Monster Energy Supercross: Wild Night in Phoenix 12

For good or bad, a lot of eyes were focused on Chad Reed and James Stewart in Phoenix. Get well soon, guys.

Ready for a little drama? Saturday night’s AMA Monster Energy Supercross at Phoenix’s Chase Field provided plenty. First up was the heat race crash between Red Seven Ride Co’s Kyle Partridge and San Manuel / Yamaha / JSE’s James Stewart. The pair’s lines intersected after James came across in front of Kyle over a triple. James took a look over his shoulder in mid-air…just before Kyle landed on his back. The resulting yard sale left both riders and bikes yard down hard. James refused a ride back on the Asterisk Mobile Medical Mule, though it was apparent he was in serious pain. He did get checked out by the Asterisk Mobile Medical Unit later, and both riders lined up for the LCQ.

Watching James get ready for the LCQ…well, we’re not sure how he raced at all. He struggled to get his goggles over the top of his helmet, and compressing the front suspension so they could set his holeshot device appeared to be equally troublesome. Fortunately, he was able to qualify for the main along with Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn.

Ivan Tedesco and Justin Brayton formation flying.

Check out Andrew Short's kung-fu with Justin Brayton.

In the main event, James got a midpack start, and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Chad Reed started right behind him. On the fifth lap, James and Chad were right behind Justin Brayton (JGRMX Toyota/Muscle Milk/Yamaha) and Davi Millsaps (Honda Red Bull Racing), as they headed into a 180° berm before the finish line. James cut down hard to avoid those two, and it looked like this surprised Reed, who locked the brakes, but collided with Stewart. The two tangled, and both went down. Watching it on a replay inside the stadium, it was apparent that James landed on Chad, but after that, there was some debate. Some saw it as Chad aggressively shoving James’ head aside so that he could remove his arm, while others saw it as a natural reaction to getting landed on and pain. Chad remounted quickly, but exited the race almost as quickly with a broken hand. It took Stewart some time to remount, and he did finish, but in 15th spot.

After the race, things got heated in the Monster Energy Kawasaki pits. According to people who were on the scene, Stewart came in looking for anyone in the rig, or Chad’s motorhome. He then knocked over Reed’s bike before returning to his own pit area.

Initially, the AMA responded to all this with a fine of a one-race suspension and a $5,000 fine for Chad for the hand-to-head contact with Stewart. An appeal was heard, and was upheld at 3:43 am, which means no fine or suspension for Chad. Also, the contact between the two was viewed as a racing incident, and that was not the basis for the proposed penalty. For his part in the after-race visit to the Monster Energy Kawasaki pits, Stewart was given a warning.

Kevin Windham (14) ended up fourth, while Davi Millsaps (18 was ninth.

Ryan Villopoto was second on the night, and looked faster than he did at A1.

Kawasaki’s appeal was upheld, and Chad can race next weekend…though that seems pretty unlikely due to his hand injury. Chad is getting his hand and arm checked out on Sunday. Initial reports suggest that the outer bone in his left hand (pinky finger) is broken and will likely need surgery, since the ends were overlapping. Apparently his arm also took a pretty severe beating (possibly from a handlebar).

As for James, he has a seriously sore wrist and shoulder (among other body parts), and we’d guess that he’ll really feel it in the following days. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, neither one of them was in a talkative mood after the race.

Oh yeah…besides all the silly stuff on and off the track, there was some actual racing in Phoenix. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) went wire-to-wire to score his first-ever 450 win. Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy Kawasaki) was in second spot throughout, and Josh Hill (San Manuel / Yamaha / JSE) was third.

Ryan Dungey went wire-to-wire and scored his first win in the 450 class. It won't be his last.

Is this the new school podium? Dungey with the win, along with Ryan Villopoto, and Josh Hill. Each of these guys has now won a Supercross main event.

Dungey now holds an 11-point lead in the championship standings over Ryan Villopoto, with Hill another three points back.

In the Supercross Lites main event, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Josh Hansen had an early lead, but lost the front end heading into the second turn and got flicked over the bars. Blake Wharton (Geico Powersports Honda) took over the top spot and held it for the first 12 laps. But…he had company coming in the form of Jake Weimer (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), and Ryan Morais (Rockstar Energy Suzuki). Morais took over the lead on lap 13, and looked to be headed for his first Supercross Lites main event win. But a lap later Weimer caught and passed him, and went on to take his second straight win.

After a great start, Josh Hansen got flicked off his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki during the first lap.

Jake Weimer is now two for two, and has the points lead in the Supercross Lites West.

Weimer now leads the Lites West series by eight points over Morais (50-42), with Wharton in third at 38 points.

