What Really Happened: Los Angeles SX

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

What Really Happened: LA SX
Reed wins, Dungey still point leader, Canard/Morais injured
Photos and Type-Os: Scott Hoffman

Round 3 of the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series was something out of a spaghetti western: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. There was that moment when I witnessed Trey Canard getting landed on where I felt sick to my stomach and was in a temporary shock for almost a minute. It was one of those slow motion experiences. I had my camera down for a split second while I was changing positions and I saw Canard not triple because he had caught and was dragging one of those annoying bale covers on his footpeg. He was all the way to the left of the track and then I realized that Morais was on a collision course for Canard. If you have seen some of the photos, Canard did not get clipped, he got completely landed on. I swear at the point of impact it sounded as if I heard the impact on his helmet—unfortunately I was that close. Right after the crash the officials were telling us not to shoot photos and moved us out of the area—that made my stomach sink once more as I thought of the worst case scenario. As of late Sunday both riders are beaten up and broken but are alive and are moving and have feeling throughout their bodies. Canard has a severe concussion and reportedly fractured several vertebrae in his back. Sunday night reports said Canard might have a minor surgery later in the week because of a minor pressure spot on his spinal cord. Morais reportedly broke his jaw and his neck, yet surgery was not needed thus far and his jaw will have to be wired shut. Although this was a freak accident, it marked another dark spot in the careers of both Morais and Canard—neither of these riders can seem to avoid getting hit by the injury demon.

What does this all mean? This is something I have talked about for years, better regulations and or improved jump construction is needed when it comes to big jumps early in the race. I have asked this question for years because watching half of the pack triple while the other half doubles on that first lap is scary to witness let alone accomplish. This is not the first time a rider has been landed on or clipped by another rider on the first half lap. There is no rule unless there is a yellow flag or flashing light when it comes to jumping the triples. The question is, why have they never considered a no triple on the first lap, on the first triple, “all riders must double”? The AMA or Feld should at least talk to the riders and see if they would be interested in considering some sort of rule or protocol. Supercross is dangerous and gnarly stuff like as what happened in LA is still going to possibly happen now and again, but if they could take down or minimize a risk that riders and people have talked about over the years, it might help the sport. On the restart only the first group of riders tripled and the rest doubled, unlike the first start where most of field back in the pack were still going for the triple. Things like removing the tuff blocks from the landings of triples or big jumps and possibly filling in the gap between the second and third jump in a triple since very few riders ever double the triple. If a few changes might help avoid or reduce the severity of one accident, it could be worth it. Case in point, on the restart Villopoto landed off of the edge of the first triple. He may have crashed hard if not for the fact they did not reposition the tuff blocks where Canard crashed. RV landed right where the block would have been.

Freaky Saturday in Los Angeles
-Whether it was the rain or the location, the stadium was only about half full.
-Weather delayed and canceled practice.
-Riders got one 12-minute session to qualify for the night show.
-James Stewart only rode a handful of laps before he got tossed off his bike in the whoops.
-The Los Angeles track was more technical and had a pretty deep, short whoops section. The dirt was also loose in some sections yet had a pretty hard base.
-There were a handful of Lites who went down pretty hard during the short qualifying session because they had to go fast with little time on the track.

Supercross/450
-Reed went down in his heat race losing his front end and took a gamble and switched to a Dunlop front tire he ran last year.
-Stewart won his heat race despite having less than 4 laps on the track all day.
-Following the first red flag start, the second start saw Jake Weimer with the lead while Stewart, Dungey, and Reed battled tooth and nail.
-Reed looked more aggressive than we have seen him ride supercross in some time—amazing what a possible tire change can do. Reed had been struggling with bike setup for the first two rounds.
-On the restart, Ivan Tedesco and Josh Grant went down when Tedesco apparently landed on or clipped Grant on a jump landing.
-Reed battled with Stewart for a lap or two yet Stewart did not have the speed to go heads up with Reed and eventually got passed.
-Reed reeled in Weimer, yet the funny part of the story was that Reed thought he was racing Ryan Villopoto not Weimer. He was so focused he just saw green and wanted to see open track.
-With Reed out front, Stewart set his sites on Weimer. In a pretty aggressive pass, Stewart took Weimer to the tuff blocks until he ran out of track and went down. There was a little contact but Weimer had no place to go but up the berm until his tire hit foam instead of dirt. Bummer for Weimer. He had a good chance at a second podium finish in two weeks.
-From there the chaos continued when Stewart ran wide into a turn and dropped his front wheel over the berm and fell over, giving the runner-up spot to Dungey. Stewart did recover to finish on the box for the first time this year.

Lites/250
-First off I hate calling the classes Supercross and Lites, but that is what they call them. I like 250 and 450.
-Round 3 and another new winner. This time it is Geico Honda Eli Tomac, and it was a well-deserved win.
-Who got the short end of the stick in LA? That had to go to Lucas Oil, TLD rider Cole Seely. The Anaheim 1 winner entered the first turn in the lead but the pack kept pushing him all they way to the outside until he ran out of track. There was almost nothing he could do; he tried to change directions yet it didn’t happen. Seely finished 15 and is now 16 points out of the championship race.

-Eli Tomac is now the point leader in the West with a one-point advantage over Dean Wilson, 63 vs 62.
-Wilson had another solid ride but after coming from around 4th at the start, he could not reel in Tomac who was on that night.
-A new name to the box in LA was American GP rider Zach Osborne. The part-time US rider made his first podium and ran much of the race in the runner-up position.
-Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin rode well but did not fare well. A terrible start in the main forced him to charge back, which he did, then he crashed while in 4th with only three laps to go. Musquin took a ride back to the truck in a UTV—he looked OK but motioned he hit his chest pretty hard.
-Tomac has the point lead with 63, Wilson close behind with 62, and Rattray right behind them at 60.

Supercross Point Standings: Following round 3
1 Ryan Dungey – 67
2 Chad Reed – 63
3 Ryan Villopoto – 63
4 James Stewart – 48
5 Jake Weimer – 48
6 Kevin Windham – 43
7 Brett Metcalfe – 38
8 Josh Hansen – 36
9 Andrew Short – 36
10 Davi Millsaps – 28

250 West Point Standings: Following round 3

1 Eli Tomac – 63
2 Dean Wilson – 62
3 Tyla Rattray – 60
4 Cole Seely – 47
5 Zach Osborne – 47
6 Jason Anderson – 44
7 Marvin Musquin – 42
8 Max Anstie – 32
9 Nico Izzi – 32
10 Billy Laninovich – 27

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