Story and photos by Shan Moore
Davi Millsaps took his first win in nearly two years with a dominating performance at the fifth round of 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series in San Diego. The Red Bull Honda rider passed Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Nick Wey on the third lap of the 20-lap final and never looked back.
Davi Millsaps got his first win in nearly two years.
“This is amazing,” said Millsaps. “Especially to have my whole crew here for this race. They’ve been behind me through all the bad times, and they just kept telling me I could win, and I was glad to finally get it for them.”
The Qualcomm Stadium course was soft and rutted after off-and-on showers fell in the San Diego area for most of the day. As usual, the Dirt Wurx crew did an unbelievable job of salvaging the situation, but deep ruts still developed in a few of the corners and the course was treacherously slippery.
Josh Hill took advantage of a crash by Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short to move into third place and then passed Valli Motosports Yamaha’s Ivan Tedesco with two laps to go to claim his third-straight runner-up finish of the season. Hill said he felt he might have been able to catch Millsaps if he had started his charge a little earlier.
“I was just too tentative at the beginning,” said Hill. “If I could have got going just five laps sooner I might have been able to win it. I’m learning every single weekend and I’m getting faster each time I go out. It’s going to end up being an exciting year.”
Tedesco held on for third, his first podium of the year.
“To get up on the box you gotta push the envelope, and I got squirrelly a few times out there,” said Tedesco. “Luckily I didn’t go down, and I ended up on the podium. I’m stoked to be up here. It’s definitely better than the last few weeks. Hopefully, I can get some momentum off this.”
After three-straight podiums to start the season, series points leader Ryan Dungey finished off the box for the second race in a row. After sliding out in the first turn and then crashing again before the end of the opening lap, the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider still managed to work his way up into six by the end of the race but saw his 16-point lead in the series standings shrink to just four points over Hill.
Last week’s winner Ryan Villopoto also got a bad start, but was able to salvage a fourth on his Monster Energy Kawasaki and sits in third overall, 10 points down from Dungey.
Jake Weimer is four out of five in the Lites division this year.
In the AMA Supercross Lites class, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer claimed his fourth win in five starts, passing GEICO Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard on the first lap of the race to take the lead and then holding on to the finish.
Canard went down during the pass, allowing teammate Blake Wharton to inherit the runner-up position. Wharton went down a little later, leaving second to Star Racing’s Max Anstie. Anstie actually challenged Weimer for the lead at the midway point of the race, but was held up by a lapper and dropped off the pace. On the final lap, Anstie went down, leaving Troy Lee Designs Honda teammates Cole Seeleyy and Wil Hahn with second and third.
“Yeah it was a good night,” said Weimer. “I was able to get a good start right behind Canard, and unfortunately he went down. I was able to get by, and I just tried to be consistent from there. The track was definitely tricky but it held up well.”
Supercross Results
1. David D Millsaps (Hon)
2. Josh Hill (Yam)
3. Ivan Tedesco (Yam)
4. Ryan Dungey (Kaw)
5. Justin Brayton (Yam)
6. Ryan Dungey (Suz0
7. Tommy Hahn (Suz)
8. Grant Langston (Yam)
9. Nick Way (Kaw)
10. Kyle Chisholm (Yam)
West Regional Lites Results
1. Jake Weimer (Kaw)
2. Cole Seeley (Hon)
3. Wil Hahn (Hon)
4. Max Anstie (Yam)
5. Broc Tickle (Yam)
6. Trey Canard (Hon)
7. Phillip Nicoletti (KTM)
8. PJ Larsen (KTM)
9. Blake Wharton (Hon)
10. Chris Gosselaar (Hon)