Villopoto and Wharton take SX victories in Houston
Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto took his fifth consecutive 450SX main event win at Houston's round 13 of the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship, this past weekend.
Ryan Villopoto extended his 450SX points lead with another win in Houston over the weekend. Image: Simon Cudby.
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto took his fifth consecutive 450SX main event win at Houston’s round 13 of the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship, this past weekend.
MotoConcepts’ Mike Alessi took the Nuclear Cowboyz Holeshot award and lead the race early, before Villopoto made an aggressive move for the lead in a challenging sand section.
Villopoto began clicking off consistent laps and pulled a comfortable lead while Honda Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey and Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart followed.
Dungey and Stewart made their way past Canard and began pushing the pace before disaster struck for Stewart as he went down before the finish line and damaged his front brake system. Stewart would go on to finish 19th on the night.
Villopoto rode away with the win, followed by Dungey in second and Canard moving up to the final podium position after Stewart’s mishap. Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Barcia and Rockstar Energy Racing’s Davi Millsaps rounded out the top five.
With his Houston win, Villopoto extends his 450SX series points lead to 21 over Millsaps with Dungey creeping up in third just four points off of the second place spot with four rounds remaining.
In the 250SX class it was privateer Zack Freeberg who scored the Nuclear Cowboyz Holeshot award before being relegated back by Rockstar Energy Racing’s Blake Wharton and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin.
Wharton and Musquin quickly engaged themselves in a back and forth battle for the lead, eventually it was Wharton who made the move stick and began working towards his first win of the season.
Musquin looked to be making a charge back to the lead before running into trouble through the whoops section and going down. Musquin lost only a few positions, but was unable to catch the leaders after remounting.
GEICO Honda’s Wil Hahn used Musquin’s misfortune to his advantage, taking hold of second place after stalking the lead duo in third early on in the race.
Wharton maintained his composure throughout the 15-lap main event and took the chequered flag for the first time this season. Hahn followed closely behind in the runner-up spot with Musquin in third.
Australia’s Jackson Richardson was 14th overall in the 250SX main event aboard his privateer Honda, while fellow Aussie Taylor Potter again missed out on the main event with a fifth in the LCQ.
Hahn extended his 250SX points lead with his second place finish, sitting eight points ahead of Musquin with Wharton rounding out the top three another 15 points back.
The Monster Energy Supercross series will now make its way to Minneapolis next weekend where TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed is hoping to make his return to racing after mid-season knee surgery.
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