Story and photos by Jeff Kardas

The 2008 Monster Energy Supercross Championship continued the trend of great racing and surprise endings this past weekend at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Making its first appearance in the Twin Cities since 2004, the series produced two new winners – Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill in the premier Supercross class and – finally – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto in Lites. Neither had a runaway win, and both battled throughout the night to come home as victors. As usual, where there’s success there’s also failure, and there was plenty of that to go around in Minneapolis as well.

Supercross Lites Qualifying

It was Torco Honda’s Josh Grant who gave a partial preview of the Lites Main Event, as he holeshot and set the pace for Lites heat number one. Following him through the first turn was another Honda, that of Red Bull Honda Racing’s Ben Coisy, who’s #979 CRF250R looked very comfortable in the second position, if only for a little while. Next was OTSFF/Suzuki City’s Tyler Medaglia and Spinechiller’s Nathan Skaggs. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to talk about as Grant maintained a solid lead putting down fast lap after lap for the entire duration of the 6 lap race.

The second Lites heat was a bit more stacked, featuring a face-off between Ryan Villopoto and series points leader, Torco Honda’s Trey Canard. The ball was clearly in Villopopto’s court to perform, as the KX250F-mounted superstar had been experiencing an underwhelming year thus far, as opposed to Canard’s perfect start to his rookie season in pro supercross racing. Villopoto couldn’t have lobbed a better shot, as he nailed the holeshot and sprinted to an uncontested win. Canard, however, struggled at around mid-pack but quickly moved forward, while MDK/KTM’s Martin Davalos was running great in the second position, followed by Star Racing’s Aussie import Jake Moss who continued to impress with his speed. Unfortunately for Davalos, his great ride came to an abrupt end when he clipped a Tuf Blok at the end of the rhythm section, sending him to the dirt and almost taking Canard with him, as he was gaining on the Ecuadorian when he crashed. Moss continued his great ride, even giving Canard a bit of a push toward the end, but gapping rookie YOT youngster Tyler Bowers, who’d been running 5^th. Following the lead group was Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Nico Izzi.

The Lites LCQ was a bit of a blast-from-the-past, as SVM Honda mounted Billy Payne followed privateer Zach Ames through the first turn after the young Ohioan pulled a brilliant holeshot and was over-taken by Payne a couple of laps in. Also moving up quickly was Team Solitaire’s Kyle Partridge, who put a move on a hungry pack of Lites riders in the step-on step-off that made their heads spin as he moved into 3^rd for a qualifying spot in the Main.

Results:

Heat 1:

1. Josh Grant (Hon)
2. Ben Coisy (Hon)
3. Ryan Morais (Yam)
4. Branden Jesseman (Kaw)
5. Ryan Mills (Hon)
6. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
7. Nathan Skaggs (Hon)
8. Tyler Medaglia (Suz)
9. Kyle Gills (Kaw)

Heat 2:

1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Trey Canard (Hon)
3. Jake Moss (Yam)
4. Tyler Bowers (Yam)
5. Martin Davalos (KTM)
6. Nico Izzi (Suz)
7. Phil Nicoletti (Kaw)
8. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
9. Travis Sewell (Suz)

LCQ:

1. Billy Payne (Hon)
2. Zach Ames (Hon)
3. Matt Boni (Hon)
4. Kyle Partridge (Hon)

Supercross Class Qualifying

The surprises started early for the Supercross class, when Joe Gibbs/Toyota/Yamaha’s Josh Hansen pulled a killer holeshot ahead of San Manuel Yamaha’s Chad Reed. By the beginning of lap two, however, things changed and Reed quickly made his way around, as did Red Bull Honda Racing’s Davi Millsaps. By lap 4, Hansen, while running 4^th, slid out in the corner before the step-on step-off and eventually got up in dead last, sending him to the LCQ. Meanwhile, Reed stayed up ahead of Millsaps and Yamaha’s Josh Hill, although he was not able to pull out a significant lead. It was however significant enough, as he went across the line with a charging Millsaps and a quickly approaching Hill in 3^rd. Following the top 3, Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Travis Preston  lead a hard-charging first effort by west Lites rider and Team Motosport/Xtreme Kawasaki’s Tommy Hahn, who was looking great in 5^th. Following the race’s conclusion, Reed was clearly suffering from his reported flu-like symptoms, which kept him out of the second set of practices.

