Photo: Courtesy of Kawasaki
The 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, heads to the big arches of St. Louis for the seventeenth running of the St. Louis SX. With eight rounds now in the books, riders and fans will enter the Edward Jones Dome to begin the second half of a series that has already been an emotional roller coaster. With two of the big five contenders sidelined with injuries, it is left to Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey and JGR/Yamaha’s James Stewart to battle at the front—unless someone else decides to join them.
Heading into Atlanta last weekend, some of the fire surrounding the series was extinguished by the early exit of Two Two Motorsports/Honda’s Chad Reed, but some of that fire was quickly reignited when Ryan Dungey stepped up and took his second win of the season, closing the points gap to a mere ten points in the Championship. Over the last few rounds, it had been all about the heads up battles between Villopoto and Reed, so with Reedy out, some wondered if Villopoto might just run away with the show. Well, if Atlanta is any indication, the 2010 Supercross Champion might just try to prevent that from happening.
While some are saying that the only reason Dungey won in Atlanta was because he started in second and Stewart and RV were back in the pack, but that could be said about almost every race winner this season. The start is incredibly important in supercross, and 2012 has displayed exactly that. If you really look at the race, though, Dungey not only got off to the better start, but as the race wore on and Villopoto closed, Dungey got faster, even running his fastest lap of the Main Event on lap twenty. We know that we have yet to see the best that Dungey has to offer thus far in 2012, and we hope this is just the beginning. It is looking more and more like he and Roger DeCoster are finding the sweet spot on that new KTM. If they can continue to make ground, this series will be an incredible fight all the way down to Vegas.
When someone steps up and beats a dominant rider, what goes through his head? Do they think this is a one time thing, or do they begin to worry? After Atlanta, Ryan Villopoto’s thoughts probably fell somewhere in the middle. You can be sure he still believes that there is no way that Dungey can beat him straight up in 2012, and the only way that will begin to change is if it happens. So far in 2012 nobody has straight up blown by the #1 and won, and he knows it. Reed, Stewart and Dungey have all won, but in RV’s mind, he has not been beaten. Confidence is 9/10ths of the law in supercross, and right now, RV is 9/10ths in charge of the series.
One man who is used to having all that confidence but is becoming lighter and lighter in that category is the #7. Amazingly, when we talk about the 2012 Championship, James Stewart is not one of the first mentions, but with a forty-four point deficit, it is hard to consider him a contender for the title right now. James has been fast but, so far, has not shown he has the speed, consistency and ability to stay on two wheels needed to close the gap on the Ryans. Atlanta was looking like a good place for the former two-time champ to begin to chip away at that deficit, but once again, his start left him fighting from behind. And while we have heard the excuses that James had to roll the triple while RV jumped a red light, the bottom line is that his start was his own doing. If James wants any chance at becoming the 2012 SX Champion, he is going to need a huge mistake out of the Ryans or he has to start up front, win Main Events and win a lot of them in a row. Is James capable of it? In years past, we would have said “definitely.” Now, all we can give you is “maybe.”
So the question is, who can step up? At this point, there are not too many candidates, but one unexpected possibility entered the Supercross Class for the first time in 2012 in Atlanta: Muscle Milk/Factory Honda fill-in Cole Seely. Not only did Cole show up in Atlanta, but the Simi Valley, California kid did so by leading nearly half of the Main Event. In the end, Cole faded back to finish sixth, but the confidence gained was invaluable. We are hoping that Cole was able to get rid of the first race jitters in Atlanta and can continue to rattle the cages of the top 450 riders on the planet as the series moves on.
There is another Lites West rider will be showing up this weekend in St. Louis to throw his hat into the Supercross Class ring. Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin will be in the house aboard the KTM 350, and by all accounts, the former two-time MX2 Motocross Champion looks incredible on the bike in testing. Marvin’s smooth, calculating style seems like it would lend itself well to the bigger bike, so with a good start, he may be able to run near the top five. We love seeing these top Lites guys suit up for the premier class on opposite coasts and hope to see it more and more of this in the future.
What does this all mean? We are not sure, but one thing we have come to expect in St. Louis is excellent racing. Some of the best races have gone off inside the Edward Jones Dome, and if you think back to Villopoto and Dungey’s full on bar brawl battle in 201o that ended Villopoto’s season, you have to get at least a little excited about what might happen on Saturday night. The soil in St. Louis is prime, and the stage is perfectly set.
On to St. Louey!
Supercross Class – After 8 Rounds – 2012 Championship Points
1 1 Ryan Villopoto Seattle, WA, USA 180 2 5 Ryan Dungey Belle Plaine, MN, USA 170 3 7 James Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 136 4 22 Chad Reed Dade City, FL, USA 128 5 21 Jake Weimer Wildomar, ID, USA 106 6 14 Kevin Windham Centreville, MS, USA 105 7 24 Brett Metcalfe Lake Elsinore, CA, USA 100 8 10 Justin Brayton Murrieta, CA, USA 96 9 18 David Millsaps Murrieta, CA, USA 94 10 800 Mike Alessi Hilliard, FL, USA 90
