Ryan Villopoto Wins 2013 Supercross In St Louis

PIC: www.cyclenews.com

There are certainly many valid claims to the legitimacy of it, but two-times champion Ryan Villopoto picked up his fourth win of the 2013 championship with another commanding victory at St.Louis.

Anyone who might question whether a Supercross race is exciting enough would have been duly silenced after the events on Saturday. St Louis had it all: crashes, restarts, intense racing and a couple of suspicious acts of rule breaking...

First things first. After a nasty accident between Kyle Chisholm and Matt Goerke on lap 3 (see the first video), the race was restarted with a not-often-seen single file line. With James Stewart having led the race up until that point, he sat at the front of the queue. Ryan Villopoto (who already seemed to avoid a wrist slapping for jumping while a medical flag was out) sat back in 6th. 

It wasnt a position he would stay in for long as both Villopoto and Chad Reed quickly work their way past Mike Alessi (who started in 3rd), to start  chasing down Justin Barcia in 2nd. Villopoto then muscles Reed out of 3rd before the end of lap five.

By lap eight, everything started to kick off: Barcia was sat on Stewarts tail, with Villopoto hot on the heels of Barcia. By lap 10, RV had overtaken Barcia and was swapping the lead with Stewart multiple times over the next couple of laps. At one point, both Ryan Villopoto and Justin Barcia sit ahead of James Stewart but Barcia tags a tuff block on lap 13 which allows Stewart, Reed and - from out of nowhere - Ryan Dungey to get past, pushing Barcia back to 5th.

With five laps left to go, we are shown a replay of VIllopoto passing Stewart on a yellow flag but it seems that the race officials let the Monster Energy riders second infraction slide.

So, by the end of the race, RV takes a big chunk out of Millsaps points lead (Davi finished back in 6th) and Ryan Dungey sits as a quiet threat in 3rd. There are seven races still to go, but Villopoto is showing that he wont let anything get in his way on his mission for a third championship title.

ST LOUIS RESULTS

1st Ryan Villopoto
2nd James Stewart
3rd Chad Reed
4th Ryan Dungey
5th Justin Barcia
6th Davi Millsaps
7th Mike Alessi
8th Trey Canard
9th Justin Brayton
10th Andrew Short

2013 SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1st  David Millsaps          189
2nd Ryan Villopoto         177
3rd  Ryan Dungey           166
4th  Trey Canard              148
5th  Chad Reed                147
6th  Justin Barcia             132
7th  James Stewart         122
8th  Andrew Short           113
9th  Justin Brayton          103
10th Broc Tickle               87 

Ryan Dungey Wins Round 5 Of 2013 Supercross At Anaheim III

Photo: Speed TV

People have been comparing this years Supercross to the 2012 F1 season and its easy to see why: after five rounds there have been four different riders standing at the top spot of the podium. Back-to-back wins from Ryan Villopoto had us fearing the start of another RV whitewash Anheim III saw Ryan Dungey emerge as the winner.

Dungey had an appalling time in the qualifying heat races, but the main event looked like a walk in the park. Even with Justin Brayton picking up the Holeshot and Mike Alessi leading the first lap, Dungey had established a place out front by lap 2, made easier thanks to Alessi falling on a corner sortly after he was overtaken. It was a lead that he carried through to the checkered flag without much in the way of a threat from the riders behind him.

While Dungey will be pleased with his solid performance, Chad Reed seems to be continuing his run of back luck, thanks to another multi-rider accident on the third corner of the first lap that took both Brayton and Ryan Villopoto out of contention. Reed managed to salvage 16 points by the end of the race but Villopoto had to settle with an 8th place.

Fans of James Stewart finally had something to cheer about with his best performance of the championship so far, who was riding in 2nd place until lap 13 when he had to give up places to a determined Davi Millsaps (who keeps the red plate and now boasts a 14 point lead) and Justin Barcia who snatched a place back on the podium after a couple of races sat out thanks to accidents.

Were just under a third of the way through the 2013 championship and we still dont think anyone could confidently pick who will be champion. Roll on San Diego!

Villopoto Wins Anaheim II Supercross

Pic: MotoX Addicts

With all the unpredictability in the Supercross of late, Ryan Villopoto delivered a dose of the familiar with a confident win for round 3 of the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross Championship at Anaheim II.

The race started with a holeshot from Jake Weimer, chased by last weekends winner, Justin Barcia. However, an uncomfortable landing in the rhythm section sees Barcia taking fall back through the field. His fate was sealed in lap 4 after casing the triple and smashing his face badly on the handlebars. A face filled covered in blood means a very understandable trip to the medical unit.

Before the end of lap 4, Trey Canard is leading the race, followed by Millsaps who is clearly trying to prove that his performance at the very start of the season was no fluke.

By lap 5, a hard-charging Poto storms past Millsaps with an aggressive pass and has hunted down Canard by lap 6. Even though RV steams into the lead, everyone is still got huge respect for Canard, who, this time last year, broke him back in an accident that still turns our stomach when we watch it. If he could finish on the podium then that would still be an incredible achievement.

By lap 12, Villopoto has extended his lead to nearly 7 seconds, with Millsaps and Reed duking it out for 3rd. Although Reed snatches the position on lap 15, Millsaps quickly reclaims it back only to slide out on a corner before the end of lap 17, gifting a podium place Chad Reed.

While this is going on, the much-maligned James Stewart falls on a corner where he cant put his busted knee out for support. He will eventually finish down in 12th.

There are no last minute changes over the final few laps. Canard stops RV from extend his lead any further to keep second and Chad Reed finishes 3rd in front of Millsaps who will still hang onto the red plate in Oakland thanks to a slender 3 point lead on the championship table.

Dany Torres Wins 2013 Red Bull X Fighters In Dubai

The standard at this years Red Bull X-Fighters is absolutely outstanding. As you will see from this highlight video, the complexity, imagination and bravery of the competitors looks even more impressive than ever.

Cheered on by 18,000 fans (which included members of Dubais royal family!) riders Levi Sherwood, Rod Adelberg, Thomas Pages and Dany Torres battled it out for supremacy with a series of polished and innovative performances that carried them through to the later rounds.

After an uncharacteristic mistake from Pages and a faultless performance from Danny Torres allowed the Spaniard to take the victory and the championship points lead.

Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai 2013 Results:

1. Dany Torres (ESP)
2. Levi Sherwood (NZL)
3. Tom Pagès (FRA)
4. Rob Adelberg (AUS)
5. David Rinaldo (FRA)
6. Libor Podmol (CZE)
7. Mat Rebeaud (SUI)
8. Maikel Melero (ESP)
9. Josh Sheehan (AUS)
10. Daice Suzuki (JPN)
11. Todd Potter (USA)

Championship Point Standings 2013 (after 2 rounds)

1. Dany Torres      180pts
2. Thomas Pagès  165pts
3. Levi Sherwood  145pts
4. Rob Adelberg   110pts
5. Josh Sheehan    65pts
6. Maikel Melero 60pts
7. David Rinaldo   45pts
8. Todd Potter       40pts
9. Libor Podmol    35pts
10. Mat Rebeaud 30pts
11. Truman Carroll 25pts
12. Erick Ruiz         20pts
13. Daisuke Suzuki 15pts
14. Martin Koren   15pts
15. Alex Cervantes 10pts