Davi MIllsaps won his second main event of the year in San Diego. Photography By: Shan Moore
The amazing Davi Millsaps did it again. The Rockstar Energy Team rider, who wasn’t even a blip on anyone’s radar screen going into this year’s championship, stretched out his points lead again after capturing his second win of the season, this one coming at the San Diego Supercross at Qualcomm Stadium. Millsaps got out in front right off the start and held off a couple of challenges by Chad Reed and Justin Barcia to collect his fifth career win and the first for Suzuki at San Diego. It was also Millsaps second career win at Qualcomm, his first coming in 2010.
“It’s amazing, to win the first race then podium, podium and podium, and then to win another one, words can’t explain it,” he said.
For a while, it looked as though this one was going to come down to the wire. Reed, on the TwoTwo Motorsports Honda, who won here last year, was coming on strong in second place. He had Millsaps in his cross-hairs as the race reached the midway point when, all of a sudden, Reed lost the front end on the hard-packed and slick surface and went down in a right-hand turn, ending his chance of getting his first win of the season. Instead, the disappointed Reed finished fifth.
Barcia, on the Muscle Milk Honda, was running third for much of the race but found himself in second when Reed went down. He latched on to Millsaps and kept the Suzuki rider honest for the rest of the race but never got close enough to really challenge for the lead. He ended up taking the checkered flag 2.3 seconds behind Millsaps.
Last week’s winner, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey finished third after starting off just outside the top five, while Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart finished fourth for the second time in a row.
Stewart started just inside the top 10 but made a few quick passes early in the race.
Defending champ Ryan Villopoto finished sixth after a bad start, while fast starter Justin Brayton, on the JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha, Trey Canard, on the Muscle Milk Honda, Andrew Short and Mike Alessi, on the MotoConcepts Suzuki, completed the top 10.
Millsaps now has a 19-point lead over Dungey in the series championship, while Villopoto is 27 points back in third.
Eli Tomac got back on the winning track with a solid win. Photography By: Shan Moore
In the 250 main event, GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac rebounded after two tough weekends to claim his fourth win of the season.
Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Jason Anderson got the 250 main started by grabbing the holeshot and holding off the top two riders of the series – Tomac and Ken Roczen – for quite a while. It wasn’t until the sixth lap that Tomac was able to catch the Suzuki rider and take the lead.
Tomac settled into second right off the start and was making a move for the lead early on when he made a slight bobble and gave up a second or two to Anderson while just holding on in front of Roczen. Tomac, however, regrouped and reeled in Anderson. He then cut underneath the Suzuki rider and moved to the front. From there, Tomac sprinted away, opening up a small lead.
Roczen, on the Red Bull KTM, then went to work on Anderson. A few laps later, the points leader stuffed Anderson in a turn and took over the second-place position.
By then, Tomac had opened up a comfortable lead but that didn’t deter Roczen any.
Roczen closed in on Tomac and nearly pulled off a last-second-pass on Tomac, who got held up a bit by a lapped rider, right at the finish.
Tomac held on to take the win just 0.20 seconds ahead of Roczen.
“I need to go out there and win races,” Tomac said. “He got there close at the end but it was good. It’s always nice to get a win no matter when it happens, but to get another one before a really long break like we’ve got coming up here is nice. We gained a few points on Roczen but still have a lot to do in the final three races of the season to defend our title.”
Roczen could taste the win at the end, which would’ve been his third victory in a row.
“I struggled the whole day, so I’ll take it as a win,” Roczen said. “It was so close at the end; I was yelling in my helmet I wanted the win so bad. But second place is good.”
Anderson dropped back a bit but still finished third, 15.4 seconds behind Roczen. It was his second podium finish of the year.
HRT Honda’s Austin Politelli finished fourth for his first top-five finish ever.
Star Yamaha’s Kyle Cunningham rounded out the top five overall.
Sixth went to Valli Yamaha’s Travis Baker, followed by GEICO Honda’s Zach Osborne who was running fifth before falling late in the race.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Tyla Rattray ended up eighth, just ahead of his teammate Martin Davalos, who went down on the first lap after getting off to a fast start.
Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Jessy Nelson rounded out the top 10, just ahead of JDR/J-Star KTM’s Joe Savatgy, who went down earlier in the race while running fifth.
Roczen leads Tomac by 17 points with three rounds left in the West 250 Series.
With the series moving to Dallas next weekend, the West 250 Championship now begins an eight-week break, resuming at the Seattle Supercross, April 20.
RESULTS
450
1. Davi Millsaps (Suz)
2. Justin Barcia (Hon)
3. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
4. James Stewart (Suz)
5. Chad Reed (Hon)
6. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
7. Justin Brayton (Yam)
8. Trey Canard (Hon)
9. Andrew Short (Hon)
10. Mike Alessi (Suz)
250
1. Eli Tomac (Hon)
2. Ken Roczen (KTM)
3. Jason Anderson (Suz)
4. Austin Politelli (Hon)
5. Kyle Cunningham (Yam)
6. Travis Baker (Yam)
7. Zach Osborne (Hon)
8. Tyla Rattray (Kaw)
9. Martin Davalos (Kaw)
10. Jessy Nelson (Hon)
