Villopoto takes first win of the season
Published: 17th March 2008
Author: Pondo
Ryan Villopoto and Josh Hill take notable wins at Minneapolis - for ‘Poto, it’s a welcome return to form for his first win of the year, whilst for Hill, it’s an against-the-odds career first win on a 450. But the eyes are on Chad Reed - in charge of the Supercross series almost from the outset, it seems the likeable Australian is intent on giving it away…
When the gate dropped for the Supercross main, the attack of the newbies began - Ryan Dungey got the holeshot and Yamaha’s Josh Hill took little time in jumping in behind him in second, with Kevin Windham in third, struggling to make a lasting impression on the two young former schoolboy rivals. Reed, by contrast, started poorly but mounted a recovery that brought him through the field at speed - even when feeling the effects of an illness that’s stayed with him since the shock at Daytona last week, Speedy Reedy was the fastest man in the field, albeit a scant three-tenths of a second quicker than Dungey, but with time and the speed to run the leaders down. Up front, Hill barged his way into the lead and began to motor off into the distance, as Dungey settled into a comfortable second, and Reed jumped his way past Windham on lap five to make his way into the top three - still very much under the weather, the Championship leader kept plugging away, and caught Ryan Dungey, putting the pass on to take second and closing in on Hill.
Then he crashed.
(Chad Reed doesn’t crash very often; I felt it deserved a paragraph of it’s own.) By the time Reedy picked his bike up and got going from his off near the end of the whoops, he was back in eighth, and would only make up one more spot before the finish. With Windham bringing it in comfortably in third, behind a happy Dungey and an over-the-moon Hill, the San Manuel Band Of Mission Indians Yamaha rider now has a 17 point lead over K-Dub, with six races left - a 17 point gap is still a pretty big gap, but it’s only half the gap it was two races ago.
In the Lites class, there was a knock-down drag-out brawl for the win between Ryan Villopoto and Josh Grant - for the first time this year, Trey Canard, banged up after a big practice crash, would not win his Lites class main. Instead, Villopoto and Grant ran nose-to-tail for the whole race, even occasionally cagily swapping places without either being able to make the decisive move. With Villopoto frequently showing Grant his front wheel, it all boiled down to the last couple of turns - ‘Poto put the Pro Circuit Kawasaki into the lead as Grant took a risky outside line, but when the Torco Fuels Honda rider tried to return the favour a moment later, he lost control and went down, giving Villopoto the win at the death. Deservedly, however, Grant was able to remount to take second place. Championship-wise, with three rounds left, Canard has a healthy-looking 24 point lead - but Villopoto is showing signs of recovering fully from his wrist injuries which promises a can of whoop-ass for everyone else in the class. Canard has the pace to get the finishes he needs to take the title - as long as he holds his nerve…
After the British Championships enjoyed clement weather last weekend (at least, until the final support race), the fates were not so kind to the British Masters - the former KWS series was due to open at Culham this weekend, but even the weather-resistant Thames-side sand was unable to absorb the amount of rain thrown at it this week. Although events ran as planned on the Saturday, by Sunday the former GP track had had enough, and the meeting was abandoned before the pros had a chance to do their stuff - fingers crossed that the weather holds for next weekend’s second round of the British Championships at Canada Heights.