Now if you think all that was fun, just wait until next week. Dirt Wurx and the Feld crews were scrambling to get back to California ASAP, to try and get the track for Anaheim 2 built before some seriously wet weather that’s expected to hit next week. In fact, half the Dirt Wurx crew was already in CA awaiting the end of the monster truck show that happened there on Saturday night, so they could start hauling dirt to build the track. But even if the track gets done and covered before the rain hits, it’s likely that it’ll be a tricky track. Next week (and the rest of the season) should prove to be very interesting.

Ryan Morais closes in on early leader Blake Wharton. Morais led for a lap, but gave way to Jake Weimer with a pair of laps to go.

Jake Weimer scores again. Now we're off to the possibility of a mud race at Anaheim 2.

Results

2010 Monster Energy Supercross

Phoenix, AZ

Supercross Lites Heat 1
1. Jake Weimer

2. Wil Hahn

3. Cole Seely

4. Ryan Clark

5. Sean Borkenhagen

6. Travis Baker

7. Jake Canada

8. Robert Kiniry

9. Jeff Alessi

Supercross Lites Heat 2
1. Josh Hansen

2. Ryan Morais

3. Phil Nicoletti

4. Tommy Searle

5. Chris Gosselaar

6. Gautier Paulin

7. Blake Wharton

8. Max Anstie

9. Ben Evans

Supercross Lites LCQ
1. Broc Tickle

2. Trey Canard

Supercross Lites Main Event
1. Jake Weimer (Kawasaki)

2. Ryan Morais (Suzuki)

3. Blake Wharton (Honda)

4. Wil Hahn (Honda)

5. Broc Tickle (Yamaha)

6. Cole Seely (Honda)

7. Trey Canard (Honda)

8. Tommy Searle (KTM)

9. Robert Kiniry (Suzuki)

10. Phil Nicoletti (KTM)

11. Travis Baker (Yamaha)

12. Gautier Paulin (Yamaha)

13. Jeff Alessi (Yamaha)

14. Ryan Clark (Honda)

15. Max Anstie (Yamaha)

16. Sean Borkenhagen (KTM)

17. Ben Evans (Suzuki)

18. Chris Gosselaar (Honda)

19. Jake Canada (Kawasaki)

20. Josh Hansen (Kawasaki)

Supercross Heat 1
1. Ryan Dungey

2. Josh Hill

3. Andrew Short

4. Justin Brayton

5. Grant Langston

6. Davi Millsaps

7. Nick Wey

8. Cyrille Coulon

9. Kyle Chisholm

Supercross Heat 2
1. Ryan Villopoto

2. Chad Reed

3. Ivan Tedesco

4. Austin Stroupe

5. Kevin Windham

6. Michael Byrne

7. Chris Blose

8. Manuel Rivas Gomez

Supercross LCQ
1. James Stewart

2. Tommy Hahn

Supercross Main Event
1. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki)

2. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)

3. Josh Hill (Yamaha)

4. Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha)

5. Andrew Short (Honda)

6. Kevin Windham (Honda)

7. Austin Stroupe (Suzuki)

8. Justin Brayton (Yamaha)

9. Davi Millsaps (Honda)

10. Tommy Hahn (Suzuki)

11. Manuel Rivas Gomez (Kawasaki)

12. Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha)

13. Nick Wey (Kawasaki)

14. Jason Thomas (Suzuki)

15. James Stewart (Yamaha)

16. Chris Blose (Honda)

17. Cyrille Coulon (Kawasaki)

18. Grant Langston (Yamaha)

19. Chad Reed (Kawasaki)

20. Michael Byrne (Kawasaki)

Supercross Lites West Point Standings
1. Jake Weimer 50

2. Ryan Morais 42

3. Blake Wharton 38

4. Trey Canard 36

5. Wil Hahn 34

6. Broc Tickle 31

7. Tommy Searle 27

8. Cole Seely 22

9. Robert Kiniry 20

10. Jeff Alessi 19

11. Max Anstie 18

12. Phil Nicoletti 16

13. Gautier Paulin 15

14. Josh Hansen 14

15. Sean Borkenhagen 14

Supercross Point Standings
1. Ryan Dungey 47

2. Ryan Villopoto 38

3. Josh Hill 35

4. Kevin Windham 35

5. Andrew Short 34

6. Ivan Tedesco 32

7. James Stewart 31

8. Justin Brayton 26

9. Davi Millsaps 24

10. Tommy Hahn 21

11. Austin Stroupe 17

12. Nick Wey 17

13. Grant Langston 14

14. Manuel Rivas Gomez 10

15. Kyle Chisholm 9