The 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, series heads to the Mardi Gras city of New Orleans, Louisiana for the fourteenth stop on the tour. Normally, the party outside the stadium would be nothing near as exciting as the racing inside the Superdome, but with the Supercross Class Championship wrapped up, the Lites Eastern Regional SX Championship just about wrapped up and a laundry list of top riders on the sidelines with injuries, the party on Bourbon Street may be the place to be.
To add insult to an already injury plagued 2012 the series has lost two more of its top names to injury, GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Kevin Windham and JGR/Yamaha’s James Stewart. K’dub announced he will be out for the season after crashing hard in Houston and suffering a separated shoulder as well as damage to his left wrist, left thumb and right hip. James announced he will be out for New Orleans because of a fractured hand he sustained in Indianapolis and further aggravated with his crash in Houston. We have a feeling we may not be seeing the #7 at any more Supercross races in 2012, but only James really knows.
With two more top riders leaving the series we are happy to report that two very solid riders will be returning. Both Honda’s Andrew Short and Motosport.com/Ti-Lubes Nick Wey will make their return from injury in New Orleans. Before getting injured Andrew scored a top five in Oakland and Wey was becoming a consistent top ten finisher, but we have no idea where they are at now until the gate drops on Saturday night. One thing we do know is Andrew will be is pitted with the Factory Honda rig. Rumors have been raging that the Brooks-Mcgrath team may be closing shop and with Andrew moving over to the Honda rig, that rumor looks to have legs. We also hear that Andrew may be staying with Factory Honda for the outdoors as well. If that ends up true we are pumped for Shorty.
With the ever growing list of top riders injured, the door has been left wide open for some very unexpected names to occupy second and third in the points after New Orleans. Right now—four rounds after his last race—Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey still holds down the second spot in the points, but JGR/Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps and Muscle Milk/Honda’s Justin Brayton should finally push the #5 back this weekend. Davi sits in third—one point behind Dungey and ten points ahead of Brayton in fourth. With four rounds to go there is a lot of podium bonus money up for grabs and quite possibly their best overall series finishes in their careers. We expect a battle for that runner up spot and for one or both of them to possibly steal a win before the series concludes in Vegas.
The man they will have to beat to get that ever elusive win is the now two-time , back-to-back Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto. Can they do it? Not without a huge mistake from the Champion. Ryan has been a finely tuned machine all year long and we cannot see that changing simply because he clinched the Championship and the pressure is off. We expect RV1 to do what he has done all year long; win.
Supercross Class Points – Top 10
1 1 Ryan Villopoto Seattle, WA, USA 296 2 5 Ryan Dungey Belle Plaine, MN, USA 192 3 18 David Millsaps Murrieta, CA, USA 191 4 10 Justin Brayton Murrieta, CA, USA 181 5 7 James Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 178 6 21 Jake Weimer Wildomar, ID, USA 170 7 14 Kevin Windham Centreville, MS, USA 166 8 24 Brett Metcalfe Lake Elsinore, CA, USA 154 9 800 Mike Alessi Hilliard, FL, USA 154 10 22 Chad Reed Dade City, FL, USA 128
The 2012 Lites Eastern Regional SX Championship heads to New Orleans for their penultimate round of 2012. Like in the Supercross Class, their series has also been ruled by the returning champion. GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia has been a unstoppable force. The man they call Bam Bam heads into New Orleans with a thirty-two point lead, and if he can finish fourth or better he will guarantee himself his second straight Lites East SX Championship. When you consider that he has not finished off the box in a points-paying Lites SX race since March of 2010 it would appear he is a virtual lock to get it done.
While it may appear that the #1 is a good bet, anything can happen in Supercross. Just ask Eli Tomac out west. There is nobody on the line that wants to watch Barcia celebrate, so you can be sure there will be contenders trying to spoil his early celebration plans in New Orleans. On the top of that list are the two men that have broken up the Champions perfect season; Rockstar Suzuki’s Blake Wharton—Indy SX winner—and Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen—who won the last main event in Houston. We will not be surprised to see a love tap or two if either of them can get close to the returning champ.
Lites East Class Points – Top 10
1 1 Justin Barcia Ochlocknee, GA, USA 167 2 956 Blake Wharton Pilot Point, TX, USA 135 3 70 Ken Roczen Murrieta, USA 127 4 35 Darryn Durham Butler, PA, USA 118 5 12 Blake Baggett Grand Terrace, CA, USA 106 6 57 Jake Canada Sun City, CA, USA 104 7 49 Justin Bogle Cushing, OK, USA 87 8 30 Alex Martin Millville, MN, USA 65 9 60 Matthew Lemoine Collinsville, TX, USA 57 10 37 Malcolm Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 55
New Orleans Supercross – Animated Track Map
