One to Remember
Minneapolis Supercross
The 2013 450 Supercross race in Minneapolis
is one they’ll be talking about a long time, thanks to the battle
between Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto
in the final laps. At the checkers it was Minnesota native, Dungey, who
came through with the win, edging out RV by 0.9 seconds and bringing
every last member of the Metrodome audience to their feet. Rockstar
Suzuki’s Davi Millsaps finished the night in third well behind the front-runners, ending 17 seconds adrift of Villopoto.
Motoconcepts’ Mike Alessi
nabbed the holeshot, but was unable to turn his quick start to a lead
as Villopoto, Dungey and RCH’s Josh Hill pushed ahead and assumed the
one, two and three spots respectively. Within the opening laps Millsaps
found a line past Hill into third and was able to keep within striking
distance of Dungey for a period, but was unable to make anything come of
it through the first half of the race. Hill remained steady in fourth
until mid-race when Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart
made the pass for position. After that, Hill continued to slip down the
ranks until finally reaching eighth, where he’d eventually finish.
Stewart, on the other hand, seemed to have plenty of speed on his side,
moving from eighth in the opening laps to within sight of podium
position at the mid-point of competition. Something went wrong with JS7
soon after he moved to fourth though; he pulled off track and headed to
the mechanics area, ending his night early. The Suzuki ace struggled
earlier on in the day as well, crashing hard during his heat and having
to battle in the LCQ for a bid to the main, marking yet another
frustrating turn of events for Bubba.
Ryan Villopoto (1) and Ryan Dungey (5) engaged in all out war for the win in 450 SX in Minneapolis.
Out front, competition intensified through every turn. Dungey began an
intense charge on RV with close to nine laps remaining and was cutting
time through each lap. The KTM rider lost traction in his rear tire for a
moment and dropped back slightly, but only by a few tenths of a second.
He regained his composure and forged ahead, getting to within half a
second of RV with five laps to go. Dungey put in a string of 49-second
laps, and finally made the pass to the front with three laps remaining.
RV fired back but Dungey was relentless, regaining the lead and holding
there to the checkers.
Team Honda Muscles Milk’s Justin Barcia
battled through the ranks to earn his fourth-place finish, as did
Discount Tire Americas’ Chad Reed, who took fifth. BTO Sports’ Andrew
Short grabbed sixth while Barcia’s teammate, Trey Canard, took seventh.
Canard showed plenty of heart after he rallied back from a mid-race
crash which left him outside the top-10. Hill took eighth followed by
JGRMX rider Justin Brayton in ninth and Hyper-X’s Weston Peick in 10th.
Villopoto continues to hold the overall lead, but now has Dungey nipping
at his heels 23 points back in second. Millsaps fell to third overall,
sitting just one point behind Dungey, while Barcia holds to fourth.
Minneapolis 450 Supercross Results 2013:
1. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
2. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
3. Davi Millsaps (Suzuki)
4. Justin Barcia (Honda)
5. Chad Reed (Honda)
6. Andrew Short (KTM)
7. Trey Canard (Honda)
8. Justin Hill (Suzuki)
9. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)
10. Weston Peick (Suzuki)
11. Matt Goerke (KTM)
12. Jake Weimer (Kawasaki)
13. Broc Tickle (Suzuki)
14. Mike Alessi (Suzuki)
15. Chris Blose (Yamaha)
450 Supercross Championship Points 2013:
1. Ryan Villopoto, 299
2. Ryan Dungey, 277
3. Davi Millsaps, 276
4. Justin Barcia, 220
5. Chad Reed, 212
6. Trey Canard, 199
7. Andrew Short, 177
8. James Stewart, 174
9. Justin Brayton, 149
10. Broc Tickle, 141
Minneapolis 250 Supercross Results 2013
Musquin moved to the lead off the start and never looked back, gaining a multi-second advantage within the opening laps. Wharton and Hahn, meanwhile, were at each other’s throats, vying in a close battle for position. Wharton made a slight error early on which allowed 2013 Arenacross champion Tyler Bowers of Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki to move past into third, but Wharton was quick to correct and didn’t give Bowers any breathing room.
Mid-race Wharton regained the number three spot, but his aggressive pass knocked Bowers to the ground momentarily and cost the Kawasaki rider two positions. Motoconcepts’ Gavin Faith slipped past into fourth and Bowers was able to recover to fifth, both riders holding their respective positions to the finish.
The gaps between riders stretched so wide that by the end Musquin was over 41 seconds on sixth-place finisher Lance Vincent of Munn Racing KTM. Slaton’s Vince Friese ended the night in seventh with Pilgrim Powersports’ A.J. Catanzaro trailing in eighth. KTM rider Steven Clarke grabbed ninth and AX Tour’s Cole Thompson rounded out the top-10.
Hann and Musquin are now separated by a slim five points, with the final SX East champion to be decided during the finale in Las Vegas. Wharton sits third overall 20 points adrift of Musquin while Friese is fourth just three points ahead of Faith, in fifth.
Minneapolis 250 Supercross Results 2013:
1. Marvin Musquin (KTM)
2. Wil Hahn (Honda)
3. Blake Wharton (Suzuki)
4. Gavin Faith (Honda)
5. Tyler Bowers (Kawasaki)
6. Lance Vincent (KTM)
7. Vince Friese (Honda)
8. A.J. Catanzaro (Kawasaki)
9. Steven Clarke (KTM)
10. Cole Thompson (Honda)
11. Mitchell Oldenburg (Honda)
12. Jackson Richardson (Honda)
13. Daniel Herrlein (Honda)
14. Landen Powell (Honda)
15. Levi Kilbarger (Honda)
250 Supercross East Points 2013:
1. Wil Hahn, 178
2. Marvin Musquin, 173
3. Blake Wharton, 153
4. Vince Friese, 103
5. Gavin Faith, 100
6. Dean Wilson, 87
7. Cole Thompson, 83
8. Kyle Peters, 78
9. Jeremy Martin, 71
10. Justin Hill, 68
