Wilson's Dome good!
By TMX Archives on 8th Mar 11
Nearly 70,000 fans packed out the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday to get their weekly fix of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, and FIM World Championship action.
And the entertainment in this week's edition was no exception as the top four once again provided a night of thrills and spills to keep everyone on their toes. Coming out on top this week was Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto who took a surprise victory after a wild final lap from Yamaha's James Stewart and Honda's Chad Reed. Meanwhile in the Eastern Lites class Scottish born Dean Wilson took a career first victory over Honda's Justin Barcia.
Pictures: HOPPENWORLD.COM/ KTM RACING and SUZUKI IMAGES
As the gates dropped for the 20-lap main event, it was James Stewart who was hot out of the gates to grab the holeshot with Reed and Justin Brayton on his heels. Stewart's lead was short lived though after a mistake on lap two let Reed through to lead for majority of the race.
However on lap 18, a lapped rider slowed the front runner and allowed Stewart to reel in Reed and make a pass. Time was running out as the pair entered the final stages of the race and as they raced down the whoop section and into a turn Reed thought he saw an opportunity to take the inside line, but the pair hit each other, sending them both to the floor. Meanwhile Villopoto had been chasing hard, and the crash allowed the Kawasaki rider through to take the chequered flag.
"What can I say,” Villopoto shrugged after earning his third victory of the season. "I want to say I was surprised to find myself in the lead at the chequered flag, but I could tell those two were going at each other pretty good up there. It's one of those things that happen in racing and I'm happy that I played it cool and had a steady race. Sometimes steady pays off.”
Reed and Stewart remounted and this time it was Reed ahead with Stewart fighting back. At the turn before the finish line, Stewart made a block pass on Reed, and collided again, forcing them to the ground again. This time it was Suzuki's Ryan Dungey who seized his chance, and grabbed second with Reed third and Stewart having to settle for fourth.
As the Eastern Lites class kicked off Honda's Blake Wharton was off the line first to take the holeshot with teammate Justin Barcia in hot persuit. Wharton quickly found his rhythm and opened up a sizeable gap on the rest of the field.
By lap 11 it all looked to be going Wharton's way , and another victory appeared to be in the bag. But a mistake saw him hit the ground and hand the lead over to Dean Wilson. Wharton remounted in fourth but was unable to reel in Justin Barcia and Blake Baggett who took second and third respectively.
"I'm so happy to finally get my first Supercross win,” a jubilant Wilson said after the race. Even though Blake Wharton crashed I don't feel like the race was handed to me. I had to battle all the way. I hope this is the start of many wins, but tonight I'll enjoy this one.”
The series now heads to Daytona Supercross on March 5 for the ninth round. of the series.
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 8 – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
SUPERCROSS CLASS: 1 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw), 2 Ryan Dungey (Suz), 3 Chad Reed (AUS - Hon), 4 James Stewart (Yam), 5 Trey Canard (Hon), 6 Andrew Short (KTM), 7 Justin Brayton (Yam), 8 Kevin Windham (Hon), 9 Ivan Tedesco (Kaw), 10 Brett Metcalfe (AUS - Suz), 11 Davi Millsaps (Yam), 12 Nick Wey (Yam), 13 Kyle Regal (Yam), 14 Chris Blose (Kaw), 15 Tye Simmonds (KTM), 16 Matt Boni (Kaw), 17 Fabien Izoird (F - Kaw), 18 Mike Alessi (KTM), 19 Antonio Balbi (BRA - Yam), 20 Kyle Partridge (US - Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 (of 17) rounds: 1 Villopoto 171 points, 2 Stewart 161, 3 Reed 150, 4 Canard 146, 5 Dungey 145, 6 Short 110, 7 Metcalfe 104, 8 Justin Brayton 90, 9 Millsaps 88, 10 Tedesco 78, 11 Windham 75, 12 Wey 63, 13 Regal 60, 14 Blose 48, 15 Chisholm 46, 16 Mike Alessi 46, 17 Boni 25, 18 Peick 24, 19 Hahn 17, 20 Stroupe 15,...
SUPERCROSS LITES (East): 1 Dean WILSON (GB - Kaw), 2 Justin Barcia (Hon), 3 Blake Baggett (Kaw), 4 Blake Wharton (Hon), 5 Ryan Sipes (Yam), 6 Hunter Hewitt (Suz), 7 PJ Larsen (KTM), 8 Malcolm Stewart (Suz), 9 Jason Anderson (Suz), 10 Matthew Lemoine (Kaw), 11 Lance Vincent (Hon), 12 Alex Martin (Hon), 13 Justin Sipes (Kaw), 14 Levi Kilbarger (Hon), 15 Bradley Ripple (Hon), 16 Michael Akaydin (Kaw), 17 Sean Lipanovich (Hon), 18 Nicholas Myers (Hon), 19 Vernon Mckiddie (KTM), 20 Killy Rusk (KTM).
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 9) rounds: 1 WILSON 47 points, 2 Barcia 47, 3 Baggett 40, 4 Ryan Sipes 34, 5 Blake Wharton 33, 6 Anderson 26, 7 Vincent 23, 8 Lemoine 23, 9 Stewart 20, 10 Martin 20, 11 Larsen 17, 12 Trettel 16, 13 Hewitt 15, 14 Gosselaar 10, 15 Rife 9, 16 Kilbarger 9, 17 Justin Sipes 8, 18 Audette 8, 19 Ripple 6, 20 Izzi 6,...
NEXT ROUND: March 5 – Daytona Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.