Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Lots of excitement leading up to the last round of the Monster supercross series, because two titles were still on the line! Would Malcolm Stewart and Copper Webb be put it together and win their respective series? Stewart has a comfortable lead with 14 points over Aaron Plessinger. On the west coast, Cooper Webb has a 16 point lead over Joey Savatgy. Going into the weekend the word on the street is that Webb has a broken bone in his hand; he is wearing a special brace. Would he be able to clinch his second Lites title? We know that the title in the 450 class went to Ryan Dungey last week in East Rutherford. I am sure Roczen or Anderson would like to finish the series with a win.
The day started of perfectly; sunny with some clouds, the temperature was a little cool for Vegas but ideal for racing. The weatherman said good chance of rain during the day… what! Rain in Vegas? We are in the desert. Well, this time the weather dude nailed it; it rained and hailed late in the afternoon. The track was one big mud pit with lakes of water everywhere. The final practice session was cancelled; it’s going to take the Dirt Werx guys a few hours to get the water off and repair the track. After the downpour, the fans navigated their way around the pits that had massive water puddles and lakes of water everywhere. Teams were building damns to redirect the water out of their pit. Most fans took their shoes off and just walked around in the water. This rain meant that the mechanics had to make changes to their race bikes, and add lots of foam around the foot pegs and shifter. They did their best to waterproof their race bike.
At race time, the rain started again, the stands were full. The Vegas race fans were ready; rain ponchos and garbage bags were the chosen attire for the weather. As long as you could stay dry and warm you were okay. The gate dropped for the first race, it was super greasy as there was nowhere for the rain to soak in to. The riders had trouble everywhere; it looked like a full-on endurocross event. Riders down everywhere; if you slide off the track you were pretty well done for the race. The whoop section was the toughest section, 20 riders trying to work their way over 25 square edged whoops. Finally the rain had stopped but the damage was done. Two races to go, the 250 main riders were on the line. The track was a mess, there were ruts everywhere. This was going to be interesting. Who has the skills to ride mud plus supercross all at the same time? The gate drops and in 200 feet you need to turn left; there were 6 or 7 guys piled up in the mud and going nowhere. Joey Savatgy and Colt Nickels were gone. These two were on a different level. Malcolm was not too far behind, and Jeremy Martin was way back with his two teammates. Within a few minutes the leaders were lapping; it was pretty hard to figure out who was who. Copper Webb was way back in 12th, not what we expected. If Webb finished 12th and Joey finished 1st, the series is tied. The championship would go to Webb as he has more wins. The event was trimmed back from 15 laps to 12 due to track conditions. The east coast title race was looking good for Malcolm as his main competition was way back in seventh. With a few laps to go, Aaron Plessinger was on the move; his off road skills were kicking in. Webb was now in 11th; looks like he will have the win if he can keep it on two wheels. The lap times in the dry were just over one minute; now with the mud they were one minute twenty-six seconds a lap. That’s almost a twenty minute moto. Finally, the checkered flag came out and Savatgy had won by a good distance over a hard charging Osborn. Stewart crossed the line in third, Malcolm clinched his first Supercross Championship! Webb rolled in eleventh, which gave him the West Coast Championship. What a race, that was one crazy final.
The 450 guys were up next. Now that the Lites class basically destroyed the track, it’s going to be one tough race; the AMA cut the race down from 20 laps to 15. Let’s see who knows how to ride mud! Earlier in the day, Dungey had the fastest lap times on the dry track. Trey Canard and Anderson were the next two fastest riders in practice. Now that the track is completely different, let’s see who rises to the top. In the heats, Millsaps looked great; his whoop skills looked very impressive in the mud. Chad Reed also looked solid on his factory Yamaha. Ryan Dungey and Roczen were also looking solid in the mud. It’s now time for the final; 15 long laps on a beaten up track. Holeshot goes to the champ, Ryan Dungey; not far behind was the Suzuki factory rider Ken Roczen. Would Kenny be able to make the move and win the last round? On lap two, Kenny made the move on a very technical section; Roczen squeezed by and was out in the lead. With thirteen laps to go anything can happen. Just as Ken snuck by two corners later, Kenny came up short on a double and crashed. Ryan was in the air and was committed to his line and crashed into the fallen RCH rider; Ryan cartwheeled off his KTM. This all happened on lap two; Ryan restarts and was on the gas. Kenny rode his bent RMZ to the mechanic area; that was it for Kenny. Apparently the bike was too banged up to repair.
Now with Dungey way out in front, the race was on for second place. Millsaps was on the move and looked like he was moving forward fast. Lap three, Millsaps entered the whoops and made it half way before he was kicked off his BTO KTM. That was it for Davi. Next was Anderson and hard charging Tomac. Not far behind that group was fan favourite Chad Reed. Every time Chad made a pass, the fans would cheer. Marvin was on the gas and looking good until he went down hard too; that was it for him as well. The track was getting worse, the ruts were getting deeper and the whoop section was one area that was claiming the weak. Finally, the checkered flag came out and Ryan was a mile out in front, second went to Anderson and right behind him was Tomac. Chad reed made a last corner pass on Blake Bagget for fourth. That was one of the strangest races; the track conditions claimed the best. The series is over and the teams now start to focus on the outdoors. Who will be have their program ready for Hangtown?
