by Chase Stallo
Sign of the Lap Times: Houston
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 | 9:35 AM
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PrintWe all knew it was coming. Once Ryan Dungey had to bow out of the championship prematurely with a broken collarbone, the series belonged to Ryan Villopoto. Sure James Stewart was still a threat. Sure Justin Brayton and Davi Millsaps were hitting their late season stride. But Villopoto was far and away the clear cut favorite -- each and every week. Houston proved to be the final nail in the coffin as Villopoto became the quickest rider in Supecross history to clinch a championship and the first since the GOAT in 2005 and 2006 to win back to back titles.
For the first fourteen and a half laps Houston's Lites race looked like the majority of other races in 2012: Justin Barcia running away from the field. Barcia would fight off an early challenge from Ken Roczen and looked well on his way to his sixth win of the season. But the fairy tale ending quickly turned sour as Barcia had a late run-in with Lance Vincent, costing him not only the race, but probably a few fans after an outburst of epic proportions. Ken Roczen was there to pick up the pieces and held on for his first win of the season.
You will hear plenty more about Houston throughout the week, so let’s take a look at the lap charts to see how it all broke down.
AMA Supercross
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 46.361 | 2 | 48.305 | Ryan Villopoto |
| 2 | 20 | 47.137 | 5 | 49.551 | James Stewart |
| 3 | 3 | 47.227 | 6 | 48.612 | Jake Weimer |
| 4 | 2 | 47.229 | 5 | 48.520 |
Davi Millsaps |
| 5 | 5 | 47.851 | 6 | 49.394 | Justin Brayton |
| 6 |
4 | 47.920 | 5 | 49.222 | Mike Alessi |
| 7 | 7 | 48.389 | 8 | 49.272 | Brock Tickle |
| 8 |
12 | 48.431 | 9 | 49.922 | Brett Metcalfe |
| 9 | 10 | 48.461 | 9 | 50.285 | Josh Grant |
| 10 | 9 | 48.710 | 5 | 50.277 | Weston Peick |
| 11 | 15 | 48.754 | 4 | 51.487 | Matt Goerke |
| 12 | 8 | 48.851 | 4 | 50.132 | Nico Izzi |
| 13 | 6 | 48.970 | 7 | 49.548 | Robert Kiniry |
| 14 | 11 | 49.086 | 5 | 50.536 | Kyle Chisholm |
| 15 | 14 | 49.672 | 9 | 51.568 | Kyle Regal |
| 16 | 13 | 49.821 | 6 | 51.101 | Wil Hahn |
| 17 | 19 | 50.160 | 5 | 50.971 | Josh Hansen |
| 18 | 16 | 50.934 | 9 | 52.750 | Jeff Alessi |
| 19 | 17 | 51.307 | 6 | 53.850 | Preston Mull |
| 20 | 18 | 52.124 | 6 | 55.200 | Daniel Blair |
For what seems like the 50th week in a row Ryan Villopoto topped the lap charts in the Supercross class. With the championship firmly in hand Villopoto was still reluctant to take his foot off the throat of the competition. RV’s 46.361 was nearly a full second faster than James Stewart’s 47.137—a clear sign that RV was ready to wrap this championship up and begin preparations for the upcoming Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.
Stewart, meanwhile, was saddled with another terrible start, and later crashed out. But in between that, he managed the second-fastest time while carving through traffic. Stewart still has speed, but the results don't reflect that. Meanwhile, the odds of Davi Millsaps being the top rider for the JGR team with just four rounds remaining at the beginning of 2012 were probably less than 1 percent. No disrespect to Davi, but if Vegas was taking bets the house money would have been on Stewart. Millsaps reveled to Racer X Online Editor Jason Weigandt after Houston that he had surgery in December and had less than two weeks on the bike before Anaheim 1. Davi was reluctant to let on why he has become such a force down the stretch, but things became a lot clearer after this weekend. Millsaps sits a mere one point behind the idle Ryan Dungey for second in point standings and has a real shot at taking home the runner-up spot behind RV for 2012. That's a far cry from where many thought Millsaps would be after a rough start to the 2012 season.
Villopoto walked away with the win and the fastest lap of the night.
