250s Race Report: Houston SX

Houston, Texas’ Reliant Stadium was round one for the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series East region, and brought a whole new level of anticipation to the 2011 season. With all the great racing we’ve seen in 2011, it’s amazing that talents like Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki riders Dean Wilson and Blake Baggett and GEICO Powersports/Honda riders Justin Barcia and Blake Wharton had not raced until this point in the season. Along with these East Coast well-knowns, a whole slew of Lites rookies looking to display their talents would make their debuts in front of Houston’s capacity crowd.

In qualifying practice, there were a few surprises that had the crowd turning their heads and asking, “Who’s that?” The first of these surprises came in the B session when rookies number 139 and number 533 laid down lap times two to five seconds faster than the next fastest times. These two rookies are 139 Malcolm Stewart and 533 Gannon Audette, Gannon being the faster of the two. Both Malcolm and Gannon were quickly showing that they are bringing plenty of speed into their freshman year and will never be in the B sessions again as they qualified fourth and fourteenth on the night.

When the A session started, all eyes were on Barcia, Wharton, Wilson and Baggett, but number 927 on the JDR/KTM, PJ Larsen, decided to make sure everyone would know his name as he threw down the fast laps. PJ is a third year pro from SC that spent his last year in Australia—winning two titles—because he could not find a decent sponsor in the U.S. Larsen is back home now and looked to prove a point as the East races got going.

Larsen displayed winning speed all day, but Mookie got in the way in the Main. Photo by Russ Erbe.

In the end of qualifying Star Racing/Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes would be the fast qualifier with Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Baggett and Wilson rounding out the top three, bring another surprise for the day: no Barcia. Most know that Justin Barcia has always been a better racer than qualifier, but Barcia fans may have been just a bit worried as we entered the night show.

Heat 1

The first heat race of the 2011 East region got underway with GEICO Powersports/Honda superstar Justin Barcia sneaking underneath SuzukiCity’s Malcolm “Mookie” Stewart for the lead in the tight, 90-degree first turn. Barcia would proceed to completely walk away from the field and display the speed he lacked in qualifying. Stewart lost contact with Barcia, but held onto second place for the remainder of Heat 1 and took the second transfer spot of the night into his first ever SX Main Event. Nico Izzi showed up in Houston with Kilbarger Racing, and made a great debut for the newly formed team by transferring third out of the heat behind “Mookie” and “Bam-Bam.”

Heat 1 Qualifiers

Heat 2

Heat 2 featured Sipes, Wilson and Larsen, but nobody had told Darryn Durham that he was not one of the featured riders. The Eleven-10 mod rider grabbed the holeshot and looked like he was prepared to back it up. Wilson quickly made his way up to Durham, and both would begin to move away from the field to have a battle of their own. Durham has always been a rider that was just one great ride away from becoming a real threat for wins, and he was looking to make Houston that night. He would lead Wilson for five and a half of the six laps, but made a small mistake before the finish, landing on a tough block and injuring his foot. Wilson and a late-race charging PJ Larsen would get around Durham, but he would still finish heat two in third. Later in the day, we would hear that Darryn may have broken his foot; he would end up with a DNS in the Main Event.

Rookie Jason Anderson debuted for the Rockstar/Suzuki team in Houston. Photo by Russ Erbe.

Heat 2 Qualifiers

LCQ

The first LCQ of the East Coast Lites series was stacked from end to end with hungry privateers vying for the last two spots on the gate. From the drop of the gate, it looked like the Louisiana rookie Lance Vincent was a man on a mission. Lance nailed the holeshot with Alex Martin in tow, and the two of them would not loosen their grips on the last two spots in the first East Coast Main Event of the year.

LCQ Transfers

Main Event

As the 250s lit up their engines, signifying the impending start of round one of the East region Lites series, the excitement of not knowing who would be the rider to make the first statement of the year kept everyone’s eyes on the first turn. The first statement was made by the SuzukiCity rookie Malcolm Stewart as he entered the first turn with the lead, but Wilson would slip through and into the lead position by turn two. Following Wilson past Stewart was the number 17 Justin Barcia; from that moment on, the race was in full effect.

Malcolm Stewart held third for about a half a lap before he and PJ Larsen would come together and go down in a heap, remounting in last place. As Malcolm tried to figure out what just happened, Wharton, Cantanzaro and Star Racing’s Ryan Sipes would assume the third through fifth positions. Monster/Pro Circuit rider Baggett started his evening with two big get-offs in Heat 1 and found himself buried back in 12th at the end of lap one. Fans, though, could quickly see by his lap times that he would not be back there long.

Up front, Barcia and Wilson looked like they were playing a game of tag. A new rider was “it” in every turn, with the GEICO Powersports rider playing rougher than Dean thought was within the rules. The first strike came from Barcia when—in a left hander before the finish line—he reminded Dean of the ghost of SX past, standing him up and taking the lead. Mr. Wilson would pass Barcia back on three or four different occasions but just never seemed able to make a pass stick. Barcia tends to get into other riders’ heads a bit more than most, and Dean just seemed unwilling to risk as much as Barcia was for the win.

Barcia and Wilson picked up right where they left off in 2010. Photo by Russ Erbe.

Wharton had been maintaining third spot throughout the whole race behind the leading duo, looking smooth, consistent and poised for an opening night podium. That’s when things took a turn for the worse. Many of the riders were using a 90-degree right turn just before a triple to pass; riders could only make the jump if they went wide. Wharton, setting up for the triple after just getting around lappers, was met by a determined Ryan Sipes, and the two collided harder than was probably intended by Sipes. The crash ruined podium chances for both, giving the hard-working Blake Baggett the final spot on the box.

Wilson (15), Wharton (21), and Barcia (17) would run 1-2-3 for nearly the entire Main Event.
Photo by Russ Erbe.

Baggett was charging the whole race from as far back as twelfth on lap one, and for much of the race he was the fastest rider on the track. When round two comes around, be sure to include Blake on your fantasy team: the kid has come for a title this year. Barcia, in the end, would put Wilson away and walk it in for the win with a semi-comfortable gap on the number fifteen Pro Circuit rider. Wilson mentioned after the race that he is not totally in shape yet from his off-season shoulder injury, throwing in some not-so-happy words about Barcia’s racing techniques for good measure. Whether you like how Barcia races or not, the guy comes to race, and if you have what he wants, you better give it to him or be ready to fight.

Barcia celebrates his first win of 2011 in style.

Main Event