The 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, resumed tonight inside of Houston’s Reliant Stadium after a one week break for Easter. Heading into the Houston Supercross, Monster/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto carried a four-race win streak and a 12-point lead over the Rockstar Energy rider Davi Millsaps in the 450SX Championship. In the 250SX East, Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin had cut GEICO/Honda’s Wil Hahn’s points lead down to 6 with a three-race win of his own. Both Championships were tight and looking like a battle to Las Vegas, but with Villopoto making it five straight wins and Hahn finishing in front of Musquin, their leads are looking a little more comfortable now heading to Minneapolis next Saturday.
In the 450 main event, it was the MotoConcepts holeshot hero, Mike Alessi, with the lead at the stripe, but Villopoto wasted no time making the pass for the lead. Once around Mike, Villopoto sprinted, and while his championship rivals made there way forward, he went to work up front. At the end of lap one, it was Villopoto, Alessi, Canard and Dungey in the top four, with Villopoto’s closest championship rival, Millsaps, buried back in ninth. While Dungey and Millsaps struggled to make passes on the tough Houston circuit, Villopoto built a six-second lead he would easily manage to the checkered flag.
Behind Villopoto, Muscle Milk/Honda’s Trey Canard rode an impressive main event—considering he missed the last round in Toronto due to a concussion the week before in Indianapolis—and kept Dungey at bay until nearly the halfway point of the main event. On lap eight, though, both Dungey and Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart got around Trey and pushed him off the podium to fourth. Fortunately for Trey and unfortunately for Stewart, the #7 crashed a lap later and handed the final spot on the box back over to the #41. From there, Dungey brought it home in second behind Villopoto for the third time in the last four main events, and Canard held on to score his first podium since round three of the series.
Behind the podium finishers came Muscle Milk/Honda’s Justin Barcia in fourth and the man that sits second in the points, Millsaps, in fifth. Bam Bam started up near the front, was quickly shuffled back to sixth, passed Alessi and, if not for Stewart’s crash, would have remained in fifth at the flag. Millsaps, on the other hand, was marred back in around 15th around the first-turn and spent the entire main moving forward trying to salvage his championship. In the end, Millsaps was able to climb up to fifth, but with that fifth, he now sits twenty-one points in back of Villopoto and just a slim four points in front of Dungey. For Millsaps, Houston may have been a crushing blow for his championship hopes, but with four rounds to go, there is always that anything-can-happen factor that comes with every SX main event.
In the 250SX main event, it was a very different story for the Rockstar Energy team and their 250 rider, Blake Wharton. It was the privateer Honda of Zack Freeberg with the holeshot, but Wharton showed he was on a mission right from jump street. Wharton made quick work of Freeberg, but Musquin immediately dove in on Wharton and snaked the lead. I’m not sure what got into Wharton in Houston, but he went right back after Musquin, and after a gnarly back-and-forth exchange, the #13 secured the lead once again. For the next five laps, Wharton held the lead with Musquin stalking him, but a crash by the #25 moved him back to fourth behind Hahn and the Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki fill-in rider Tyler Bowers.
With Marvin’s mistake, it was now Hahn’s turn to try and make a pass stick on Wharton, but Slash was making it abundantly clear that it was going to take a sniper in the audience to make a pass stick on him in Houston. Hahn tried every move in the book, but tonight was Wharton’s night and Wharton’s win. Unlike in Indy, Wharton handled the pressure and brought it home for his first win of 2013 and the third win of his career. Hahn got close, but in the end, he had to settle for second and, with that, was able to stack a couple more points on his lead in the championship.
Marvin, meanwhile, was able to get back around the arenacross champion Bowers and grab the third spot on the podium. Marvin showed in Houston that he was the fastest man on the track, but the battle with Wharton seemed to get the best of him. With his win streak ending with a third place finish, Marvin now has eight points to make up on Hahn and three rounds to go.
Finishing with a career-best fourth in his first SX race of the year was the #68. Bowers was impressive in his debut as a fill-in rider for Mitch Payton’s squad, but he was slightly off the pace of the top three. What was most impressive, though, is where Bowers came from to get fourth. Bowers got caught up in a turn-one mess and was way outside of the top ten. The three-time AX champ used that tight racing experience to make some quick passes and was seventh by the end of lap one. After such a showing in his debut, I expect we will definitely see a Pro Circuit bike on the podium in either Minneapolis or Vegas. Next stop, Minneapolis.
Check out the main event results and updated points below. For full heat race and main event results from the Houston SX, CLICK HERE.
450SX Class Results: Houston
Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM
Trey Canard, Shawnee, Oklahoma, Honda
Justin Barcia, Ochlocknee, Ga., Honda
Davi Millsaps, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki
Justin Brayton, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Yamaha
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM
Josh Hill, Yoncalla, Ore, Suzuki
Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki
Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Suzuki
450SX Class Season Standings
Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 277
Davi Millsaps, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki, 256
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM, 252
Justin Barcia, Ochlocknee, Ga., Honda, 202
Chad Reed, Australia, Honda, 196
Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda, 185
James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Suzuki, 171
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM, 162
Justin Brayton, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Yamaha, 137
Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Suzuki, 133
Eastern Regional 250SX Class Results: Houston
Blake Wharton, Pilot Point, Texas, Suzuki
Wil Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Honda
Marvin Musquin, France, KTM
Tyler Bowers, Danville, Ken., Kawasaki
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Honda
Cole Thompson, Canada, Honda
Peter Larsen, Menifee, Calif., Honda
Lance Vincent, Youngsville, La., Honda
Daniel Herrlein, Bethesda, Ohio, Honda
Steven Clarke, Cairo, Ga., KTM
Eastern Regional 250SX Class Season Standings
Wil Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Honda, 156
Marvin Musquin, France, KTM, 148
Blake Wharton, Pilot Point, Texas, Suzuki, 133
Vince Friese, Cape Girardeau, Mo., Honda, 89
Dean Wilson, Scotland, Kawasaki, 87
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Honda, 82
Kyle Peters, Greensboro, N.C., Honda, 78
Cole Thompson, Canada, Honda, 72
Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha, 71
Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Kawasaki, 68
