In the premier Supercross class, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey captured his third AMA Supercross main event win of 2012 Saturday night at Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.
In the Supercross Lites class, GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac clinched the first Western Regional Supercross Lites Class Championship of his career with his fourth main event win of the season.
Toyota/Yamaha/JGRMX’s Davi Millsaps started perfectly, winning the Nuclear Cowboyz® Holeshot Award in front of 40,548 fans with Dungey on his back wheel to start the Supercross Class Main Event. With the field sorting itself out through turn 1, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer, of Rupert, Idaho, moved into second place.
Dungey, of Belle Plaine, Minn., settled into second place on Lap 8, passing Weimer, but on the same lap, Weimer answered back, knocking Dungey to the ground as he made the pass. Dungey regrouped and made a charge on Weimer before passing him with just a few laps to go. After capitalizing on a mistake made by Millsaps near the end of Lap 18, Dungey moved into the lead and rode to the win. Millsaps finished second and Weimer finished third.
“It was great racing out there tonight, and I really dug deep,” said Dungey. “I didn’t see [the pass] coming and that was my fault. My front wheel got a barrier in the corner and I went down. My focus was to run him down, and I did. I had a tough part of the middle of the season, and I knew I had the speed tonight. I just needed to be patient.”
Millsaps’ quest to hold down the number-two position in Supercross Class point standings started in his Heat Race when he posted the fastest time of 6:19 on his way to victory in the eight-lap race. He now has a seven-point lead over Team Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Brayton.
Rockstar Energy Racing Suzuki’s Jason Anderson, of Edgewood, N.M., won the Nuclear Cowboyz Holeshot Award with his teammate Martin Davalos, of Cairo, Ga., to start the Western Regional Supercross Lites Class. On the opening lap, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin, of Murrieta, Calif., moved into second, while Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson, of Menifee, Calif., secured third place.
Wilson quickly passed Musquin while Tomac moved into third place. Tomac stalked Wilson for several laps before making the pass for second on Lap 8. It didn’t take long for Tomac to cut into Anderson’s lead and make the race-winning pass on lap 10. A dramatic turn of events happened on Lap 12 when Wilson, who came into tonight’s race four points behind Wilson, suffered a huge crash that forced him to withdraw from the race. As a result, Tomac scored enough points to clinch the championship. Anderson and Davalos earned career-best results, finishing second and third, respectively.
“It was huge to close out the night with a race win and a championship,” said Tomac. “That was some good racing out there. Off the gate I got bumped around and was able to slowly pick guys off and try to pace. I did my best not to do anything stupid. That was the best way to do it.”
The final race of the AMA Supercross Championship takes place next Saturday, May 5 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
