Round 11 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship had 60,000 SX fans pack into the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to see if Davi Millsaps could regain some ground on Championship leader Ryan Villopoto.
The 450 main started with Davi Millsaps taking the holeshot but Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart soon passed him. Ryan Villopoto, the winner at St. Louis and Daytona moved into third within the first lap.
Villopoto – gunning for his third straight win – passed Millsaps on lap three but Millsaps wasn’t going to let the current Champion have it all his own way and he took back second.
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Villopoto took his time and a few laps later made another move on Millsaps – this time making it stick. Stewart was looking good in front but after a slight off, his bike stalled and Villopoto took the lead. Villopoto held the position taking his sixth win of 2013 and 30th career win.
Ryan Villopoto becomes the first rider to win four races in Indianapolis and now has a nine-point lead for the 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.
Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey stayed close to the leaders and passed Millsaps for second place on lap seven.
Millsaps crashed on the final lap of the race gifting Stewart third while Dungey held on for second.
Chad Reed overcame a difficult opening lap and moved from 14th to finish just outside the top five.
“James was riding great tonight,” said Villopoto. “Lucas Oil Stadium has been great to me; it’s an amazing stadium and I love coming here. Ryan [Dungey] was able to make up some time on me here and there, but I just kept pushing hard until the end.”
250 SX class
Dean Wilson didn’t get an opportunity to challenge Marvin Musquin – the winner from Daytona or Championship leader Wil Hahn. During his heat race Wilson went down hard and the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team chose to send him to hospital for tests – UPDATE: Dean Wilson reporting on Twitter that he has collapsed lung, broken rib, broken back and broken shoulder.
If Geico Honda’s Hahn and Red Bull KTM Factory racing’s Musquin were going to take advantage of Dean Wilson’s heat race misfortune they were going to have to do it the hard way.
Along with a group of riders – Hahn and Musquin got caught up with two long tuff blocks on the first turn and Rockstar Suzuki’s Blake Wharton grabbed the holeshot.
AG Motorsports’ Kyle Peters quickly passed Wharton while Musquin and Hahn had to play catch up.
After five laps, Catanzero held fifth position but was passed by Musquin on lap 11. Hahn worked his way past Catanzero on lap 13 for fourth place.
On lap 14 of 15, after Wharton had led every lap, he crashed off the track and got stuck on the tuff blocks. This allowed Musquin to take over the lead and Hahn to move into third place – Blake Wharton’s chance of a third career win had gone. Peters finished a career-best second and Hahn finished third.
“I gave it away here tonight,” said Hahn. “I have to go home and do my homework to get back on top of the box. I am happy that I was able to work my way back to third, but need to win races.”
“We have been talking about confidence, and tonight I had it,” said Musquin. “I fought really hard, and I believed in myself. Anything can happen out there, and tonight was kind of lucky but I got the win.”
Musquin is now on a mini win streak and cuts Hahn’s lead down to nine points.
“I was really looking for a win tonight and when I got stuck behind the tuff blocks in the first corner I was so mad and it just made me fight harder,” said Musquin. “I passed Wil Hahn early on and that made me happy as I need to earn as many points as I can on him. I fought really hard and was able to pass a lot of riders. I was able to capitalize on the crash of Blake to get the win. It is a lucky win but this is fantastic to get two in a row.”
The AMA Supercross pit moves North to the land of Shania Twain and Bryan Adams for next week’s race at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
