Photo: Courtesy of Supercross.com
The Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship, heads north to Oakland, California’s O.co Coliseum for round four of the series. In the first three rounds of racing, the series has seen three different winners on the top of the box in the Supercross Class. Can they make it four in four races by the end of Oakland?
The first race ever run inside Oakland’s Coliseum was won by “Jammin” Jimmy Weinert back in 1979, a win that would lead to an AMA rule that is still on the books today. On a very sandy track, Jimmy went into his bag of tricks and came out with a paddle tire, paddling his way to the 1979 Oakland SX win. That would be the last time anyone ever saw a paddle tire win a AMA race as they have been outlawed ever since. With as many wash out crashes as we have had 2012, though, it might not be a bad idea to bring it back.
Since Jimmy’s inaugural Oakland SX win in 1979, the gate has only dropped three more times for SX Main Events in Oakland, and thus far. all four of the top Japanese bike manufacturers each have one win a piece. The only rider on the line riding a bike that has not won in Oakland is the Championship points leader heading into this weekend’s race–Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey. Dungey brings his bright orange KTM into the O.co Coliseum with three-straight podiums, a win and a four-point lead in the points over Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto and TwoTwoMotosports/Honda’s Chad Reed. The #5 has used his robot-like consistency to click away mistake free laps all year long and is the only one to have not finished off the box in the Supercross Class. It may be boring to watch at times, but Ryan has perfected the art of riding his own race and staying out of trouble throughout his career. In the first three rounds, there have been no bar-to-bar battles involving Dungey, but somehow he just keeps putting it on the box. We expect more of the same as the series moves forward.
Last week’s winner in Los Angeles and the man currently tied for second in points is the former two-time SX Champion Chad Reed. Over the first two rounds, Chad seemed to lack aggression and, at times, looked completely off the pace, but in L.A. the Reedy we know and love was back in the house. There seems to be a few different Reeds that can show up on any given week, and the rarest of them all is the one we saw in L.A. Reed generally rides patiently and methodically, and over the last few years, his wins have tended to come when he was able to holeshot and run away–but not at round three. Reed got a mediocre start, and from turn one until grabbing the lead on lap six, he was on a mission to destroy. He managed to go from about tenth heading into the first turn to fifth coming out, quickly picked off Yoshimura/Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe and Dungey, dogged James Stewart for a few laps before going around him, and then on lap six, made his last pass of the night on Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer for the lead. Reed said after the race that it is all about front end feel for him, and a last minute change to last year’s Dunlop front tire setup made all the difference in the world. If Reedy has fourteen more of those front tires, the rest of the field could be in big trouble.
For the second-straight week in a row, the #1 bike made his job a whole lot tougher than it needed to be by going down on lap one of the Main Event. In all three main events of 2012, Ryan Villopoto showed that he is currently “the fastest man on the planet,” but unfortunately, all that has earned him was a first, a third and fourth. Still, Ryan sits tied for second with Chad Reed–just four points back. This week, though, Ryan heads to a track that he was blazing fast on, but also crashed on, in 2011. After reeling Stewart in at the 2011 Oakland SX, Ryan lost his front end to finish fourth. If Ryan can get a start at the 2012 edition, we suspect he may run away from the field, but that if seems to be a tall order.
Just one spot behind Ryan Villopoto in the points is his Monster Energy/Kawasaki teammate Jake Weimer. Weimer came into round three in Los Angeles overflowing with confidence following his podium in Phoenix, and it showed in the Main Event–that was until a brief encounter with Joe Gibbs Racing/Yamaha’s James Stewart sent him to the ground. After leading the Supercross Class for the first time in his young career for the first six laps, he was passed by Reedy before being welcomed to the big leagues by Stewart. Stewart, seeing that Reed begun to ride away, decided he would act fast on Jake, using a very aggressive block pass that sent the #21 over the berm. Jake remounted in twelfth, but for whatever reason, was never able to mount any kind of charge forward and finished eleventh. The pass was not one of Stewart’s worst examples of aggressive riding, but if Jake wants to insert his name as a contender in 2012, a little fight back might be just what the doctor ordered.
The man that won the 2011 Oakland Supercross sits tied for fourth in the points, and for the first time since his rookie year in the premier class, has zero wins after the first three rounds of racing. Since 2006, James has never gone more than two rounds deep into a new series without a win, so for the former two-time Supercross Champ, this is uncharted territory. While James has not been able to remain crash-free in a Main Event during the 2012 season, there is one thing he can take from Los Angeles and build on heading into Oakland and beyond. With five laps to go in L.A., the #1 caught James from way back, and James was able to match his pace and keep Ryan behind him under extreme late-race pressure. For the Stewart of old, that may not have seemed like a big deal, but for Stewart today, it was a big step in the right direction. When you combine that with the comfort of a stadium that James won at just a year ago, we may see James get that first win of 2012 under his belt.
In Los Angeles, a yellow bike decided it was time to get into the mix. After starting out 2012 with an eleventh at Anaheim 1 and a ninth in Phoenix, Yoshimura/Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe stepped it up in L.A. and finished with a huge, confidence-building top five finish. Brett has always been a slow starter in supercross, so it is huge to see him mixing it up near the podium this early into the season. And with Metty being Suzuki’s only horse in the race, it has got to be a huge relief for them as well. We expect Los Angeles to be just the beginning of Metty making a push towards the front of the pack.
At the start of the 2012 season, all the talk was about the depth of the field. While we are used to the brutal nature of supercross racing thinning the field, I can’t remember a month long stretch like we have seen this year. In the Supercross Class thus far we have lost Michael Byrne (broken nose and C-6 in neck), Josh Hill (broken leg), Tommy Hahn (broken leg), Chris Blose (torn labrum), Ivan Tedesco (broken finger), Josh Grant (shoulder) and, of course, Trey Canard and Ryan Morais–due to the highly publicized crash that left Trey out with a concussion and fractured T10-T12 in his spine and Ryan out with a concussion, broken jaw, multiple fractures in his neck, as well as a broken rib and a punctured lung. Our thoughts are with all of these riders, and we hope to see them back soon. Let’s hope this is a trend that ends now.
A fundraising ride and benefit auction will be held Saturday, February 4 for Ryan Morais. Click here to learn more about the auction and how you can donate items or donate directly to the Morais family >>
I’ll see you in Oakland!
AMA Supercross – 450 Supercross Class Points – After 3 Rounds
*For full points standings click here>>>
1 5 Ryan Dungey Belle Plaine, MN, USA 67 2 22 Chad Reed Dade City, FL, USA 63 3 1 Ryan Villopoto Seattle, WA, USA 63 4 21 Jake Weimer Wildomar, ID, USA 48 5 7 James Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 48 6 14 Kevin Windham Centreville, MS, USA 43 7 24 Brett Metcalfe Lake Elsinore, CA, USA 38 8 29 Andrew Short Smithville, TX, USA 36 9 100 Joshua Hansen Elbert, CO, USA 36 10 18 David Millsaps Murrieta, CA, USA 28
