Ryan Villopoto grabs fifth win of the season but will have to wait to land his fourth consecutive Monster Energy Supercross title.
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto and Rockstar Energy KTM’s Jason Anderson each came into last night’s Seattle Supercross with the chance to clinch the championship title in their respective classes, but both men will have to wait two more weeks for another chance.
Villopoto did all he could to wrap up his fourth consecutive Monster Energy 450cc Supercross Championship as he put on a show for his home state fans on a clear, cool night at Century Link Field and collected his 39th career 450cc AMA Supercross win. But the title will have to wait at least one more round, as Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart was able to finish in second place in the 20-lap main event, and that prevented Villopoto from clinching the title. Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey finished third.
Villopoto holds a 48-point lead over Stewart, just three points shy of what he would need to guarantee the title if Stewart won the remaining two rounds and Villopoto failed to score a single point. Villopoto will most likely clinch the series title when the series resumes at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in two weeks.
For the second week in a row, Villopoto failed to transfer directly out of his heat race and had to gain access to the main event through a semi. Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey won the first heat, while Villopoto finished fifth. Stewart easily won the second heat.
But in the main event Villopoto was once again unstoppable, as he pulled the holeshot ahead of Dungey, BTO Motorsports KTM’s Andrew Short, Stewart and Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen and streaked away from the pack. Stewart immediately passed Short and came after Dungey, leaving the top three positions represented by current and former Monster Energy AMA Supercross champions.
Stewart got underneath Dungey on lap four and set out after Villopoto, who held a 2.1-second lead up to that point. Stewart was wowing the Seattle fans with his impressive quad jump in one of the rhythm sections, but the leap would prove to be his undoing when he came up short and cased the landing on lap five, barely avoiding a crash. After that, Stewart began to steadily lose ground to Villopoto, who was putting in a machine-like performance up front. His margin of victory at the finish was over 12 seconds.
“We go to a lot of different stadiums and race in front of a lot of different crowds and people, but to come home and have a race like that in front of everybody who watched me grow up, that feel’s good,” Villopoto said. “This was definitely the loudest crowd that I’ve raced in front of that was backing me 100 percent.”
If Stewart was disappointed with the outcome, he didn’t let it show.
“The track was easy, so it was really easy to override it, but it was tough because of the ruts,” Stewart said. “Ryan got the start on me, and I cased the quad one lap, just like, ridiculous. That took five brownie points away from me. I was trying to make time up through the whoops and stuff, but I just kept making mistakes. Just about halfway through the race I said, ‘I’m going to hit the ground if I keep trying to do that.’ I’m looking forward to the week off. This (second place) is not what we want, but we’re still second in the points.”
Dungey said that the track got really nasty in the main event.
“Toward the end there they started getting away,” Dungey said. “I was tryin’, man. I just really started falling apart. I was trying to switch up my lines and keep a good pace going. I gave it my all. That’s all I can ask. You know I’ve got to keep building. I’ll never not give it my all, so we’ll keep working on it.”
With the front three separated by several seconds, the closest racing in the field was the battle for fifth place, behind GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac. Short, Muscle Milk Honda riders Justin Barcia and Trey Canard, Roczen and MotoConcepts Suzuki’s Mike Alessi were all in the hunt. Barcia wound up taking the spot, with Canard sixth, followed by Roczen, Short, RCH Soaring Eagle Suzuki’s Josh Hill and Alessi.
Justin Anderson has been the most dominant 250cc Supercross rider in the Western Region this season, and adding a fifth race win would give him a mathematical shot at clinching the West crown. Meanwhile, Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Cole Seely needed to beat Anderson to keep his own title hopes alive. When the checkered flag fell, Seely got that win.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson grabbed the holeshot at the start of the 15-lap main event with Seely right behind him while Anderson was caught in the middle of the pack. Wilson was riding injured, having hurt his shoulder in a crash at the previous round in Houston, and Seely kept the pressure on him before making a pass for the lead just after the finish line at the start of lap two. Anderson was up to seventh place at that point.
