Ryan Villopoto wrapped up his first AMA Supercross Championship title with a solid podium finish in Las Vegas at the 2011 season finale on Saturday night, clinching the crown by just four points from race winner Chad Reed.
The most exciting AMA Supercross season ever came to a close in front of a capacity 39,506 crowd in the Sam Boyd Stadium in an action-packed race that saw plenty of thrills and spills.
KTM’s Mike Alessi netted the holeshot at the start of the 20-lap main event followed by GEICO Honda’s Kevin Windham and San Manuel Yamaha rider James Stewart.
Stewart soon climbed into the lead, but the former champion fell on lap 6, taking out Windham in the process as the veteran went down while trying to avoid the Yamaha man.
That incident left Villopoto in the lead, the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider fending off strong challenges from TwoTwo Motorsport’s Reed for several laps before the Australian eventually made the race-winning move on lap 11.
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey also found a way past Villopoto soon after and then thrilled the crowd as he battled hard to take the win from Reed in the closing laps, before eventually settling for second place.
“We gave it all we had,” said Reed. “I feel totally blessed this season. Congrats to Ryan (Villopoto). He earned (the championship). He had the most wins this season and to come back from what he went through last year, he has my respect. We did all we can and sometimes, you come up short.”
Villopoto settled for third, knowing he’d done enough to take his first title, just a year after returning from a serious injury.
“I just have to thank everyone at Kawasaki,” said Villopoto. “The team believed in me through thick and thin. We’ll enjoy this. It was a hard-fought battle. I saw James and Kevin go down – the whoops were tough tonight. We all had to run the same line and you couldn’t avoid it. Luckily I got around (the crash).
“I wasn’t pulling away from Chad, so I just let him by and Ryan (Dungey) was right behind him so then I let him by. I just cruised from there.”
Las Vegas also marked the final rounds of the Western Regional Lites and Eastern Regional Lites championships.
In the Western final, KTM’s Ken Roczen scored a maiden victory despite falling while leading the race. He was handed the win when Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda’s Cole Seely also fell.
“This is awesome,” said Roczen. “I’ve had so much fun racing Supercross this season and competing in front of the U.S. fans. It feels great to finish the year off with a win. I feel like I’ve learned so much this (year) and I have a great team behind me. The best part about all of this is seeing how happy (Team Manager) Roger DeCoster is.”
Second place for Broc Tickle was enough to secure the Kawasaki rider the title, while Kyle Cunningham completed the podium for Yamaha.
“It really is a dream come true,” said Tickle. “I still don’t think it’s real. I know it happened but I still can’t believe it. The past few weeks have been pretty bad for me. I’ve struggled in practice and in the races. I am so happy right now and hope I don’t wake up from this dream.”
The Eastern final was a thrilling affair as Blake Baggett (Kawasaki) and Ryan Sipes (Yamaha) battled bar-to-bar before Baggett eventually secured the win. Justin Barcia (Honda), who had crashed out of the lead earlier in the race, recovered to finish third and secure the title.
“I’m lost for words right now,” said Barcia. “It hasn’t set in yet that I’ve won the championship. It’s been an awesome season. The racing has been crazy all year and I’ve had a lot of fun. I have an awesome team behind me that have given me 100-percent support every race. This is a moment I will remember forever.”
AMA Supercross Championship results – Round 17, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas
Final
1 Chad Reed, Honda CRF450R, 20 laps
2 Ryan Dungey, Suzuki RMZ450, +1.351
3 Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki KX450F, +35.302
4 Chris Blose, Kawasaki KX450F, +48.142
5 Andrew Short, KTM 350SXF, +51.374
6 Jake Weimer, Kawasaki KX450F, +52.939
7 Austin Stroupe, Yamaha YZ50F, +55.504
8 Nicholas Wey, Yamaha YZ450F, +56.597
9 Kyle Regal, Yamaha YZ450F, +1 lap
10 Tye Simmonds, KTM 350, +1 lap
11 Tyler Bowers, Kawasaki KX450F, +1 lap
12 Weiston Peick, Yamaha YZ450F, +1 lap
13 David Millsaps Yamaha YZ450F, +6 laps
14 Michael Byrne, Suzuki RMZ450, +12 laps
15 James Stewart, Yamaha YZ450, +14 laps
16 Kevin Windham, Honda CRF450R, +14 laps
17 Thomas Hahn, Yamaha YZ450F, +17 laps
18 Mike Alessi, KTM 350, +18 laps
19 Justin Brayton, Yamaha YZ450F, +18 laps
20 Robert Kiniry, Kawasaki KX450F, +19 laps
Final championship standings
1 Ryan Villopoto, 338pts
2 Chad Reed, 334
3 Ryan Dungey, 328
4 James Stewart, 301
5 Trey Canard, 255
6 Andrew Short, 230
7 Kevin Windham, 207
8 David Millsaps, 180
9 Justin Brayton, 155
10 Nicholas Wey, 152
Lites Western Regional Final Standings
1 Broc Tickle, 187
2 Eli Tomac, 181
3 Joshua Hansen, 162
4 Cole Seely, 147
5 Ryan Morais, 138
Lites Eastern Regional Final Standings
1 Justin Barcia, 205
2 Dean Wilson, 183
3 Ryan Sipes, 163
4 Blake Baggett, 159
5 Blake Wharton, 125
Watch highlights of the AMA Supercross highlights every Tuesday at 6:55pm (GMT) on Motors TV.
Andy Wilkinson
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