Here we go, race fans! The finale of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series is here. Las Vegas, Nevada’s Sam Boyd Stadium will try to contain the over-capacity crowd, three championship main events and the crowning of three SX champions. The nearly 40,000 restless SX fans will be treated to a four-course meal of non-stop SX action on Saturday night that will be sure to satisfy even the hungriest of fans.
Check out the famous Racer X Arrow on the Vegas SX track. Not only has the Arrow mastered the Vegas circuit he has also mastered the back-flip.
On the menu will be two exhibition main events featuring 65cc and 85cc racing, the Lites East main event (for a championship), the Lites West main event (also for a championship) and the East/West shoot-out (for bragging rights). For the main course, the 450 Supercross-class main event will throw down for twenty final laps as riders battle for the number one plate and all the money, prestige and fame that goes with it. It is hard to imagine that as the promoters—Feld Entertainment—put the night together, they could have even dreamed that there would be so much on the line for these riders come May 7th.
Las Vegas Lites
Photo by Brian Robinette
The order of the Lites West and East main events will be decided by the toss of a coin, so there is no telling which of the two regions will take the stage first. In the East, GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia comes into Vegas in complete control of the championship. Justin has built himself a comfortable twenty-point lead heading into the final round and did so through consistency, aggression and all-out speed. In eight rounds of racing, Justin amazingly—considering his “all or nothing” persona—has five second-place finishes and three wins. That, my friends, is how you win a title.
Photo by Brian Robinette
The only other man with an outside shot at the East Region title is Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson. Luckily for Deano, the final race takes place in a city built on “long shots,” but it may take a little more than Las Vegas luck to make up the twenty-points needed to upset Barcia. Whatever the outcome, both of these sophomore-season professionals should be applauded for their efforts. The racing back East has been a flashback to some of the greatest rivalries in this sport’s history. The Barcia-Wilson battles have, at times, reminded me of the great battles between Jeff “Chicken” Matiasevich—who happens to have been the winner of the first-ever SX race in Vegas—and Damon “The Beast from the East” Bradshaw—well, minus the cutting the track to hit each other part.
Photo by Brian Robinette
The race for the West is much tighter than its sister series in the East. Before last week in Salt Lake City, we all assumed Vegas would be three-way battle royal for the West Championship. Unfortunately for the fans, a very amateurish move by the veteran Josh Hansen on Eli Tomac has left Hanny fourteen points down, and once again, on the outside looking in. Hanny went on Twitter to apologize:
@joshhansen100: I just want to apologize to my family sponsors and fans and to the factory connection people for the immature pass I tried to make, I got
@joshhansen100: Over my head and showed my immaturity as a racer, I just want it so bad and I deserve what I get …….thanks to mitch for standing behind
@joshhansen100: Me and the whole pro circuit team and DR G and Ivan Tedesco for truly Tryin to fix my hand…. All I can say as I learned from this.. Thx
In my humble opinion, Josh needs only to apologize to himself. He has worked his tail off to get back to where he is and once again has shot himself in the foot.
Photo by Brian Robinette
With Josh’s mistake, the title will now come down to two men: GEICO Powersports/Honda rookie Eli Tomac and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Broc Tickle. Looking just at the points, it would seem that Tickle who leads by two points has the advantage, but think again. Eli may be two points back, but Eli also has two wins on the season, as well as all of the momentum; he may just be the man in control. Broc, meanwhile, has only one win, which means that if the points are tied, Eli will be crowned the champ. The West has basically become a winner-take-all scenario: if Tickle beats Tomac, he will be champ and vice-versa. Good luck to both Eli and Broc. Either will be a more than deserving champion.
Las Vegas Supercross-class
Photo by Brian Robinette
Just three races ago—as we prepared for the Seattle SX—there were five Supercross-class riders separated by just nineteen points. The Factory Honda rookie pilot Trey Canard was, then, taken out of the points-race by an injury, and we were down to just four men separated by sixteen points. After San Manuel/Yamaha’s James Stewart dominated in Seattle for his fifth win of 2011, those four remaining championship contenders tightened down to within nine points of each other. Then early on in the Salt Lake City main event, with Stewart leading and Two-Two Mototorsports Chad Reed in second place, it was beginning to look like Vegas was going to be a “last man standing” race between the four for the title. But that was not to be. James would wash out his front wheel in a corner—like he’s done so many times this year—and then, go down hard again just twenty feet down the track, finishing the main event with a championship-crushing tenth. The points leader, Monster/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, would go by Reed and JS7—while he was still on the ground—and ride it home for his sixth win on the year.
Photo by Brian Robinette
Going into Salt Lake, it was nine points between first and fourth. But as the stands cleared for the evening, RV2 had a nine-point lead over second place Reed, a twelve-point lead over the 2010 champ Ryan Dungey—who rode a less than inspiring main event at SLC—and a twenty-three point lead over fourth place JS7. What does this all mean? What it means is that if RV2 can finish fifth or better on Saturday night, he is the 2011 Monster Energy AMA 450 Supercross Champion. Does it mean it’s a lock? Have you seen the last sixteen races? The way things have gone this year, nothing is a lock. There have been three occasions—in San Diego, Toronto and Jacksonville—where RV2 has lost ten or more points to Reed in a single weekend. In this year of chaos—even as we close in on the final battle of the series—the last thing RV2 can afford to do is to begin spending that championship money just yet. The 2011 season has been a hard fought battle for all sixteen races, so the last thing you should expect is for the finale in Vegas to be any different.
Good luck to all nine eligible combatants in the three classes and congrats in advance to the three 2011 SX Champions from MotoXAddicts.
Be sure to follow @dandunes818 and @motoxaddictscom for all things MX/SX and race updates throughout the day on Saturday.
Raceday Schedule
Below is the schedule of events for the Las Vegas Supercross extravaganza (click to view at full size). Catch it live on SPEED TV at 7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST.
