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Supercross & Motocross
SX: Villopoto Edges Reed In San Diego Stunner
Defending Monster Energy Supercross champion Ryan Villopoto backed up his Anaheim 2 win with a thrilling, hard-fought victory a week later in San Diego.
Defending Monster Energy Supercross champion Ryan Villopoto backed up his Anaheim 2 win with a thrilling, hard-fought victory a week later in San Diego.
Claiming not just his second successive victory but his third win of the season before any other rider has upped their tally above one, Villopoto could be positioning himself to grasp firm control of this once mystifying title fight.
However, Saturday's win did not come easily. Not by a long shot.
Away getting away relatively quickly in third after winning his heat race, Villopoto rapidly dispatched teammate Jake Weimer and holeshot winner Brett Metcalfe to move into the lead by the conclusion of the second lap.
But Villopoto proved unable to ride off into the lights once out in front as may have been as expected, as resilient former champ Chad Reed not only hung tough, but actually tracked him down and rocketed past to steal away the lead with just two laps remaining.
The Kawasaki ace answered the challenge, hammering back through in the final corner of the penultimate lap. From there he held strong despite Reed's brilliance through the evening very tricky whoops section to narrowly claim win #3.
"That was definitely the hardest one all year and the hardest one in a long time," Villopoto said after the epic clash with Reed. "The track really deteriorated and the whoops were real bad this weekend."
Runner-up Reed explained, "(Villopoto) was good at the beginning and good on turns -- all the things that have let him win races this year. But I'm excited because I saw him on the 20th lap and I hadn't been able to do that all year long.
"I learned tonight that nice guys finish second. When you want it like that guy does you get aggressive. I feel like I've got the pace, I've just need to get a little more aggressive when it counts."
Claiming not just his second successive victory but his third win of the season before any other rider has upped their tally above one, Villopoto could be positioning himself to grasp firm control of this once mystifying title fight.
However, Saturday's win did not come easily. Not by a long shot.
Away getting away relatively quickly in third after winning his heat race, Villopoto rapidly dispatched teammate Jake Weimer and holeshot winner Brett Metcalfe to move into the lead by the conclusion of the second lap.
But Villopoto proved unable to ride off into the lights once out in front as may have been as expected, as resilient former champ Chad Reed not only hung tough, but actually tracked him down and rocketed past to steal away the lead with just two laps remaining.
The Kawasaki ace answered the challenge, hammering back through in the final corner of the penultimate lap. From there he held strong despite Reed's brilliance through the evening very tricky whoops section to narrowly claim win #3.
"That was definitely the hardest one all year and the hardest one in a long time," Villopoto said after the epic clash with Reed. "The track really deteriorated and the whoops were real bad this weekend."
Runner-up Reed explained, "(Villopoto) was good at the beginning and good on turns -- all the things that have let him win races this year. But I'm excited because I saw him on the 20th lap and I hadn't been able to do that all year long.
"I learned tonight that nice guys finish second. When you want it like that guy does you get aggressive. I feel like I've got the pace, I've just need to get a little more aggressive when it counts."
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