The RacerX Vegas Report
The climax of the anti-climax
www.racerxonline.com By Jason Weigandt
Thanks to all the drama infused into previous rounds of Monster Energy Supercross--and Ryan Villopoto's ruthless handling of the best riders in the world--the 2014 SX finale was void of the typical championship tension. But this one counts like any other, and while the racing didn't offer up much action, the record book will show that what went down in Vegas will loom large in the history books.
The battle for the only title legitimately still up for grabs, in 250 SX West, kicked the night off (well, after the 450 heats) and the two title combatants, Cole Seely and Jason Anderson, both got terrible starts. The stage was set when Seely made a clean pass on Anderson on the first lap and they then began to race through the pack together.
Cooper Webb put his Yamalube/Star Racing bike up front with a huge holeshot, while Dean Wilson gave chase.Photo: Cudby Wilson started making a run on his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Webb slowed due to downed riders and yellow flags in a section, and that allowed Wilson to close right up. They then battled hard for several laps.Photo: CudbyAnderson tried to follow Seely through traffic, knowing as long as he didn’t let too many riders finish in between them, the title was his. Eventually Seely broke away just as they got into his TLD teammates--but they raced Anderson clean. Seely made a few passes and got to fourth, but there was too much distance to make up on the riders in front of him.Photo: CudbySeely struggled with his starts in both the 250 West main and later in the ShootoutPhoto: Cudby Wilson secured the lead late, but Webb put in a furious charge on the last two laps to try to get the lead back. Lappers hung him up once, and that gave Wilson the gap he needed to net his second win of the year.Webb was second, Justin Hill was third.Photo: CudbySeely took fourth, his teammate Malcolm Stewart fifth, and Anderson sixth. It was enough to net Anderson the championship—the first pro title of his career, and first ever for Rockstar Energy Racing KTM.Photo: CudbyIn 250 East, the title was already GEICO Honda's Justin Bogle’s (essentially) and for good measure he grabbed the holeshot in the main. But Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha's Jeremy Martin was determined to grab his first career win, and stalked Bogle throughout.Photo: CudbyMartin finally made the pass and then pulled away from Bogle. This is the Jeremy Martin we thought we’d see all season long—instead he had to climb from DNQs to main event wins. This victory marked his first professional win.Photo: CudbyBogle’s second was enough to win the title—but you knew that! Jimmy Decotis and Kyle Cunningham completed the top five.Photo: CudbyIn the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout, Hill and Wilson led the field into the stadium and that was it—Hill rode a near-perfect 10 laps to grab the victory. He and Wilson made for a Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki 1-2.Photo: CudbyBogle tried to represent the East with his 1E, but a mistake in a rhythm lane sent him off the track while running in the top five. Anderson’s 1w got to grace the podium with third.Photo: CudbyHere's a shot of Bogle's championship look. Gold wheels!Photo: CudbyIn the 450SX main, two Monster Energy Kawasaki’s raced into the building first, Jake Weimer followed by Ryan Villopoto. Soon Villopoto knifed inside and you know what was coming next….RV led all 20 laps. That's 80-straight laps led to end the season!Photo: CudbySo we’ll shift further back. Ryan Dungey made the pass on Weimer and his Red Bull KTM teammate Ken Roczen followed him through. From there, there wasn’t much to report.Photo: CudbyJustin Barcia aired out a big single jump on his Muscle Milk Honda and also wore this crazy gold flake gear. Here he is dealing with some craziness early in the main with Andrew Short, Mike Alessi and Trey Canard. Canard ended up stuck pretty far back and Alessi lost a chain. Barcia finished fourth, Canard finished fifth when Weimer and Josh Grant had problems..Photo: CudbyGrant rode well and spent most of the race in sixth, but ended up eighth on his JGR Toyota Yamaha.Photo: CudbyCanard grabbed fifth when Weimer and Grant had troubles--he was even better in the heat race where he led Villopoto all the way to the last lap.Photo: CudbyJames Stewart ran into apparent front fork problems early in the 450 main event and had to pull off the track.Photo: Cudby