The results from the previous five rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross haven’t been boring or predictable but round six at San Diego did see a familiar story return from the early rounds of this year’s entertaining season.
TwoTwo Motorsports Honda rider Chad Reed and Davi Millsaps both got off the start well with the Rockstar Suzuki rider, Millsaps taking the holeshot.
During the early laps, in fact for the first half of the race Chad Reed gave Millsaps a lot of pressure and the experienced Australian looked much like his old self. But Millsaps wasn’t going to make it easy and when Reed eventually went for the lead, he went down in a corner and Justin Barcia (GEICO Powersports Honda), who wasn’t far behind all night, took advantage and grab second while Reed dropped to seventh. Reed was able to claw back two positions leaving him fifth on the night.
Two riders who didn’t get a good start were Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM Factory). Dungey shuffled a few spots during the race – successfully getting around Justin Brayton to move into podium contention with six laps to go. Dungey held third and that result is good enough to retain second overall in the championship points with 113.
“I’m actually pretty happy with my ride tonight,” said Dungey. “It was a tough track to pass on and as I didn’t get a great start, I think I rode pretty strong to come through the pack and finish on the box. It would definitely make my life a little easier if I could keep getting a start like I did last week! But that’s just something I have to work on”.
As for Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Villopoto, he had an off at the same corner as Reed, which meant him dropping back behind Stewart and Reed. Reed wasn’t able to get past Stewart giving the Yoshimura Suzuki rider fourth and Villopoto took the checkers in sixth.
Rockstar Suzuki rider gives his team their first win in San Diego and he now has a 19 point lead in the Championship over Ryan Dungey and Villopoto is still third but tied on points with Canard.
250 SX class
In the 250 supercross class it was a little more straight forward, but you wouldn’t have thought that if you looked at early afternoon practice. The two Championship leaders just weren’t on it. Red Bull KTM’s Roczen wasn’t comfortable with the track all day and he let it show – grabbing only the fifth fastest time. In his heat race things improved for the young German rider – he jumped fourth out of the start gate and maintained that position until the flag to secure a good gate pick for the main event.
Off the start of the 250 SX main, Roczen hustled mid pack rounding the opening turn yet managed to manoeuvre his way into third place by the end of the opening lap. With GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac out front, Roczen set his sights on Jason Anderson for the number two spot and successfully made the pass on him midway in the race. K-Roc, never one to go down without a fight, set about reeling in the GEICO Honda rider for the lead and was just 0.2 seconds shy of the race win when they crossed the checkers.
With six rounds down and a 10-week break scheduled before the next round in the West Coast series at Seattle on April 20, Roczen holds an 18-point lead in the championship standings. That’s despite Eli Tomac winning four of the first six races.
“I’m actually really happy with the way I rode tonight,” said Roczen. “I was kind of uncomfortable on this track all day but I think I put together a good race come the main event. I guess my focus at this point in time is just to stay healthy and to keep things going the way they have been going at the races while our series is on a break and come out blazing again in Seattle.”
You may think Roczen would be looking to carry on where he left off – just keep riding consistent and finish on the podium each week. After all it’s paid off so far, but the German rider likes to win and Tomac is likely hoping that winning instinct will push Roczen into making errors. Roll on April please.
2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross San Diego Results
2013 San Diego 450 SX
1. Davi Millsaps (Suzuki)
2. Justin Barcia (Honda)
3. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
4. James Stewart (Suzuki)
5. Chad Reed (Honda)
6. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
7. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)
8. Trey Canard (Honda)
9. Andrew Short (Honda)
10. Mike Alessi (Suzuki)
11. Broc Tickle (Suzuki)
12. Matt Goerke (KTM)
13. Matt Lemoine (Kawasaki)
14. Weston Peick (Suzuki)
15. PJ Larsen (Honda)
2013 450 Supercross Championship Points
1. Davi Millsaps, 132
2. Ryan Dungey, 113
3. Ryan Villopoto, 105
4. Trey Canard, 105
5. Chad Reed, 97
6. Justin Barcia, 83
7. Andrew Short, 83
8. James Stewart, 74
9. Justin Brayton, 67
10. Broc Tickle, 57
2013 San Diego 250 SX
1. Eli Tomac (Honda)
2. Ken Roczen (KTM)
3. Jason Anderson (Suzuki)
4. Austin Politelli (Honda)
5. Kyle Cunningham (Yamaha)
6. Travis Baker (Yamaha)
7. Zach Osborne (Honda)
8. Tyla Rattray (Kawasaki)
9. Martin Davalos (Kawasaki)
10. Jessy Nelson (Honda)
11. Joey Savatgy (KTM)
12. Josh Cachia (KTM)
13. Christian Craig (Honda)
14. Jean Ramos (Kawasaki)
15. Cole Seely (Honda)
2013 250 Supercross West Championship Points
1. Ken Rocze, 138
2. Eli Tomac, 121
3. Cole Seely, 95
4. Jason Anderson, 88
5. Kyle Cunningham, 83
6. Martin Davalos, 82
7. Zach Osborne, 82
8. Joey Savatgy, 62
9. Christian Craig, 62
10. Jessy Nelson, 60
