Photo: Supercross.com
The 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, went north of the border to Toronto, Canada for round number twelve, and once again, the #1 bikes ruled the night. In the Supercross Class, Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto won his seventh Main Event in 2012 while GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia re-established his dominance by winning his fifth Main Event of the year in the 2012 Eastern Regional Lites Championship. Both Justin and Ryan made it very clear that they are simply on another level.
In the Supercross Class Main Event, it was Muscle Milk/Honda’s Justin Brayton winning the Nuclear Cowboyz® Holeshot award, but unfortunately for the #10, he had Ryan Villopoto right on his rear wheel. Brayton fought hard, but by lap two, the defending champ got around him and, from there, checked out for the Main Event win. Behind Villopoto, Brayton was able to gap the rest of the field and hold on for his second straight second place finish in 2012. With his seventh Main Event win of the year, Ryan Villopoto extends his points lead to seventy-nine over the injured Red Bull/KTM rider Ryan Dungey and one hundred and two points over the nearest active rider in the series, JGR/Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps.
Finishing third in Toronto was the man they call K’dub. GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Kevin Windham was fast all night, and in the Main Event, the eighteen-year veteran—after a fifth place start—passed Davi Millsaps and Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer to grab his second podium finish of 2012. Both Millsaps and Weimer rode well, holding on to finish forth and fifth in the Main event.
One more rider that needs mentioning is the Muscle Milk/Honda fill-in rider, Wil Hahn. Wil, in his first 450 race and first race back after breaking his back earlier in the year, finished with a confidence-building top ten. After all Wil has been through in the last year and a half, it was awesome to see the #58 back on the track. We hope this is the start of a long, injury-free run for the likable Texan.
Supercross Class – Toronto SX Results
1 1 Ryan Villopoto Seattle, WA 2 10 Justin Brayton Murrieta, CA 3 14 Kevin Windham Centreville, MS 4 18 David Millsaps Murrieta, CA 5 21 Jake Weimer Wildomar, ID 6 38 Marvin Musquin Murrieta, CA 7 11 Kyle Chisholm Valrico, FL 8 25 Broc Tickle Holly, MI 9 81 Robert Kiniry Holland Patent, NY 10 58 Wil Hahn Decatur, TX
Full heat race & Main Event results from Toronto>>>
Supercross Class – After 12 Rounds – 2012 Championship Points
1 1 Ryan Villopoto Seattle, WA, USA 271 2 5 Ryan Dungey Belle Plaine, MN, USA 192 3 7 James Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 177 4 18 David Millsaps Murrieta, CA, USA 169 5 14 Kevin Windham Centreville, MS, USA 166 6 10 Justin Brayton Murrieta, CA, USA 165 7 21 Jake Weimer Wildomar, ID, USA 150 8 24 Brett Metcalfe Lake Elsinore, CA, USA 145 9 800 Mike Alessi Hilliard, FL, USA 136 10 22 Chad Reed Dade City, FL, USA 128
Full Championship points standings>>>
Heading into round six of the 2012 Monster Energy Eastern Regional Supercross Lites Championship, some wondered if the momentum might have shifted. After one of his most dominant wins of 2012 taking place Saturday night in Toronto, though, the momentum still appears to be firmly in Justin Barcia’s court. After shaking off an early challenge from the Red Bull/KTM of Ken Roczen, Barcia proceeded to walk away. The #1 has become a machine in Supercross, and that machine once again produced a “W.” The kid known as “Bam Bam” now has a quickly growing twenty-eight point lead in the Championship points.
While Barcia rode away for the win, both Ken Roczen and Rockstar/Suzuki’s Blake Wharton rode solid races to secure second and third positions on the box. Roczen tried to keep Barcia honest—even passing him early on lap one—but the German does not quite have the consistency needed to do it for fifteen laps. In the end, the #70 was not able to keep the #1 in sight, but he was able to gap the rest of the field.
For the first four laps of the Main Event, Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Darryn Durham and Blake Wharton had an incredible battle going for third, but a mistake by Durham knocked him back to finish fifth while Wharton held on to finish third. The mistake by Durham not only cost him a shot at a podium, but it also moved him back to third in the points and bumped Wharton up to second.
Finishing between Wharton and Durham—and scoring yet another career-best finish with a fourth—was MotoConcepts’ Jake Canada. The most impressive factor of that fourth place finish was probably that the #78 did not start there, but that he fought his way up after rounding turn one around tenth. Over the last four weeks, the gritty Californian has gone sixth, sixth, fifth and, now, fourth. We would not be surprised if Jake continued that upward trend and scored his first podium as early as next weekend.
Supercross Class – Toronto SX Results
1 1 Justin Barcia Ochlocknee, GA 2 70 Ken Roczen Murrieta, CA 3 956 Blake Wharton Pilot Point, TX 4 57 Jake Canada Sun City, CA 5 35 Darryn Durham Butler, PA 6 30 Alex Martin Millville, MN 7 78 Tommy Weeck Menifee, CA 8 49 Justin Bogle Cushing, OK 9 60 Matthew Lemoine Collinsville, TX 10 275 Jeffrey Gibson Blacklick, OH
Full heat race & Main Event results from Toronto>>>
Lites East Region – After 6 Rounds – 2012 Championship Points
1 1 Justin Barcia Ochlocknee, GA, USA 145 2 956 Blake Wharton Pilot Point, TX, USA 117 3 35 Darryn Durham Butler, PA, USA 114 4 70 Ken Roczen Murrieta, USA 102 5 57 Jake Canada Sun City, CA, USA 90 6 12 Blake Baggett Grand Terrace, CA, USA 86 7 49 Justin Bogle Cushing, OK, USA 74 8 37 Malcolm Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 50 9 30 Alex Martin Millville, MN, USA 50 10 60 Matthew Lemoine Collinsville, TX, USA 46