Cudby photo
AMA Supercross Lites
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 2 | 46.435 | 3 | 48.476 | Justin Barcia |
| 2 | 3 | 46.951 | 6 | 48.347 | Blake Baggett |
| 3 | 1 | 47.510 | 3 | 48.337 | Ken Roczen |
| 4 | 17 | 47.863 | 9 | 52.421 | Darryn Durham |
| 5 |
4 | 47.868 | 4 | 48.972 | Blake Wharton |
| 6 | 10 | 48.031 | 6 | 51.156 | Matt Lemoine |
| 7 |
8 | 48.707 | 5 | 50.132 | Justin Bogle |
| 8 | 16 | 48.988 | 5 | 50.394 | Malcolm Stewart |
| 9 | 6 | 48.989 | 4 | 50.192 | Alex Martin |
| 10 | 5 | 49.087 | 4 | 49.828 | Phil Nicoletti |
| 11 | 7 | 49.346 | 10 | 50.313 | Jake Canada |
| 12 | 9 | 49.719 | 7 | 50.719 | Kyle Cunningham |
| 13 | 15 | 49.726 | 7 | 51.964 | Tommy Weeck |
| 14 | 13 | 50.030 | 4 | 51.501 | Les Smith |
| 15 | 12 | 50.045 | 7 | 51.474 | Austin Politelli |
| 16 | 14 | 50.126 | 6 | 51.283 | Shane Sewell |
| 17 | 20 | 50.169 | 3 | 51.206 | Lance Vincent |
| 18 | 11 | 50.204 | 4 | 51.551 | Kyle Peters |
| 19 | 18 | 51.232 | 4 | 52.776 | Zach Freeberg |
| 20 | 19 | 52.145 | 6 | 54.103 | Daniel Herrlein |
Let’s for a moment forget about Justin Barcia's antics after the Lites race in Houston and instead concentrate on what happened on the track. Barcia continues to push the competition to the limits and has all but wrapped up his second consecutive title. With only Blake Baggett dipping down into the 46-second range, and still a half-second off of Barcia, BamBam1E clearly showed that he is still the cream of the crop in the Lites East Region.
The 2012 season began on a rough note for HRT Racing’s Matt Lemoine. But the Louisiana kid that now resides in Texas has suddenly caught fire. Lemoine capped of his third straight top ten (Lemoine had zero top tens through the first four rounds of the series) in front of the hometown fans at Houston, in the process setting the sixth fastest lap of the night—a season's best. Lemoine’s tenth also moved him inside the top ten in points. Lemoine currently sits ninth in points, two clear of J-Star/JDR KTM's Malcolm Stewart.
Blake Baggett rebounded with third in the race and second in the lap charts in Houston.
Cudby photo
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Nothing new here
RV on cruz control
Would not have made any difference if Dungey was there or not RV is the best there is at this time. People need to go back and check the Qualifying and the lap times where riders suddenly picked up the pace of RV only to crash out within a week of that. The facts are clear that RV is dominate now and if you doubt that then live in denial. In the lites class the same can be said for Barcia he owns those guys. Looks like our motocross of nations team will be untouchable this year.
Please NO MORE 46 second tracks, Houston was an awesome and challenging track, and if they need to be short give us 20min plus 2.
hope RD is back for new orleans, as well as JS and KW, hope Weimer, brayton, and Milsaps keep getting faster. We will still see some good racing guys- they should all try to stop RV from running the board on the next 4, Be great if these 5 guys went to each race determined to beat RV- I want to see another race like the KW-JS heat race in houston with NO wrecks.
Somewhat boring! the only good racing was JS7 against KW14 in the heat race.
Hope KW is OK! I think he's really pushing to get in the top three.
USA Team for 2012
RV
RD
JB
RV is the fastest man Period. RD is not only one of the top 3 the US has but he is one of the most consistent rider we have. JB might be an ass but he is the best choice for the 250's.
JS would make a good back up rider, he is the "fastest rider on to the planet!" if he could stop playing lawn darts with his body he would be awesome.
Millsaps and Brayton are both extremely talented riders but lets be real here. There is no "hitting their late season stride". More like Reed and Dunghole are injured and you 2 are next in line. And if Stewart could figure out why his bike likes to be ridden upside down they probably wouldnt even be talked about at all. Yes, thats racing and yes they are the guys lining up at the gate when others arent but lets have a hint of honesty here.
Uh the Fastest man on the Planet is that one guy....whats his name? Oh ya. Ryan Villipoto. No debating it. No discussions. Deal with it. End of story.
@claxton - Indeed... The Dunge and Reed would have kept the "points" somewhat close, but the end result would have been RV as champion.... Stewart on the the other hand is just a mess...I want to see the guy just do it...but something always happens....
ClappedOut
I agree with you RV is the fastest man on the planet.
But JS is the fastest man "ON TO" the planet. Like a lawn dart.
Seems a lot of you guys have short memories in regards to the lites class.. In my opinion Tomac was every bit as dominant in a tougher ( better competition ) series. Has an unfortunate crash and handed the lead over to Wilson. Both these guys are better outdoors than Barcia in my opinion and we'll find out soon if Tomac can run with Barcia indoors. I think he can but the injury and lay-off may have slowed him up?
