St. Louis — the mid-season, middle of the country race saw this weekend’s supercross action. Davi Millsaps was looking to extend his lead in the championship, while Ryan Villopoto wanted his fourth win of the season. James Stewart, who finally found his mojo last week in Atlanta just wanted his better luck to hold for another race.
The word we used in last week’s race preview was predicable – many of the past year’s seasons have been so predicable, it hasn’t always made for great entertainment. Well entertainment is what St. Louis provided in lorry-loads.
In the 450 main Justin Barcia, James Stewart and Mike Alessi were all fast out of the gate with Alessi taking the holeshot.
But Stewart made up ground quickly and blazed past Alessi on the start straight to take over the lead. Barcia passed Alessi for second and the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider, Villopoto moved to third.
On lap 3 Kyle Chisholm (JGR Toyota MX) went down hard and needed attention from the medical team – this brought out the red flag. AMA Supercross rules state that any race past 3 laps will restart by singlel-file down the start straight.
For the restart Villopoto was pushed back to sixth for jumping past a yellow flag (passing Alessi for third) – he was given a three-position penalty.
On the restart Stewart and Barcia had the top two spots but Alessi got a great jump and repassed Barcia. Rockstar Energy Racing rider, Davi Millsaps wasn’t having such a good day with a bad start and never getting any better than sixth.
The action for the night wasn’t finished there. Bobby Kiniry (N-Fab TiLUBE) crashed on the triple – out came the red cross flags, which meant all the riders had to roll the triple.
This led to an exciting and controversial moment in the race. Bubba and RV came to the triple together and they slowed to roll the jump. This allowed Barcia and Reed to catch up, so we had four taking the section nearly altogether. Through the triple and you get to a set of rollers with yellow flags – Villopoto and Stewart arrived side-by-side with Villopoto emerging in the lead.
Villopoto made the pass stick and held it for his second win in the last three races and fourth win of the season.
Following the race, the pass by Villopoto on Stewart went to review. It was felt that RV may have made the pass under either the red cross or yellow flags. The result stood – the AMA said there was insufficient evidence for a penalty. Some teams and riders didn’t agree as was hinted on social networks after the race.
This leaves Ryan Villopoto just 12 points behind Millsaps in the Championship.
250 SX Class
It was two wins on the bounce for Geico Honda’s Wil Hahn in the 250 SX East beating British rider, Dean Wilson (Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki) for the second time in as many weeks.
“It means the world to me,” Hahn said of his second win. “Going from none to two is a good feeling. Just to have some momentum on my side is also a good feeling. For me, I just need to keep consistent and keep getting the starts I’m getting and just ride a smart race.”
Wilson didn’t have it easy – in the early laps he was way back on the field. But Wilson really showed his class by going from 12th to fifth in just over 1 lap. He then pushed his way past Vince Friese to get third before passing Wharton for second place.
We wanted to bring you a quote from Dean Wilson but none of the American reporters could understand a word he said. So here’s a quote from his Twitter feed:
@DeanWilson15 Start was in 14th. Rode hard to catch Wilbur who rode awesome n just couldn’t make my pass stick. I know what I need to work on #STARTS!!
Wil Hahn takes over the Championship lead and we move to Daytona for the next round on March 9 – or this Saturday if you prefer.
2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross St. Louis Results
2013 St. Louis 450 SX
1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
2. James Stewart (Suzuki)
3. Chad Reed (Honda)
4. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
5. Justin Barcia (Honda0
6. Davi Millsaps (Suzuki)
7. Mike Alessi (Suzuki)
8. Trey Canard (Honda)
9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)
10. Andrew Short (KTM)
11. Broc Tickle (Suzuki)
12. Jake Weimer (Kawasaki)
13. Eli Tomac (Honda)
14. Jimmy Albertson (Honda)
15. Matt Goerke (KTM)
2013 450 Supercross Championship Points
1. Davi Millsaps, 189
2. Ryan Villopoto, 177
3. Ryan Dungey, 166
4. Trey Canard, 148
5. Chad Reed, 147
6. Justin Barcia, 132
7. James Stewart, 122
8. Andrew Short, 113
9. Justin Brayton, 103
10. Broc Tickle, 87
2013 St. Louis 250 SX
1. Wil Hahn (Honda)
2. Dean Wilson (Kawasaki)
3. Blake Wharton (Suzuki)
4. Marvin Musquin (KTM)
5. Jeremy Martin (Yamaha)
6. Vince Friese (Honda)
7. James Decotis (Honda)
8. Cole Thompson (Honda)
9. Zach Bell (Honda)
10. Peter Larsen (Honda)
11. Gavin Faith (Honda)
12. Zackery Freeberg (Honda)
13. AJ Catanz (Kawasaki)
14. Kyle Hussey (Kawasaki)
15. Mitchell Oldenburg (Honda)
2013 250 Supercross East Championship Points
1. Wil Hahn, 70
2. Dean Wilson, 69
3. Blake Wharton, 60
4. Marvin Musquin, 53
5. Vince Friese, 39
6. Gavin Faith, 38
7. Justin Hill, 36
8. James Decotis, 34
9. Jeremy Martin, 32
10. Kyle Peters, 31
