Supercross Lites

The Dirt Wurx crew did a great job on this past weekend’s track, as it provided some great racing and evened the playing field out a bit. In the Lites class, there were seven riders who were all within a second of the fastest rider, Ryan Villopoto, who clinched his first supercross championship Saturday night. Once again Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence was second fastest, and Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill is coming on strong, recording the third-fastest time in the Lites class.

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
1	51.112	Ryan Villopoto	Kawasaki
2	51.639	Jason Lawrence	Yamaha
4	51.747	Josh Hill	Yamaha
6	51.777	Martin Davalos	KTM
3	51.813	Chris Gosselaar	Kawasaki
5	52.021	Josh Hansen	KTM
13	52.079	Josh Grant	Honda
7	52.215	Jake Weimer	Honda
8	52.218	Troy Adams	Suzuki
12	52.449	Matt Lemoine	Yamaha
10	52.992	Kyle Cunningham	Yamaha
11	53.008	Dusty Klatt	Yamaha
14	53.360	Joaquim Rodrigues	Kawasaki
9	53.424	Michael LaPaglia	Yamaha
15	54.161	Kyle Partridge	Honda
16	54.323	Michael Willard	KTM
17	54.552	Chris Blose	Yamaha
22	54.777	Richie Owens	Honda
19	55.444	Tyler Keefe	Kawasaki
20	55.650	Ryan Grantom	Yamaha

With seven riders having lap times with a second of each other, we’ve decided to see who had the best average lap time of the night. Here’s how they broke down:

Ryan Villopoto: 52.138 (1st place in the main)
Jason Lawrence: 52.307 (2nd)
Josh Hill: 52.374 (4th)
Martin Davalos: 52.859 (6th)
Chris Gosselaar: 52.597 (3rd)
Josh Hansen: 52.676 (5th)
Josh Grant: 54.867 (13th)

Martin Davalos had the fourth fastest lap time in the SX Lites photo: Simon Cudby

Biggest surprise:
Although his finishes have been inconsistent, Red Bull KTM’s Martin Davalos is logging some impressive lap times this season. Last year the Ecuadorian was a rookie riding for a privateer Yamaha team—who would’ve thought a year later he’d be on a factory team with a lap time less then a second off of the fastest 250F rider in the class! 

Supercross class

The only rider to dip down in to the 40s all weekend long was Monster Energy Kawasaki’s James Stewart. The first seven laps Stewart was running consistent laps in the 50s, dropped into the 49s on lap eight, and then crashed on lap nine, which cost him over 30 seconds. Remounting with a bent-up bike, Stewart was forced to pull in to the mechanic’s area for repairs. And if you look at his times from lap 10 through 20, it was obvious that he was a bit off the mark from his crash. Stewart averaged a 53.033, while Reed averaged a 51.752 on his San Manuel Band of Mission Indians YZ450F. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry averaged a 51.908, and his best time was just a tad off of Reed’s. Ferry has been a very pleasant surprise this season, and somewhere you know that Steve Matthes is smiling.

Moto XXX's Josh Summey was sixth fastest in the Supercross class photo: Simon Cudby

Biggest surprise
This is a toss up between the Hondas of Heath Voss and Josh Summey. Voss, who came from dead last in a quietly impressive performance, had the fifth-fastest time in the Supercross class (51.631) and Summey followed him with a 51.633. Those times were faster then those of Michael Byrne, Ivan Tedesco and Travis Preston. Heath Voss ended up having a better main event, finishing seventh, while Summey finished 12th. Nonetheless, these riders are figuring it out and are a threat for a podium position.

Honda privateer Heath Voss ran strong all night in San Diego. photo: Simon Cudby