Supercross Heat number two started and finished much more predictably, as Torco Honda’s Kevin Windham – last weekend’s winner in Daytona – holeshot a much less talented gate full of riders to quickly run away with the win. Impressive and solid in second place for much of the race was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Charles Summey who, despite troubles earlier in the night with some medical issues that required the attention of the Asterisk Medical Unit, was eventually taken over by Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey after a prolonged battle that lasted to the last lap. Also moving forward was Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short, who eventually worked to third by the end after a poor start. Also moving up and looking better than usual was Dungey’s teammate David Vuillemin, who made it into the final with a solid 5^th just behind Summey.

It was privateer veteran, James Povolny who took the Supercross class LCQ holeshot. Povolny looked fast and solid for almost the entire duration of the race’s 6 laps, but wasn’t able to hold off the field that was freight-training up behind him. Povolny eventually succumbed to the pressure with a crash in the back rhythm section, allowing freight-train leader Cernic’s Dusty Klatt to get by and gap the field immediately. Moving forward the entire race was WWR privateer Chris Gosselaar who, after moving into qualifying position behind Klatt on the final lap, crashed just before the finish, allowing Bad Boy’s Tyler Bright to move by and lead the field across the line just behind Klatt, taking the last transfer to the Supercross Main event.

Results:

Heat 1:

1. Chad Reed (Yam)
2. Davi Millsaps (Hon)
3. Josh Hill (Yam)
4. Travis Preston (Kaw)
5. Thomas Hahn (Kaw)
6. Nick Wey (KTM)
7. Jeff Gibson (Kaw)
8. Manuel Rivas (Kaw)
9. Heath Voss (Hon)

Heat 2:

1. Kevin Windham (Hon)
2. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3. Charles Summey (Yam)
4. David Vuillemin (Suz)
5. Andrew Short (Hon)
6. Eric Sorby (Hon)
7. Jason Thomas (Hon)
8. Nathan Ramsey (Yam)
9. Bryan Johnson (Hon)

LCQ:

1. Dusty Klatt (Kaw)
2. Tyler Bright (Hon)

Supercross Lites Main Event

The stage had been set for a long-overdue showdown between Villopoto and Torco teammates Canard and Grant for… well, since the series started several weeks ago in Atlanta. Finally in Minneapolis, the starts seemed to be aligned until Canard’s hard crash in the second qualifying session put his health in question. Atop that, his solid points lead removed the need for the Oklahoma youngster to actually go out and take unnecessary chances – he pretty much just needed to get a top 10 and his lock on the title was solid. This shifted the focus to a Villopoto vs. Grant showdown and alas, that’s precisely what happened. When Grant’s Pro Circuit-fired Honda ripped a clean holeshot it was none other than Villopoto who got in behind him and forced the pace from the get-go. Grant responded well right away, picking it up and staying just out of Ryan’s reach for several laps until Villopoto got along side and past him at about the halfway point, albeit for only one corner. Canard was in 4^th or 5^th as of lap 5, close enough to smell the two leaders but nowhere near their pace. Somewhat surprisingly fast was Davalos, who eased into 3^rd and settled in as the two leaders battled side-by-side for several corners before Grant was able to put a bit of a gap on the defending West Lites champ. Finding himself up in the front again was Jake Moss, and again following Canard around for 5^th. As the race wound down like a good book to the final tricky step-on step-off just before the finish line on the final lap. Following a drag race to the section that provided great action all night long, the two racers hopped onto the first table side-by-side and, seeing that RV went to the inside and arguably faster line, Grant switched up his line and squared up the turn, casing the second step-off and briefly going down and allowing Villopoto to cruise alone across the finish line. Grant got up to finish second, several seconds ahead of Davalos in 3^rd and a Canard safely in 4^th. Moss nailed down a well-earned 5^th to round out the top 5.