If you want an MXoN team with three class acts who are also very fast then Tomac takes Barcia's spot anyday!
"The nail in in the Coffin" says it all....................
hey all we have a lot to keep us busy till LA ? NO?
What if a frog had wings? what if I would have had as much talent as Smith or Hannah? What if I did not crash my brains out too many times?
The fact is RV is the best again this year in the open class. We have to wait and see who is the best in the 250's yet. I do think Tomac may have something and we need to give Roczen some time in Supercross. Lets see what he can do outdoors?
Wish this site had spel check cause my fingers dont do what I tell em todo? to much to check and fix?
HEY CLAPPEDOUT..... I AGREE MAN. CAN WE FINALLY PUT THAT "FASTEST MAN ON THE PLANET" THING TO REST? AT ONE TIME HE WAS, BUT NOT NO MORE. HE'S GONNA GET SMOKED OUTDOORS TOO! (IF HE RACES)
Why so many picking JB for the MXD?? Lets see how he does outdoors, Remember he won the SX title last year nad sucked azz outdoors in the lites class. Lets see if Tomac or Baggett or some else smokes him like last year before you sign him up.
ClappedOut Thats right, If enough Guys get hurt the 800 will be winning!! It is what it is lets not get crazy about guys getting 2nds.
Isn't Barcia racing 450 outdoors? I mean he started his pro career in motocross right? Therefore this would be his 4th outdoor season? I heard that he is racing 450's
I would like to see Villopoto sit out the last 4 races and get ready for the outdoors so we could see a mini-series of the "also rans" fight for the top 3 podium positions which I am sure they never thought possible at the beginning of the series. That would at least provide some excitement for the fans instead of watching Villopoto kick everyones butt for the last four races.
I am not even sure that Stewart would be the winner of the last four races either based on his lack of ability to finish a main without taking a soil sample with his face so I feel that it would make things fun for the fans. I am not a big fan of Villopoto because his personality is about as exciting as watching paint dry but he sure can ride and is definitely the cream of the crop for the forseeable future. Extremely bummed about K-Dub not being able to finish the season though.
It surprises me that JS7's 5-lap average is 8/10's per lap slower than RV's 20-lap average.
Apparently, even after RV has posted the fastest lap times all season long Emig (and some other goofs) still refer to stewie as the fastest man on the planet. I guess they've spent more time watching his show than the races.
Time to get over it. RV is now the fastest !!!
The Juggernaut rides again.
KM306 - It surprises me that you leave that picture of youself shown for everyone to see.
Just Sayin
Totally agree with Davidl. The Supercross product is not good at a lot of these smaller floors. 45 second lap times equal about a 13 minute 250 main and about a 17 minute 450 main. The really need to go to a 15 minute plus one lap 250 main and a 20 minute plus a lap 450 main. The heats are too short to. In Houston the 250 heats were about 5 minutes. Go to 10 minute plus a lap for the 450 heats and 8 minutes plus a lap in the 250 heats.
Yeah, I think it is just a bit soon to be choosing the US team. I won't be surprised at all if Barcia finds himself struggling to podium much of the time. Roczen, Musquin, Baggett, Wilson will all have a lot to say about where he finishes......and it seems like none of them can stand him.
RV won't be staying home with the $100,000 per win bonus sitting there for him.
SX is like the salad before MX... pretty good because your hungry... but when that steak comes out you push it to the side and forget all about it.
Bring on real racing! (big inhale) The great OUTDOORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yah... and everyone looks at the "fastest lap" but you need to look at average, you know, new math.
Besides RV, Roczen had the best average, and only .03 secs off his pace. Better then any 450 rider.
Sign of the lap times RX? No mention of these JB and BB had faster avg than any 450 rider after RV.
There's a little snapshot of RVs competition in the big boy class. (or lack there of)
@BILLC, f course you dont want Barcia, you dont like him. But you didnt want Short either, and he did great, beating Cairoli in the last moto. The Des Nations is at a sand track, and Barcia kicks tail in the sand. Bagget had his chance last year, and didnt do well at all. Barcia may surprise even your hating as$, he has a new trainer who will have him ready this time..I trust Decoster in these situations, he was smart enough to take Short, and not take Stewie.. It worked great. I'll be happy with who he picks.
I think Barcia is much better and smoother than he was last year, he will also be better outdoors. I think we are in for a great out door season this year.
bd200 Why so pissed?? You really want to pick the team right now?? I only said lets see what happens...He did crapy last year!! If he is the top guy send him but lets see before you sign him up. Man you love JB!!!
Be wasting our time talking about Team USA at this point.
Let's see who is there near the end of the outdoors, and take the best.