Monster Energy Supercross: Minneapolis

Click the following link for a 38-photo gallery of Supercross race action from Minneapolis. You can also click the following link for a 32-photo gallery from Saturday's pre-race action in the pits, as well as timed qualifying. Don't forget, if you're a Vital MX member, you can comment on any of the photos in the gallery. Not a member? Join now! It's fast and free.

If the 2008 Monster Energy Supercross series was supposed to be boring once Ricky Carmichael retired, and James Stewart got injured (as we've seen mentioned on some message boards), someone forgot to tell the riders. So far this season has produced five different winners in the Supercross class alone. How many years has it been since that happened?

This time around, it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Josh Hill who was a first-time winner, joining Chad Reed, James Stewart, Davi Millsaps, and Kevin Windham on the winner’s list for this season. Hill took the lead on the third lap from Minnesota native Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), who’d scored the $1,500 Progressive Holeshot award.

Chad Reed (L&M Racing / San Manuel Band of Mission Indians / Yamaha) was looking to challenge Hill, but combine the affects of the flu, and a crash, and he dropped to seventh in the final tally. That also reduced his points lead to 17 over Kevin Windham (Torco Racing Fuels Honda) …and just a few rounds ago it had been over 30 points.

In the Lites class, Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) returned to the top of the podium, grabbing his first win of the Lites East series after a last-lap duel with Josh Grant (Torco Racing Fuels Honda). Grant had lead from the drop of the gate, and despite a crash on the last lap, still ended up second. Martin Davalos (MDK KTM Factory) grabbed the third spot. Series points leader, Trey Canard (Torco Racing Fuels Honda), finished fourth.

For a blow-by-blow pictorial on the night’s action, check out the photo gallery (see the link above). Also, don’t forget to check out the Pit Bits gallery, which covers the behind-the-scenes action from practice and in the pits.

Supercross Lites Heat 1
1. Josh Grant

2. Benjamin Coisy

3. Ryan Morais

4. Branden Jesseman

5. Ryan Mills

6. Kyle Chisholm

7. Nathan Skaggs

8. Tyler Medaglia

9. Kyle Gills

Supercross Lites Heat 2
1. Ryan Villopoto

2. Trey Canard

3. Jake Moss

4. Tyler Bowers

5. Martin Davalos

6. Nico Izzi

7. Phil Nicoletti

8. Travis Sewell

Supercross Heat 1
1. Chad Reed

2. Davi Millsaps

3. Josh Hill

4. Travis Preston

5. Tommy Hahn

6. Nick Wey

7. Jeff Gibson

8. Manuel Rivas

9. Heath Voss

Supercross Heat 2
1. Kevin Windham

2. Ryan Dungey

3. Charles Summey

4. David Vuillemin

5. Andrew Short

6. Eric Sorby

7. Jason Thomas

8. Nate Ramsey

9. Bryan Johnson

Supercross Lites LCQ
1. Billy Payne

2. Zach Ames

3. Matt Boni

4. Kyle Partridge

Supercross LCQ
1. Dusty Klatt

2. Tyler Bright

Supercross Lites Main Event
1. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)

2. Josh Grant (Honda)

3. Martin Davalos (KTM)

4. Trey Canard (Honda)

5. Ryan Sipes (KTM)

6. Tyler Bowers (Yamaha)

7. Ryan Morais (Yamaha)

8. Kyle Partridge (Honda)

9. Nico Izzi (Suzuki)

10. Billy Payne (Honda)

11. Kyle Chisholm (Kawasaki)

12. Branden Jesseman (Kawasaki)

13. Travis Sewell (Suzuki)

14. Matt Boni (Kawasaki)

15. Benjamin Coisy (Honda)

16. Zach Ames (Honda)

17. Tyler Medaglia (Suzuki)

18. Phil Nicoletti (Kawasaki)

19. Kyle Gills (Kawasaki)

20. Nathan Skaggs (Honda)

21. Jake Moss (Yamaha)

22. Ryan Mills (Honda)

Supercross Main Event
1. Josh Hill (Yamaha)

2. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)

3. Kevin Windham (Honda)

4. Andrew Short (Honda)

5. Tommy Hahn (Kawasaki)

6. Davi Millsaps (Honda)

7. Chad Reed (Yamaha)

8. David Vuillemin (Suzuki)

9. Travis Preston (Kawasaki)

10. Nate Ramsey (Yamaha)

11. Paul Carpenter (Honda)

12. Charles Summey (Yamaha)

13. Eric Sorby (Honda)

14. Heath Voss (Honda)

15. Nick Wey (KTM)

16. Tyler Bright (Honda)

17. Jeff Gibson (Kawasaki)

18. Dusty Klatt (Kawasaki)

19. Jason Thomas (Honda)

20. Manuel Rivas (Kawasaki)

21. Bryan Johnson (Honda)