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Supercross & Motocross
SX: The Holeshot - Phoenix
Justin Barcia made a statement while Davi Millsaps maintained his lead, but watch out for reigning champ Ryan Villopoto.
(Photo: Feld Motorsports)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 3 of the 2013 Monster Energy Western Regional 250SX Class Championship from Anaheim will air on SPEED on Sunday, January 20th at 1:00pm ET.
If you would have said that after two rounds of competition we would have two different winners -- neither of them being one of the four class champions -- I would have thought you were crazy.
However, that's exactly where we stand. That said, reigning back-to-back champ Ryan Villopoto, two-time champs Chad Reed and James Stewart, and one-time rookie champ Ryan Dungey have all had notable starts to the '13 campaigns in their own rights.
Meanwhile, Davi Millsaps and Justin Barcia have taken surprise wins to open the season, and Trey Canard is proving that despite not having raced full-time since 2011, he’s still as fast as ever.
Parity is all you can ask for in any Supercross season and this season is promising even more than could realistically been hoped for. Anaheim and Phoenix once again demonstrated that no matter how prepared any single rider is, extenuating circumstances can influence his effort on any given night.
We all knew Barcia would be a spark to the championship, but now he’s got to be considered a real title threat. The one thing that keeps these exceptional riders fighting for more and getting the absolute most out of themselves is their competitors, and Barcia is going to force everyone to work that much harder during the week. 'Bam Bam' dominated a decorated field last Saturday and nobody had anything for him. Sometimes a rider is just on it, and that was Barcia in Phoenix. It was about as perfect a night he could ask for en route to his first-career 450SX win.
Millsaps knows if he’s going to run with his competitors, he’s going to need to get good starts to even have a chance. Through two weeks, he’s done just that. It harder to come from behind in this field than ever before, so if you're going to have any chance at even standing in the podium, you need to be in the lead pack out of the gate. Through two rounds, Millsaps is the only one to stand on said podium in both main events. That’s why he’s still sitting atop the standings and why he still has momentum coming into Anaheim 2 this weekend.
The season opener was a race to forget for Ryan Villopoto and judging by his performance at Chase Field, he did just that. He came into Phoenix looking like the rider we all expected to see this season and he was charging hard in the Main. Starts have not worked in Villopoto’s favor thus far, forcing him to push harder than he'd want. He clearly has the ability to win and if he can get out of the gate well, look out. He’ll be one to watch at Anaheim 2.
Trey Canard was again in the mix all night long in Phoenix, and was actually in line to make it a 1-2 sweep for Factory Honda. However, he suffered from a last-lap crash that dropped him from second to fifth. To pour a little more salt in the wound, Canard also lost his grasp on the points lead due to the incident, which would have been his had he finished in the runner-up spot. The track in Phoenix was extremely slippery and you could see that riders were being careful, particularly in the flat, 90-degree home plate turn -- where Canard went down and where Villopoto had some problems of his own earlier in the Main Event.
If you would have said that after two rounds of competition we would have two different winners -- neither of them being one of the four class champions -- I would have thought you were crazy.
However, that's exactly where we stand. That said, reigning back-to-back champ Ryan Villopoto, two-time champs Chad Reed and James Stewart, and one-time rookie champ Ryan Dungey have all had notable starts to the '13 campaigns in their own rights.
Meanwhile, Davi Millsaps and Justin Barcia have taken surprise wins to open the season, and Trey Canard is proving that despite not having raced full-time since 2011, he’s still as fast as ever.
Parity is all you can ask for in any Supercross season and this season is promising even more than could realistically been hoped for. Anaheim and Phoenix once again demonstrated that no matter how prepared any single rider is, extenuating circumstances can influence his effort on any given night.
We all knew Barcia would be a spark to the championship, but now he’s got to be considered a real title threat. The one thing that keeps these exceptional riders fighting for more and getting the absolute most out of themselves is their competitors, and Barcia is going to force everyone to work that much harder during the week. 'Bam Bam' dominated a decorated field last Saturday and nobody had anything for him. Sometimes a rider is just on it, and that was Barcia in Phoenix. It was about as perfect a night he could ask for en route to his first-career 450SX win.
Millsaps knows if he’s going to run with his competitors, he’s going to need to get good starts to even have a chance. Through two weeks, he’s done just that. It harder to come from behind in this field than ever before, so if you're going to have any chance at even standing in the podium, you need to be in the lead pack out of the gate. Through two rounds, Millsaps is the only one to stand on said podium in both main events. That’s why he’s still sitting atop the standings and why he still has momentum coming into Anaheim 2 this weekend.
The season opener was a race to forget for Ryan Villopoto and judging by his performance at Chase Field, he did just that. He came into Phoenix looking like the rider we all expected to see this season and he was charging hard in the Main. Starts have not worked in Villopoto’s favor thus far, forcing him to push harder than he'd want. He clearly has the ability to win and if he can get out of the gate well, look out. He’ll be one to watch at Anaheim 2.
Trey Canard was again in the mix all night long in Phoenix, and was actually in line to make it a 1-2 sweep for Factory Honda. However, he suffered from a last-lap crash that dropped him from second to fifth. To pour a little more salt in the wound, Canard also lost his grasp on the points lead due to the incident, which would have been his had he finished in the runner-up spot. The track in Phoenix was extremely slippery and you could see that riders were being careful, particularly in the flat, 90-degree home plate turn -- where Canard went down and where Villopoto had some problems of his own earlier in the Main Event.
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