Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto has done it again – won the supercross main event, this time at round three of the AMA championship series in Los Angeles – and he has extended his championship lead.

It was a reverse of positions from round two a week ago, with the winner at Phoenix, Yamaha’s James Stewart, having to accept runner-up spot this time around.

Third was Honda’s Trey Canard with defending open class champion Ryan Dungey (Suzuki) finishing fourth.

The win pushes Villopoto’s series lead out to five points ahead of Stewart.

Australian Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki) holeshot the main event with Dungey close behind.

Fellow Australian Chad Reed (Honda) crashed on the opening lap and re-started last. By the end of lap one, Stewart had moved up to third place.

While leading, Metcalfe crashed, handing the lead to Dungey before Stewart moved around him on lap four. Canard worked his way into third place and, two laps later,he  passed Dungey for second. On lap 11, Stewart crashed, handing the lead to Villopoto and allowing Dungey to secure second. Despite the crash, Stewart only lost a few positions and moved into second place on lap 16 where he finished the race.

“It was really slippery out there tonight,” said Villopoto. “The start of my race didn’t go as planned, but I was able to make up some time early on and things went my way.”

In the lites (250cc) class, it was the turn of Honda’s Cole Seely to celebrate victory, breaking the two-race win streak of Kawasaki rider Josh Hansen.

California’s Hansen won the first two rounds but he  finished only fifth tonight, although he maintains his advantage at the top of the standings, with fellow Kawasaki rider Broc Tickle still second overall, but now just four points adrift.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com