In the south-eastern Nevadan desert lies a top secret military base that the United States government denied existed until the mid 1990′s … it’s also home to the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, an arena home to many an exciting Supercross championship race.
Taking his 10th first-place spot of the season, Ryan Villopoto rounded out his 2013 Supercross series with another win. The Monster Energy Kawasaki 450 rider won his third consecutive AMA Supercross championship last week on points.
The course was much like a night out in Vegas – rough, steep, long and fast.
Deep ruts appeared early and the average lap was several seconds longer than the usual time on other courses, despite a long straight at the back where riders could be seen twisting the throttle to full.
Jake Weimer took the holeshot in the 450 Main with two-time Supercross winner Chad Reed just behind him.
Not even two laps in, Villopoto took care of Weimer – Davi Millsaps was nowhere to be found at this point but continued to work his way up.
Commentator and former three-time championship winner Ricky Carmichael voiced his approval of Villopoto’s fast and calculated form and what it would take to beat him, saying: “You’ve gotta do everything he’s [Villopoto] doing better”.
Villopoto maintained his lead throughout the remainder of the race, holding out Ryan Dungey and Davi Millsaps.
Quizzed by Erin Bates after the race, Villopoto made his next move very clear.
“Outdoors,” he said, “we’re only half-way through our season.”
Eli Tomac won the 250 Main Event, defeating Ken Roczen and Wil Hahn in the process. This finish also made Ken Roczen this year’s 250 West Coast Supercross champion. Wil Hahn finished the season as the champion of the East.
Then the East/West shootout went down – the only time of the series when these two groups of riders face off against each other over 15 laps.
Ken Roczen came out on top, finishing a very successful season on a high note.
“It means a lot to me to win, as this is my final 250 race in Supercross – I can’t think of a better way to go out,” Roczen said afterwards.
The 2013 AMA Monster Energy Supercross season drew to a close on Saturday night. Below are the final points table standings.
450
250 East
250 West
Article by TSM editor Paul Savage @PaulSavageNZ.
Thanks to Paul for covering the 2013 SX season for us!