Results:

1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Josh Grant (Hon)
3. Martin Davalos (KTM)
4. Trey Canard (Hon)
5. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
6. Tyler Bowers (Yam)
7. Ryan Morais (Yam)
8. Kyle Partridge (Hon)
9. Nico Izzi (Suz)
10. Billy Payne (Hon)
11. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
12. Branden Jesseman (Kaw)
13. Travis Sewell (Suz)
14. Matt Boni (Hon)
15. Ben Coisy (Hon)
16. Zach Ames (Hon)
17. Tyler Medaglia (Suz)
18. Phil Nicoletti (Kaw)
19. Kyle Gills (Kaw)
20. Nathan Skaggs (Hon)
21. Jake Moss (Yam)
22. Ryan Mills (Hon)

Points:

1. Trey Canard (93)
2. Ryan Villopoto (69)
3. Ryan Sipes (67)
4. Nico Izzi (54)
5. Martin Davalos (53)
6. Ben Coisy (53)
7. Josh Grant (47)
8. Tyler Bowers (45)
9. Billy Payne (42)
10. Branden Jesseman (39)

Supercross Main Event

In what seemed an absolutely fitting and interesting start to the Supercross main event, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s hometown boy Ryan Dungey nabbed a beautiful holeshot in ahead of the likes of Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill, Torco Honda’s Kevin Windham and, a few spots further back, a feverish Chad Reed then Red Bull Honda Racing’s Andrew Short. Dungey put on an impressive ride up front for all of 2 laps until Hill forced him wide in the 180 following the finish line, pushing him up and nearly off the track to make his way into the position he’d hold until the checkers flew. Once Hill got out front, he never looked back. He attacked every obstacle for every lap while the rest of the pack sorted itself out behind him. Doing most of the sorting was Reed, who quickly displaced Windham and Dungey on lap 4 and 6 before setting out after his Yamaha teammate. That’s when Chad made a mistake in the whoop section just at the beginning of lap 8 and just as he began closing the gap on the rookie up front. When the bike kicked back on a whoop, Reed was knocked up and forward and despite his best effort to save it, was eventually dragged to the ground in the following corner. Slow to re-mount, he’d have to begin his charge to the front near the back of the pack. In the mean time, the two rookies – Hill and Dungey – put on a show up front, staying in tight formation within a couple seconds of one another, and a couple of seconds ahead of Windham in 3^rd. Moving up further back was Andrew Short, Tommy Hahn and Davi Millsaps. This trio had been chasing David Vuillemin for 5^th for several laps, but both eventually got by the veteran as Hahn continued to impress in his Supercross-class debut – staying ahead of Millsaps for the duration and eventually finishing 5^th. The final order showed the two rookies Hill and Dungey 1 and 2 respectively, followed by Windham, Hahn, Millsaps and finally Reed, who managed to make his way back up and past his former teammate Vuillemin for 7^th. The crowd was ecstatic, both for the likeable Hill’s first win and for native statesman Ryan Dungey, who landed squarely in the middle of the podium in the sport’s premier class.

After such great and borderline bizarre racing and weather over the past two weekends, the Monster Energy Supercross Championships take a break next weekend for the first time this year. After the week off to heal and rest up for Toronto, the Lites riders get an additional weekend off before heading down south to Dallas’s Texas stadium for their next points-paying round. Be sure to check back in two weeks for motocross.com’s comprehensive race coverage, photo galleries and Monday’s What Really Happened report.

Results:

1. Josh Hill (Yam)
2. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3. Kevin Windham (Hon)
4. Andrew Short (Hon)
5. Thomas Hahn (Kaw)
6. Davi Millsaps (Hon)
7. Chad Reed (Yam)
8. David Vuillemin (Suz)
9. Travis Preston (Kaw)
10. Nathan Ramsey (Yam)
11. Paul Carpenter (Hon)
12. Charles Summey (Yam)
13. Eric Sorby (Hon)
14. Heath Voss (Hon)
15. Nick Wey (KTM)
16. Tyler Bright (Hon)
17. Jeff Gibson (Kaw)
18. Dusty Klatt (Kaw)
19. Jason Thomas (Hon)
20. Manuel Rivas (Kaw)
21. Bryan Johnson (Hon)

Points:

1. Chad Reed (237)
2. Kevin Windham (220)
3. Andrew Short (172)
4. Davi Millsaps (164)
5. Tim Ferry (137)
6. Josh Hill (135)
7. Nathan Ramsey (134)
8. David Vuillemin (115)
9. Paul Carpenter (97)
10. Nick Wey (95)