motorsports Honda, along with them, and the battle for the lead was in top gear.
Ryan Villopoto made it four straight wins at the Dallas Supercross.
Villopoto and Reed pulled away from the rest of the pack. Early on, Villopoto eased away from Reed slightly, only to have the veteran reel him back in. The two had pretty much picked up where they had left off from last week’s race at San Diego, but it wouldn’t last for long.
On the seventh lap, Reed bobbled going into the whoops which ultimately led to him going over the bars and getting off hard. Before he had stopped tumbling, it appeared that he caught his boot awkwardly on his footpeg. Reed grabbed his knee and was unable to finish the race.
The initial report on the injury is that he “jammed” the knee and will see his doctor tomorrow in California to have it examined.
Meanwhile, Villopoto found himself with a fairly comfortable lead, which he had little trouble holding the rest of the way.
Second place ended up going to Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey who had gated poorly and completed the first lap in 10th place. He slowly worked his way up through the pack until he found himself in a back-and-forth duel with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer, who had inherited second when Reed crashed.
Weimer and Dungey battle fiercely the final two laps. At one point, the two knocked into each other, damaging Weimer’s shift lever, and for the final lap, Weimer was stuck in first gear.
Reed gets hauled off the track after injuring his knee.
Dungey took the checkered flag just ahead of Weimer, who finished well ahead of fourth-place finisher Mike Alessi. Mike passed his brother Jeff on the first lap and, after Reed had crashed, ran third for a couple laps before Dungey got him.
Fifth place went to Hart & Huntington Kawasaki’s Josh Hansen, followed by James Stewart, Kevin Windham, Brett Metcalfe, Justin Brayton and Kyle Chisholm.
Stewart, on the JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha, had gotten off to a seventh place start and was working his way up when he tangled with his teammate Davi Millsaps, who had slid out in front of him. The two Yamaha riders locked together, and it took quite some time for Stewart to get going again.
With Reed scoring just one point on the night, the race for the championship has been opened up significantly. The defending champ, Villopoto, now leads Dungey by 13 points and Reed, who slipped back to third, by 30 points. Stewart is way back in fourth, 42 points behind Villopoto.
The Dallas Supercross was the first round of the East Lites Championship and GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia showed everyone why he is wearing the number-one plate.
Barcia started off in third behind holeshotter Darryn Durham, on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, and teammate Justin Bogle, who was competing in his first Supercross race.
It took Barcia three laps to get around Bogle and another five laps to get around Durham. Barcia took charge from that point on, taking the win five seconds ahead of Durham, who barely held off Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen at the finish.
Justin Barcia won the opening round of the East Lites Series
Bogle ended up tangling with JDR/J-Star KTM’s Malcolm Stewart on the 11th lap and wound up finishing 14th. Stewart finished sixth.
Blake Wharton, on the Rockstar Energy Suzuki, finished fourth, just ahead of Honda pilot Phil Nicoletti.
Stewart, Jake Canada, P.J. Larsen, Cole Thompson and Lance Vincent rounded out the top 10.
Blake Baggett and Kyle Cunningham, two of some of the favorites to do well in Dallas, suffered crashes. Cunningham crashed out on the first lap and did not finish. Baggett finished 15th.