Once Seely moved into the lead, Wilson’s teammate Justin Hill aggressively stalked Wilson for second place, the two colliding and nearly crashing in one corner. Wilson ended up conceding the position when he pushed the front end and crashed in a rutted right-hand turn on lap five. Hill moved into second, but the flying Anderson was up to third place and moving in on the front two riders.
The battle for second place intensified with seven laps to go when Anderson made an aggressive outside pass on Hill to take over second place. Anderson is known for strong second-half performances in the main event, and Seely was vulnerable, holding onto a 2-second lead with seven laps to go. But then Anderson made a rare mistake, going down in a left-hand corner with just six laps remaining. Anderson remounted in third place, behind Hill. Anderson recovered and passed Hill again when Hill was balked by a lapped rider, but then Anderson made another mistake when he jumped off the track and surrendered the position again. Anderson passed Hill for good with two laps to go, but by then Seely was long gone.
Seely went on to win his second main event of the season with a comfortable 4.5-second margin over Anderson. Hill was third, followed by Wilson and Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Jessy Nelson. Seely now trails Anderson by eight points with just one round of the 250cc West series remaining.
“When I was behind Dean (Wilson), I just wanted to hang in there tight with him,” Seely said. “He was going fast all day. I just wanted to sit in there and wait for him to make a mistake, and he made one right away. I was able to capture the lead pretty early on the first lap. The bike was just dialed-in great. We’re still in this thing. One round to go…I’m just going to try my heart out and hope for the best.”
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series
Century Link Field
Seattle, Washington
Results: April 12, 2014 (Round 15 of 17)
450 Main
1. Ryan Villopoto-Kaw
2. James Stewart-Suz
3. Ryan Dungey-KTM
4. Eli Tomac-Hon
5. Justin Barcia-Hon
6. Trey Canard-Hon
7. Ken Roczen-KTM
8. Andrew Short-KTM
9. Josh Hill-Suz
10. Mike Alessi-Suz
11. Weston Peick-Suz
12. Chris Blose-Hon
13. Nick Wey-Kaw
14. Nick Schmidt-Hon
15. Kyle Regal-Hon
16. Killian Rusk-Yam
17. Ronnie Stewart-Suz
18. Phil Nicoletti-Yam
19. Tevin Tapia-Suz
20. Cody Gilmore-Kaw
21. Vince Friese-Yam
22. Bracken Hall-Hon
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Points Standings (After 15 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Villopoto-318/5 wins
2. James Stewart-270/5 wins
3. Ryan Dungey-267/1 win
4. Ken Roczen-249/2 wins
5. Justin Barcia-214
6. Justin Brayton-196
7. Andrew Short-194
8. Broc Tickle-126
9. Joshua Hill-124
10. William Hahn-122
250 Main
1. Cole Seely-Hon
2. Jason Anderson-KTM
3. Justin Hill-Kaw
4. Dean Wilson-Kaw
5. Jessy Nelson-Hon
6. Zach Osborne-Hon
7. Cooper Webb-Yam
8. Jake Canada-Hon
9. Malcolm Stewart-Hon
10. Shane Mcelrath-Hon
11. Michael Leib-Hon
12. Dakota Tedder-Kaw
13. Scott Champion-Yam
14. Preston Mull-Yam
15. Chris Howell-Yam
16. Aaron Siminoe-Kaw
17. Chad Gores-Hon
18. Zackery Freeberg-Yam
19. Ross Johnson-Hon
20. Collin Jurin-Kaw
21. Ryder Steffy-Kaw
22. Johnny Jelderda-Hon
AMA 250cc Western Region Supercross Series Points Standings (After 7 of 8 rounds)
1. Jason Anderson-178/4 wins
2. Cole Seely-170/2 wins
3. Justin Hill-139/1 win
4. Dean Wilson-138/1 win
5. Cooper Webb-121
6. Malcolm Stewart-121
7. Jessy Nelson-103
8. Zach Osborne-100
9. Shane Mcelrath-96
10. Jake Canada-72
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