The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series showed up in St. Louis, Missouri with more anticipation and unknowns than any round fourteen in AMA SX history has before. The mystery that usually comes with the first few rounds has stayed with the 2011 SX series the entire season and looks to be heading all the way to Vegas. To have five true champions fighting it out for one position week in and week out is the gift that keeps giving for fans.
Photo by Hoppenworld.
Every year at this point, the title contenders separate themselves from the field, and this year is no different. In qualifying over the last few weeks, the top five have consistently risen to the top five seeds heading into the night show. One rider, though, made a surprise guest appearance in the top five this week in St. Louis. Valli Motorsports/Yamaha’s Austin Stroupe was that rider. The very likable Supercross class rookie would be the third fastest in qualifying, behind his amateur rival—American Honda’s Trey Canard—and San Manuel/Yamaha’s James Stewart. Rounding out the top five were Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey and Monster/Kawasaki’s points-leader Ryan Villopoto. The Two-Two Motorsports pilot Chad Reed would be pushed just outside the top five by newcomer Stroupe.
In heat one, H&H/Dodge’s Ivan Tedesco made his presence known for the first time in months, leading for about half the heat before being overtaken by championship contenders Stewart and RV2. Stewart would take his eleventh heat race win of the year, with RV2 in second and Tedesco hanging on for a solid third. Reed would struggle in heat one, but manage to transfer from the fifth position.
Photo by Hoppenworld.
Heat two would feature the remaining two from the “fab five.” Dungey would make life easy on himself by grabbing the holeshot and leading the heat race wire-to-wire. Stroupe—feeling the flow from qualifying third—would get off to a great start, have a little tip-over, but still transfer to the Main Event with a fourth. Canard would make his way to second in the heat from just outside the top five, with JGR’s Davi Millsaps finishing between Canard and Strupe in third.
When the gate fell for the sixteenth time in AMA Supercross history in St. Louis, it was H&H/Dodge rider Ivan Tedesco who held on longer than anyone else into the first turn. Ivan would pocket the holeshot money, but would quickly get shuffled back as the championship contenders—one by one—found their way by the former Lites champion. The first two to dispose of Tedesco were the number seven and the number one. Stewart—after passing for the lead—would use a triple-triple through the rhythm section to quickly put a three-second gap on the 2010 champion. All year, JS7 seems to have kept an ace in the hole until the Main Event, and this week it was the triple-triple. By the end of the Main Event, Dungey and Villopoto would both pull the trigger on the section, but not until Stewart was already long since checked out.
Photo by Hoppenworld.
At the end of lap five, the running order was Stewart, Dungey, Reed, Villopoto and Tedesco, but where was the number one qualifier and winner from last week, Trey Canard? Trey had gotten a horrible start and was battling his way through the pack. At the end of lap one, Trey was scored in fifteenth, but by lap five he had already made his way up to ninth. This is not the first time this year Trey has found himself buried in the pack, but he would not lose focus. Trey put his head down and charged all twenty laps, on a mission to find the lead group by race end. It wasn’t until lap eleven that Trey was able to get into the top five and set off to make up some points on one of his four 2011 rivals.
While Trey was working his way up to the leaders, the only battle evolving would be for the final podium spot. Villopoto was running fourth—just behind Reed—until lap eight, when bad luck would creep into Reedy’s life one more time. While Stewart, Dungey and RV2 were all going three-three through the tricky rhythm section, Reed was going two-two-two. With RV2 closing in on him, Reed would double into that section and land on a tough block, allowing RV2 to triple-triple right by him into third. Earlier in the day, Reed had complained of lingering pain from his run-in with JS7 in Dallas, which could explain why he was not pulling the trigger on the triple-triple. Had Reed tripled in, he would have jumped right over that tough block. Villopoto, though, would ride away from the number twenty-two and end up grabbing the third spot on the podium.
Photo by Hoppenworld.
Up at the front, it was all James Stewart in St. Louis. Dungey looked as if he might close in on the two-time champ at times, but it would not happen on this night. James rode a flawless Main Event, banked his fourth win in 2011 and closed out the race within sixteen of the championship points-lead. Dungey would do what Dungey has done all year: quietly pound out twenty perfect laps. He banked his eleventh podium on the year and heads into round fifteen trailing RV2 by a slim five points for the title.
Reed finished just off the podium in St. Louis. After hitting the tough block and getting pushed back to fourth by RV2, Reed would fall onto the radar of a charging Canard. Carnard would catch Reed by lap nineteen, but a mistake while trying to make the pass would leave the factory Honda rider settling for fifth behind Reed. Reed’s fourth would surrender two more points to RV2, moving him to third and eight behind the leader. Canard’s fifth in the Main Event would also shuffle him back one spot, dropping him to twenty points back.
Photo by Hoppenworld.
The series now leaves St. Louis and heads to RV2’s home state of Washington for the Seattle SX. James would tear up after the St. Louis win saying that this was the most important win of his career, but with three races left in 2011 and the top five only separated by twenty points, each and every round has the potential to take over as the biggest win of his career. We can not wait until Vegas!
Photo by Hoppenworld.
Main Event Results – Supercross Class
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