The 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, heads to Salt Lake City, Utah for their penultimate round of the Championship. If you would have asked me this time last week who would win, the answer would of been an easy one: Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto. Now, though, with RV1 going down in Seattle and out for the rest of 2012 to get knee surgery, it is a whole new ball game. While we hate to see another top rider out with an injury, it does bring a little uncertainty and excitement to the last two rounds of racing, so let’s talk about who is still healthy and can win the Supercross Class Main Event in Salt Lake.
The obvious answer would be Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey who made his return from a broken collarbone last weekend in Seattle. While I agree that Dungey is one of the obvious favorites, I have to question where he is at physically after watching him in Seattle. The #5 looked good at times, but at no point did he look like a serious threat. He struggled to pass Muscle Milk/Honda’s Justin Brayton, and then after running into Brayton and crashing, he spent half the Main Event right behind JGRMX’s Davi Millsaps and was never able to make the pass. With a start, I am not sure that there is anyone that will run down and pass Dungey, but Dungey showed in Seattle that he will struggle without a start. While a lot can happen in a week, we still are slow to give Dungey “big favorite” status just yet.
Then, there is the 2012 Seattle Supercross Main Event winner L&MC/Honda’s Andrew Short. I will be honest: somebody asked me a week ago if Andrew could win, and I said, “No way.” Well, let me first eat my crow and then say congratulations to Andrew. Now, can he do it again? Absolutely. There is a lot of truth to the saying that if you do something once, it gets a lot easier to do it again. Half the battle in Supercross is believing that you can do something, and Andrew now knows that he can win against this field. If there is a time where Shorty might put it all on the line for a win or two, it will be the last two weeks of SX.
Another solid contender in Salt Lake this weekend is the seventeen year otld Red Bull/KTM’s Ken Roczen. Last weekend in Seattle, Kenny showed he is more than up for the challenge of the premier Supercross Class. After a second place start on the KTM 350, he wasted no time in going after Short for the lead and even passed him momentarily. In the end, Ken settled in to finish second behind his good friend Short. That second place finish coupled with him laying down the fastest lap of the Main Event may have given the German the confidence he needs to win in Salt Lake.
Jake Weimer is another rider that has to be coming into Salt Lake knowing that he is a solid contender for his first-ever Supercross Class win. The Monster Energy/Kawasaki rider was able to make his way onto the box with the class stacked, so we know he is capable of winning with the field that is left. All in all, Jake has scored three podiums in his rookie Supercross Class campaign and, with a contract year staring him in the face, could definitely use a win before the conclusion in Vegas.
While everyone is just racing for possible podiums and wins, Justin Brayton and Davi Millsaps are in a heated points battle for second place in the series, which for both of them would be their best-ever finish in the series. Heading into the final two races, both riders would love to steal a win or two, and they are both capable of it. Right now, Millsaps sits in second place with a three-point advantage over Brayton.
If you would have told me in January that these six guys would be my top contenders for Main Event wins late in the year, I would have probably said you are nuts. But 2012 has been a brutal year and the battle of attrition has been waged like no year before it. There is a lot to be said for any rider that has made it through the whole series. If any of these guys pull off some wins, the history books will not remember who was on the line, just who won.
Supercross Class Points:
1 1 Ryan Villopoto Seattle, WA, USA 323 2 18 David Millsaps Murrieta, CA, USA 222 3 10 Justin Brayton Murrieta, CA, USA 219 4 5 Ryan Dungey Belle Plaine, MN, USA 207 5 21 Jake Weimer Wildomar, ID, USA 191 6 7 James Stewart Haines City, FL, USA 178 7 800 Mike Alessi Hilliard, FL, USA 176 8 24 Brett Metcalfe Lake Elsinore, CA, USA 173 9 14 Kevin Windham Centreville, MS, USA 166 10 25 Broc Tickle Holly, MI, USA 146
