KAWASAKI MAN AGAIN
Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was unstoppable at round 10 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championships event in Indianapolis on Saturday night.
With a solid points lead entering this round 10 event, the pressure was perhaps on for the likeable red-haired rider, but Kawasaki’s Villopoto was up to it.
His main rival, Yamaha’s James Stewart was dead last at the start and forced to battle through. By the end of lap one Stewart was up to fourth, obviously hungry to not lose any more ground on his championship rivals.
Australian Chad Reed (Honda) and defending champion Ryan Dungey (Suzuki) were running second and third through most of the race until about the halfway stage when Dungey clipped Reed’s rear wheel and went down, allowing the hard-charging Stewart to move up to third.
Although Villopoto won again, extending his championship lead to 26 points over Stewart, the aggressive Stewart was equally impressive, coming through the entire field to eventually pounce and take the runner-up spot within sight of the finish line.
Meanwhile, in the East Coast Lites (250cc) class (round four for that separate but parallel series), Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes won the 15-lap main event.
That was enough to move him up one position, from fourth to third in the championships standings, although Justin Barcia’s runner-up finish was sufficient for the Honda rider to retain the championship lead.
Barcia leads the series by six points from Kawasaki’s Blake Baggett, with Sipes another six points further back.
The next round is at Jacksonville, Florida, next weekend.
© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com