Barcia Takes East/West Shootout

Paul Carruthers | May 5, 2012

LAS VEGAS, NV, MAY 5 – GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia showed that he’s the best of the best tonight, the East Lites Champion beating his teammate and West Lites Champion Eli Tomac in the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Barcia nailed the holeshot with Tomac third, the two Hondas sandwiching the Suzuki of Martin Davalos. Barcia lost the lead to Davalos on the fourth of the eight-lap final, but grabbed it back two laps later. Tomac wasted little time in also passing Davalos, setting up what many hoped would be a dramatic three-lap battle to the end. While Tomac stayed close and kept Barcia honest, but couldn’t do anything with him and Barcia took the win.

“I was pushing as hard as I could and it was awesome,” Barcia said. “I got the holeshot in both races. It’s incredible. Two wins is awesome. We’re really strong this year and I think we’re going to do some damage.”

With Tomac finishing second, Davalos held on for third despite late-lap pressure from Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen, the German also coming under pressure from his teammate Marvin Musquin with GEICO Honda’s Will Hahn also in the mix.

Ryan Sipes rode the Star Valli Yamaha to seventh. Malcolm Stewart rode the JDR KTM to eight with Blake Wharton and Matt Moss rounding out the top 10.

East/West Shootout

1.                  Justin Barcia (Honda)

2.                  Eli Tomac (Honda)

3.                  Martin Davalos (Suzuki)

4.                  Ken Roczen (KTM)

5.                  Marvin Musquin (KTM)

6.                  Will Hahn (Honda)

7.                  Ryan Sipes (Yamaha)

8.                  Malcolm Stewart (KTM)

9.                  Blake Wharton (Suzuki)

10.                  Jake Moss (KTM

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.