Roczen Dome good!
By TMX Archives on 28th Feb 14
The Georgia Dome was the setting for this weeks instalment of AMA Supercross action, and topping the pile to claim his second round of the series was Red Bull KTMs Ken Roczen.
Meanwhile in the Eastern Regional 250SX class, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Martin Davalos pulled away to pick up his first win of the season.
As the gate dropped for the seventh round of the 450 class it was Mike Alessi who hit the gas and the first turn to take the holeshot award, with points leader Ryan Villopoto and James Stewart sitting right on his tail.
Soon after, though, Stewart made a move to take up the lead as Roczen fought his way through to third.
Stewart, who has taken wins at the previous two rounds, came unstuck while pushing hard, just moments after taking over at the front and hit the dirt. The crash handed the lead back to Alessi, with Roczen moving up to second and Villopoto third.
Stewart remounted in last place.
Just four laps later, though, Villopoto was starting to push hard and passed Roczen for second place then, on lap five, passed Alessi for the lead.
From there, Alessi was also passed by Roczen and KTM's Ryan Dungey, who took over second and third respectively.
As the laps counted down, Villopoto maintained his position at the front until lap 14, when he got caught out on a triple allowing Roczen to sneak through and take over the lead and ultimately the win.
Villopoto finished second with Dungey taking the final step on the podium.
"I don't believe this,” said Roczen.
"Getting on the podium is one thing but a win is another. It's such an awesome feeling. This proves that hard work pays.”
Villopoto now hold a slender
nine-point lead in the standings over Roczen with Stewart, who ended the night in 11th, third.
In the Eastern Regional 250SX Class Main Event, last week's winner, Monster Energy Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Adam Cianciarulo, kept a wheel ahead of Martin Davalos one to grab the holeshot award.
The pair then stayed close for the following laps, with Davalos eventually able to retake the leading position on lap seven and open up a solid
five- second lead over Cianciarulo.
Further down the field Vince Friese was passed by Yamaha's Anthony Rodriguez on lap one for third place.
And he stayed there until near the halfway point, when Honda's Justin Bogle took over third for a season-best finish.
"I am just so happy to be able to give this win to my team,” said Davalos.
"There have been so many people who have supported me and this feels great.”
The Monster Energy Supercross now heads to Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium next Saturday, for the ninth race of the season.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS FEBRUARY 28
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 8 – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
SX450cc CLASS: 1 Ken Roczen (D - KTM), 2 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 3 Ryan Dungey (KTM), 4 Will Hahn (Hon), 5 Justin Brayton (Yam), 6 Mike Alessi (Suz), 7 Broc Tickle (Suz), 8 Weston Peick (Suz), 9 Josh Grant (Yam), 10 Andrew Short (KTM), 11 James Stewart (Suz), 12 Matt Goerke (KTM), 13 Joshua Hill (Suz), 14 Ivan Tedesco (KTM), 15 Chris Blose (Hon), 16 Nick Wey (Kaw), 17 Kyle Chisholm (Yam), 18 Jimmy Albertson (Hon), 19 Justin Sipes (Kaw), 20 Eli Tomac (Hon), 21 Nicholas Schmidt (Hon), 22 Phillip Nicoletti (Yam).
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 (of 17) rounds: 1 Villopoto 166 points, 2 Roczen 157, 3 Stewart 140, 4 Dungey 136, 5 Brayton 130, 6 Reed 111, 7 Barcia 109, 8 Short 94, 9 Hahn 83, 10 Tickle 77, 11 Peick 67, 12 Tedesco 62, 13 Weimer 50, 14 Mike Alessi 49, 15 Grant 47, 16 Hill 46, 17 Wey 44, 18 Goerke 41, 19 Friese 29, 20 Moss 28,...
SX250cc (East): 1 Martin Davalos (ECQ - Kaw), 2 Adam Cianciarulo (Kaw), 3 Justin Bogle (Hon), 4 Blake Wharton (Hon), 5 Blake Baggett (Kaw), 6 Vince Friese (Hon), 7 James Decotis (Hon), 8 Cole Thompson (KTM), 9 Matthew Lemoine (Kaw), 10 Mitchell Oldenburg (Hon), 11 Jesse Wentland (Hon), 12 Kyle Cunningham (Hon), 13 AJ Catanzaro (Hon), 14 Justin Starling (Hon), 15 Gannon Audette (Kaw), 16 Alex Martin (Yam), 17 Gavin Faith (Hon), 18 Jace Owen (Hon), 19 Ryan Zimmer (Hon), 20 Kyle Peters (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 9) rounds: 1 Cianciarulo 47 points, 2 Davalos 45, 3 Baggett 38, 4 Bogle 36, 5 Friese 33, 6 Blake Wharton 32, 7 Cole Thompson 28, 8 Cunningham 22, 9 Mitchell Oldenburg 22, 10 James Decotis 20, 11 Alex Martin 17, 12 Jesse Wentland 17, 13 AJ Catanzaro 16, 14 Lemoine 13, 15 Kyle Peters 11, 16 Audette 11, 17 Levi Kilbarger 9, 18 Justin Starling 7, 19 Gavin Faith 5, 20 Jackson Richardson 4,...
NEXT ROUND: March 1 – Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
