The 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, went to Salt Lake City, Utah today for round sixteen and the Salt Lake City SX. With Monster/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto leading the 450SX Championship by 25 points and Red Bull/KTM’s Ken Roczen leading the 250SX Western Regional Championship by 20 points, both Championships could be locked down tonight, a week early.

Because the Salt Lake City SX is infamous for inclement weather, the teams and riders usually worry heading into Utah in April, but today, they’re loving the beautiful mid 70-degree temperatures. I think this may be the first time I’ve seen a water truck in action in Salt Lake City, but the track is getting dry, hard packed and dusty. With riders searching for traction and a huge whoop section, there will definitely be some challenges to overcome tonight, but with lap-times under 50-seconds, fitness will not be a problem for most.

In the first 450 sessions, we saw second place in the points, Rockstar Energy Racings’ Davi Millsaps, setting the fastest lap with a 48.286 late in the first session. Davi finishing with the fastest lap is not a surprise, but behind him there were a few big surprises inside the top-ten. The first surprise was JGRMX/Yamaha’s Justin Brayton throwing down the second fastest time (48.679), and the biggest surprise was another Yamaha, Rock River Racing’s Ben Lamay, scoring the sixth fastest lap with a solid 49.013. The other two Championship contenders, Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto, finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the first sessions.

Davi and the Rockstar Energy Racing team had the Suzuki 450 dialed in practice. Photo: Suzuki Racing
Davi and the Rockstar Energy Racing team had the Suzuki 450 dialed in practice. Photo: Suzuki Racing

In the first 250SX qualifying sessions, it was the Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider Martin Davalos (48.896) with the fastest lap, just barely edging out Roczen’s 48.988. With GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Eli Tomac needing some help today, he’s gotta feel good about someone being on pace with Roczen, but in the first sessions, Eli was off the pace in 8th with a 50.872.

In the final 250SX sessions, most of the times from session number one held up, but Ken Roczen did improve and threw down the fastest overall combined time of 48.486. Davalos, who was fastest in the first session (48.896), went down hard in session two. He got up limping, but did finish the session on the bike, and his first session time was good enough to qualify 2nd overall on the day. Also, improving in session two was Rockstar Energy Racing’s Jason Anderson, and his 49.035 was fastest enough for 3rd overall on the day. The #1 bike struggled again in session two and heads into the night show with the tenth fastest time—a second and a half off of Roczen. Click here to view all the 250SX Salt Lake City SX qualifying times.

Unlike in the 250SX class, just about all the 450SX riders improved their times in their final qualifying session of the day. In the end, though, the man on top remained the same. Throughout both sessions, Millsaps continued to stay on top of the leaderboard, and by the end of the final session, he was the man on the pole for the night show. Millsaps’ throttle control and ability in the big Utah whoops netted him a fast lap of 47.465 which was four-tenths faster than Ryan Dungey’s 47.838 and over a second faster than Villopoto’s third place time of 48.486. With Villopoto needing to finish ahead of both Dungey and Millsaps to clinch his third-straight 450SX Championship, he has some work to do heading into tonight’s main event.

View the top-ten times from qualifying below and click here to view all the qualifying times from the Salt Lake City SX.

Roczen was the fastest 250 in qualifying, and had the fourth fastest time with the 450's and 250's combined. Photo: KTM Images - Simon Cudby
Roczen was the fastest 250 in qualifying and had the fourth fastest time with the 450’s and 250’s combined. Photo: KTM Images – Simon Cudby

You can tune into the Salt Lake City SX live on SPEED TV tonight or check out this link to find out how to follow all the action tonight live online. Three hours of archived video footage from the Salt Lake City SX Qualifying>>>

 

Top 10 450SX Times Top 10 250SX Times
1. Davi Millsaps – 47.465
2. Ryan Dungey – 47.838
3. Ryan Villopoto – 48.474
4. Trey Canard – 48.526
5. Justin Barcia  – 48.564
6. Justin Brayton – 48.679
7. Justin Hill – 48.857
8. Broc Tickle – 48.998
9. Ben Lamay – 49.013
10. Chad Reed – 49.266
1. Ken Roczen – 48.486
2. Martin Davalos – 48.896
3. Jason Anderson – 49.035
4. Zach Osborne – 49.115
5. Ryan Sipes – 49.448
6. Cole Seely – 49.535
7. Malcolm Stewart – 49.592
8. Christian Craig – 49.846
9. Kyle Cunninham 50.018
10. Eli Tomac- 50.165
Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.