Ryan Villopoto was on another level in Houston. Photo by: Nolan MacDonald
The 2014 Houston Supercross and round number fourteen of the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross series was a statement night for the Championship points leader. Both Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto and Rockstar/KTM’s Jason Anderson won their fourth main event of the year and took a huge step towards sealing the deal on their respective 2014 Championships.
In the 450SX Class main event, Villopoto got out front early, threw down the fastest laps of the night and rode away for the Houston Supercross win. It was Villopoto’s 4th win of the 2014 season and his most important one thus far. The man that was second in the points, Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey, crashed on lap one and rode hard to salvage a seventh. With Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart feeling under the weather, the best the #7 could do was fifth. After his win—coupled with Stewart’s and Dungey’s issues—the #1 now has a massive forty-five point lead heading into round fifteen in Seattle. If Villopoto outscores Stewart by six and Dungey by five, he will clinch his fourth-straight 450SX Championship next weekend at his home supercross.
In the 250SX class, it was Anderson doing exactly what he needed to do. Heading into round seven of the 250SX Western Regional Championship, Anderson had a four-point lead over Troy Lee Designs/Honda’s Cole Seely, but in Houston, the #17 got track position early, and despite a late-race surge from Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson, he was able to hang on for the win. With Anderson’s win and Seely finishing fourth in the Houston main event, Anderson now takes a eleven-point cushion into the final two events.
In the lap time battle, it was the top-two 450SX riders, Villopoto (47.495) and Justin Barcia (47.788), with the only laps under the 48-second mark. The big difference on the night was Villopoto’s consistency and ability to stay within a second of his fastest lap for most of the main event. When the checkered flag flew, Villopoto’s average lap (48.959) was faster than all five riders’ fastest laps of the night, and with that, the #1 lapped up to eighth place. That is what we refer to as a Championship-winning performance.
In the 250SX class, it was Anderson (48.125) clocking the fastest 250 lap by more than a half second. While Dean Wilson was able to catch Anderson late in the main event, it was Anderson’s early-race speed that won him the Houston SX main event. With his low 48-second lap times, he built himself a big enough cushion to maintain to the flag.
You can check out the top ten 250 and 450 times from the Houston SX below. Scroll down to see how the main events broke down lap-for-lap in the gnarly conditions with MotoXAddicts’ lap-time comparison charts. Also, see how the top 3 250SX riders matched up against the top 3 450SX finishers lap-for-lap.
Full 2014 Houston SX results here>>>
| Top 10 450 Times | Top 10 250 Times |
|---|---|
| 1. Ryan Villopoto – 47.495 2. Justin Barcia – 47.788 3. Ken Roczen – 48.413 4. Trey Canard – 48.633 5. Eli Tomac – 48.838 6. Andrew Short – 49.089 7. Ryan Dungey – 49.099 8. James Stewart – 49.259 9. Josh Hill – 49.277 10. Weston Peick – 50.464 |
1. Jason Anderson – 48.125 2. Cole Seely – 48.832 3. Dean Wilson – 48.966 4. Malcolm Stewart – 48.975 5. Justin Hill – 49.034 6. Zach Osborne – 49.718 7. Shane McElrath – 49.791 8. Cooper Webb – 49.839 9. Jake Canada – 50.820 10. Jessy Nelson – 51.199 |
Each graph charts the lap times of the top five finishers in each main event. You can run your cursor over the lines to see which rider the line signifies and that rider’s time for each lap. Click on a rider’s name on the right to remove them from the chart so you can run riders’ times against each other heads up. Also, riders are colored to match their bike brand.
Follow MotoXAddicts on Twitter for all your SX-MX updates>>>
