Photo: Supercross.com
Round three of the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, Eastern Regional Supercross Lites series went to the banks of the Mississippi for the St. Louis Supercross, and it was once again GEICO Powersports/Honda Justin Barcia that owned Edward Jones Dome. For a record third-straight year, the kid they call “Bam Bam” thumped the competition in St. Louis. In the Main Event, the stage was set for a full scale riot at the front with the three fastest qualifiers earlier in the day—Justin Barcia, Red Bull/KTM’s Ken Roczen and GEICO Powersports/Honda Justin Bogle—rounding turn one in first, second and third, but Barcia had his own plan. The defending Champ put his head down and simply disappeared. The kid is in his own league right now, and he easily rode away to remain undefeated thus far in 2012.
While Barcia put on a SX clinic up front, Roczen and Bogle stayed glued together for fourteen and a half laps. There were times where Bogle, back in third, looked as if he was being held up by the German, but Roczen stayed focused on his own race and kept the Oklahoman at bay. Then, on the final lap of the Main Event while trying to make a final push on Roczen, Bogle made a mental error and hit the deck. Adding insult to injury, the #49 fell again while trying to hang on to his podium spot. The final mistake slipped Bogle back to a disappointing fifth in the Main.
With Bogle doing his best slapstick comedy routine on the last lap, both Rockstar/Suzuki’s Blake Wharton and Monster Energy/ Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki’s Darryn Durham were able to slip by. Blake and Darryn both checked in after lap one near mid pack and rode a hard fought Main Event to score a third and fourth on the night. St. Louis marked Wharton’s first podium for the Rockstar/Suzuki team.
Finishing with the breakthrough performance of the night was MotoConcepts-backed Jake Canada. Jake rounded the first-turn in fifth place, quickly passed arenacross-transplant Jeff Gibson and ran in fourth all the way until being passed on lap eleven by Blake Wharton and Darryn Durham. From there, Jake settled in and scored a career-best sixth on the night. We expect some top fives in the Californian’s near future.
Next stop, Daytona.
Lites Class – St. Louis SX
1 1 Justin Barcia 2 70 Ken Roczen 3 956 Blake Wharton 4 35 Darryn Durham 5 49 Justin Bogle 6 57 Jake Canada 7 37 Malcolm Stewart 8 19 Kyle Cunningham 9 12 Blake Baggett 10 30 Alex Martin
Lites East – After 3 Rounds – 2012 Championship Points
1 1 Justin Barcia Ochlocknee, GA, USA 75 2 70 Ken Roczen Murrieta, USA 57 3 35 Darryn Durham Butler, PA, USA 56 4 956 Blake Wharton Beaumont, TX, USA 56 5 49 Justin Bogle Cushing, OK, USA 43
