The Monster Energy AMA Lites East Supercross series round three blasted into Daytona International Speedway. Thus far, the East Region has been every bit as exciting as the West–which has had four different winners in six rounds–and looked to continue that trend in Daytona. In rounds one and two, the same three players occupied the podium with only the top two positions swapping occupants. Dean Wilson and Justin Barcia would swap spots on the top of the box, while Blake Baggett would hold down the third spot in each of the first two rounds.
Barcia would qualify 1st with the fastest time of the day and as you can see had fun doing it. Photo by CJMalone Photography.
Before qualifying got going on the pristine infield SX track, news about Barcia’s practice crash injury in Atlanta came out of the GEICO Powersports rig: Barcia had two broken bones in his wrist, but would still race. Barcia was not his usual aggressive self in Atlanta, but few would have guessed the East Region title-favorite had broken bones. Still, Barcia set out for qualifying–broken wrist and all–and set the fastest lap of the day, qualifying number one and showing how much pain the human body can endure when one wants something bad enough.
Co-point leader Dean Wilson would be one-tenth off of Barcia and take the number two seed into the night show followed by the surprise of the day, Nico Izzi, and “B.B. King” Baggett. Nico, on the Kilbarger Racing/Honda, has shown incredible speed so far this year but cannot seem to transfer that speed into the races. Would that change in Daytona?
Also fast in the early sessions was Malcolm Stewart. The AMA reported, however, that he and Star Racing’s Gannon Audette had cut the track more than once, and their times were deleted. Malcolm would fix his creative line choices in the later sessions and qualify sixth on the day.
Baggett would be fast in qualifying and easily win heat one, setting the ground work for a epic night for himself. Photo by CJMalone Photography.
Heat 1
Last week in Atlanta, the Monster/ProCircuit Kawasaki squad banked an outrageous 200th win for their leader Mitch Payton, and rolling up to Heat 1 in Daytona were Mitch’s two hired guns for the East Region. Within minutes, the gate dropped, and launching in and out of the first-turn leading the field were the PC duo of Blake “BB King” Baggett and Dean Wilson. Suzuki City’s Malcolm Stewart looked to have a good start momentarily, but–like so many other times in the first two rounds of the series–found himself picking up his bike in dead last. Baggett would go on to ride six flawless laps on the brutal Daytona circuit and walk it in for the heat race win with Wilson some fifteen seconds ahead of third place taking the second transfer spot out of heat race one. MotoExtreme/Kawasaki veteran Matt Lemoine, despite dropping the fifteen seconds to Wilson, easily transferred out of the heat race in third.
Heat 1 Qualifiers
1 57 Blake Baggett
2 15 Dean Wilson
3 48 Matthew Lemoine
4 927 P Larsen
5 44 Les Smith
6 139 Malcolm Stewart
7 330 A Catanzaro
8 412 Levi Kilbarger
9 130 Kyle Keylon
Heat 2
GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia—who was earlier reported to have broken two bones in his wrists—was somehow on the line for Heat 2, full wrists brace and all. Barcia blocked the pain by injecting 250cc’s of power into the first turn before anyone else, riding away from the field and making the Heat 2 win look easy. Ryan Sipes would follow Barcia through turn one, keeping him honest for about half the heat. In the end, the Star Racing/Yamaha veteran was a distant second, with Blake Wharton–Barcia’s GEICO Powersports teammate–rounding out the top three.
Barcia came into Daytona with a broken wrist but would leave with the points lead. Photo by Hoppenworld.
Heat 2 Qualifiers
1 17 Justin Barcia
2 25 Ryan Sipes
3 21 Blake Wharton
4 42 Nico Izzi
5 65 Hunter Hewitt
6 89 Taylor Futrell
7 93 Hunter Clements
8 46 Alex Martin
9 156 Jason Anderson
LCQ
In the heat races, there were not too many surprises, so—to the delight of the three-digit privateers—the race was wide open for a couple of non-regulars to make their way into the night’s Main Event. #245 Lance Vincent from Youngsville, La. would power his CRF250 into the early lead and into his third straight Main Event of the year. Ryan Zimmer would get a good start behind Vincent and battle with Justin Sipes for a couple of laps, but in the end, would hold on to make his first Main Event of the year.
LCQ Transfers
1 245 Lance Vincent
2 244 Ryan Zimmer
Daytona Lites start. Photo by Hoppenworld.
Main Event
Here we go with round 3 of the Lites East Region AMA Supercross series. Would Barcia or Wilson begin to dominate the field by winning two of the first three, or would a third rider throw his hat in the ring and make it three different winners in only three rounds?
ProCircuit’s Blake Baggett has been the only guy on the podium, other than the two men tied atop the points, and would immediately show he was tired of playing third fiddle to Wilson and Barcia. He launched off the gate and was the last man to shut-off down the start straight, walking away with the round three holeshot. Hunting the ProCircuit/Kawasaki up front was the two GEICO Powersports bikes of Barcia and Wharton, along with Star Racing’s Ryan Sipes.
Barcia, who you could hear wrapping that CR250F out from across the country, was doing all he could to get by Baggett early, but Baggett was on a mission to destroy and held strong under the intense pressure. Baggett probably knew from past experiences that, if he let “BamBam” go by, it could be next to impossible to get back around the ultra-aggressive speedster. Behind Barcia, Sipes was leading Wharton, making the race for the lead a three-way fight. Wharton, who was running fourth, would lose touch with the top three and, at times, feel pressure from Matt Lemoine, who looked surprising comfortable on the Daytona circuit.
Ryan Sipes has been fast all year but was finally able to put together 15 solid laps and bank his first podium of 2011. Photo by Hoppenworld.
While Baggett, Barcia and Sipes battled for the win, somewhere deep in the pack was a frustrated Dean Wilson. Wilson got about a fifteenth place start and, by the end of lap one, would check in eleventh. The night would quickly get worse for Dean. On lap two, he would make a mistake off a small double, go off the track, then—while trying to negotiate through the slower riders—would go down. Dean would gather himself, and charge the rest of the race.
Back up front Baggett was riding a perfect race, and fans could sense—as the race wore on—that Barcia was going to have to fight Baggett another day and settle for second. This was Baggett’s night, and nobody would have what it would take to change that. In the end, Mr. Baggett would be an insane fifteen seconds gone, easily taking his first win of 2011 and the second win of his career. Behind “B.B. King,” Barcia, Sipes and Wharton rode the last five laps of the race by themselves and finish second through fourth. Lemoine would make a mistake late in the race and drop back to ninth, allowing the JDR/JStar/KTM rider PJ Larsen to grab his first top five of the year, while Wilson would make his way up to eighth by race-end.
JDR/JStar/KTM rider PJ Larsen has had podium speed all year long and left Daytona with his best finish of the year finishing 5th. Photo by Hoppenworld.
Main Event Results
1 57 Blake Baggett
2 17 Justin Barcia
3 25 Ryan Sipes
4 21 Blake Wharton
5 927 P Larsen
6 156 Jason Anderson
7 139 Malcolm Stewart
8 15 Dean Wilson
9 48 Matthew Lemoine
10 44 Les Smith
11 245 Lance Vincent
12 89 Taylor Futrell
13 46 Alex Martin
14 412 Levi Kilbarger
16 93 Hunter Clements
17 42 Nico Izzi
18 130 Kyle Keylon
19 65 Hunter Hewitt
20 244 Ryan Zimmer
