Monster Energy Supercross - Toronto 2013
This past weekend was that wonderful part of the SX series that we Canadians love, and most riders and industry people hate. Toronto! It's the only round of the series hosted outside of the United States... The pits are a short hike outside of the stadium. It's cold. It sucks getting a whole team through customs for one round. But, at least we've got Tim Hortons.
Toronto SX 2013 - Warming Up Shorty's KTM
There has been lots of talk of the tracks this year so far. Namely that they haven't promoted the most exciting racing. While it wasn't unaminous that Toronto was what everyone was looking for, it did at least seem as though there was some effort being made to improve. One thing that every rider seemed to agree on was that the whoops were the biggest so far. So much so that they were worked on prior to riders taking the track on Saturday (something to do with the power of a Chad Reed tweet perhaps?). At the start of the day they were still pretty gnarly looking, but by the main event they had worn down considerably. Otherwise, the dirt was as good as it's been in Toronto. I didn't notice any massive rocks being pulled out of the track as in previous years and the dirt wasn't thawing out from it's usual frozen state. All in all, things seemed "pretty good for Toronto".
Toronto SX 2013 - Dirt Looking Good
As practice got underway the whoops starting taking victims. Lots. It wasn't until Wil Hahn took to the track that we saw someone fully commit and blow through them. He looked confident around the whole track from the get-go. Blake Wharton and Marvin Musquin also looked good as things progressed into the qualifying sessions, though Musquin did have a nasty crash. The worst was felt by Zach Bell who went down hard in the whoops and was out for the night after that. He could really do with not testing his 6D helmet out at every round.
Toronto SX 2013 - The Whoops
The 250 heat races saw Blake Wharton and Marvin Musquin taking the win in their respective heats. Musquin doing great to shake off his rough crash earlier in the day. Wil Hahn had his share of troubles, only managing a 5th. For the 450 heat races the story was about James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto dominating to win.
Toronto SX 2013 - Start Gate
On to the main events...
Carrying the momentum of winning the last 2 races, Marvin Musquin got that all important great start to get himself out front in the 250 main event. After struggling in his heat race, Hahn didn't get the start he needed and had some work to do to catch up to Musquin. Hahn actually rode a solid race, working through a number of riders, including Blake Wharton, to cross the line in second place. Musquin is one of those riders with great fitness, so being out front from the beginning meant he could just put in solid, consistent laps and collect his third win a row. Heel clicker across the finish line and he's now just 6 points behind Hahn heading into the break before Houston. Wil was clearly disappointed after the race, no doubt lamenting his poor start, but he minimized the points hit as much as he could. Lone Canadian Cole Thompson crossed the finish line (tangled up with Vince Friese, literally) in 6th place.
Toronto SX 2013 - Musquin (photo: kardyphoto.com)
Speaking of great starts, the 450 main showed us something that's been missing so far this season: Chad Reed out front. The 22 got a great start and was in the lead, being chased by a very hungry pack of riders. It was great to see the top 5 guys lined up wheel to wheel in the early laps, us fans dreaming of a real showdown between Reed, Milsaps, Villopoto, Dungey and Stewart. It didn't take long for Davi Milsaps to pass Reed and once that happened, it was clear that Milsaps was on form as he immediately started to gap Reed and the others. Villopoto followed suit, taking over second place he began to hunt down Milsaps.
The intensity was definitely high with Milsaps and Villopoto up front. It was great to see Davi showing the pace that earned him the red plate for the first part of the season. He's been battling sickness and injuries for a number of weeks now and with a short break coming up before the next round, let's hope that he shows up even more ready for battle in Houston. Davi didn't make it easy for Villopoto to get passed him and it wasn't until just over half way through the race that RV was able to get through into the lead. Once out front, he churned out the laps like only he can to take his 7th win of the season.
Toronto SX 2013 - RV Hunts Down DM (photo: kardyphoto.com)
Once again, Stewart dominated his heat race but failed to put it together over 20 laps in the main, rolling across the line in 7th behind Weimer (6th), Barcia (5th) and Reed (4th). Chad Reed, we learned this weekend, has been struggling with his knee and will head in for surgery on Tuesday (lingering effects from his season ending crash last year). Ryan Dungey, who currently sits third in the points, brought home another solid yet unremarkable 3rd place in Toronto.
The next round of the series takes place in Houston after a short break and there is clearly still lots of great racing still to come.
250SX East - Points Standings
1 19 William Hahn - 134
2 25 Marvin Musquin - 128
3 13 Blake Wharton - 108
4 15 Dean Wilson - 87
5 42 Vince Friese - 81
6 50 Kyle Peters - 78
7 77 Jeremy Martin - 71
8 317 Justin Hill - 68
9 67 Gavin Faith - 66
10 613 James Decotis - 66
450SX - Points Standings
1 1 Ryan Villopoto - 252
2 18 David Millsaps - 240
3 5 Ryan Dungey - 230
4 22 Chad Reed - 196
5 51 Justin Barcia - 184
6 7 James Stewart - 169
7 41 Trey Canard - 165
8 29 Andrew Short - 148
9 10 Justin Brayton - 122
10 20 Broc Tickle - 122
