Photo: Supercross.com
For the penultimate round, the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship Series, went to Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the Supercross Class, it was Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey edging out JGR/Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps, and in the Western Regional Lites Class, it was GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Eli Tomac’s night to celebrate. With his Championship competition struggling in Utah, Eli would win the Main Event and clinch the Lites West Championship.
In the Supercross Class, Main Event Davi Millsaps grabbed the holeshot with Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer and Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey running second and third. The three of them took off and gapped the field early.
About the midway point of the Main Event, Dungey began to push Weimer, but Weimer fought back and the #5 went down. Dungey quickly remounted and on lap seventeen, finally made a pass stick on the #21 Kawasaki to secure second.
With only three laps to go and a three-second deficit to make up on Millsaps, the podium looked set, but Dungey wasn’t finished yet. He quickly made up a couple of seconds, and with a half lap to go, Millsaps made a grave mistake. The JGR rider—while dealing with lapped traffic—cased a jump in a rhythm section, allowing Dungey to sneak by for the Main Event win. Davi Millsaps held onto what had to be a frustrating second place finish, and Jake Weimer grabbed his second straight podium in third.
Crossing the line just off the podium was Muscle Milk/Honda’s Justin Brayton in fourth and MotoConcepts’ Mike Alessi in fifth. Brayton rode well, but a bad start left him out of contention for a podium.
Supercross Class Main Event
1 5 Ryan Dungey 2 18 David Millsaps 3 21 Jake Weimer 4 10 Justin Brayton 5 800 Mike Alessi 6 25 Broc Tickle 7 29 Andrew Short 8 33 Joshua Grant 9 81 Robert Kiniry 10 74 Tyler Bowers 11 87 Matthew Goerke 12 54 Weston Peick 13 27 Nicholas Wey 14 617 Gavin Faith 15 66 Jason Thomas 16 47 Chris Blose 17 11 Kyle Chisholm 18 48 Jimmy Albertson 19 36 Kyle Regal 20 24 Brett Metcalfe
In the Lites Main Event, all eyes were on Eli Tomac and the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki of Dean Wilson. The two Championship rivals had a heated battle in Seattle and most wondered if the battle would pick up where it left off. Off the gate, though, it was all about Rockstar/Suzuki’s Jason Anderson. The New Mexico native grabbed the holeshot and took off. Behind Anderson, around the first turn, was Wilson and Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin with Tomac back in sixth.
Anderson out front built a five-second gap early on, but Tomac was doing work and, by lap eight, had latched onto Wilson and pushed them both up to the back of Anderson. On lap nine, Tomac made a clean move on Wilson and, two laps later, passed Anderson for the lead.
With Tomac up front, Deano knew he had to make something happen, but his race and the Championship would slip away with a single crash when he went down hard in the Whoops. His crash and DNF moved Rockstar/Suzuki’s Martin Davalos up to third, GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Wil Hahn up to fourth and Marvin Musquin up to fifth, but more importantly, it ended the Championship.
In the end, Tomac crossed the line with his fourth win of the 2012 Monster Energy SX season as the newly-crowned Western Regional Lites Supercross Champion. Finishing behind Tomac, with the first podium of his career, was Jason Anderson and his teammate Martin Davalos in third.
Lites West Class Main Event
1 17 Eli Tomac *Clinched 2012 Championship 2 44 Jason Anderson 3 31 Martin Davalos 4 58 Wil Hahn 5 38 Marvin Musquin 6 105 Matt Moss 7 232 Billy Laninovich 8 986 Topher Ingalls 9 59 Vince Friese 10 67 Scott Champion 11 84 Killy Rusk 12 854 Landen Powell 13 774 Preston Tilford 14 570 Beau Hudson 15 95 Chris Plouffe 16 53 Ryan Sipes 17 133 Myles Tedder 18 965 Travis Bright 19 15 Dean Wilson 20 476 Collin Jurin
