by Chase Stallo
Sign of the Lap Times: Oakland
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | 9:25 AM
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PrintTake a deep dive inside the lap charts with this week's Sign of the Lap Times.
450SX Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 54.995 | 2 | 57.018 | Ryan Villopoto |
| 2 | 3 | 56.136 | 14 | 57.162 | Ryan Dungey |
| 3 | 2 | 56.223 | 4 | 57.421 | Davi Millsaps |
| 4 | 4 | 56.478 | 5 | 57.485 | Trey Canard |
| 5 | 12 | 56.720 | 2 | 58.467 | Chad Reed |
| 6 |
8 | 57.255 | 4 | 58.521 | Broc Tickle |
| 7 | 10 | 57.261 | 6 | 58.709 | Justin Brayton |
| 8 |
5 | 57.404 | 5 | 58.499 | Mike Alessi |
| 9 | 6 | 57.508 | 5 | 58.436 | Andrew Short |
| 10 | 7 | 57.677 | 5 | 58.523 | Matt Goerke |
| 11 | 9 | 57.690 | 6 | 58.994 | Vince Friese |
| 12 | 16 | 57.889 | 4 | 59.406 | Josh Grant |
| 13 | 11 | 57.970 | 5 | 59.167 | Jimmy Albertson |
| 14 | 18 | 58.084 | 6 | 1:01.261 | Matt Lemoine |
| 15 | 13 | 58.336 | 7 | 59.749 | Kyle Chisholm |
| 16 | 14 | 58.446 | 5 | 1:00.029 | Les Smith |
| 17 | 15 | 58.525 | 7 | 1:00.017 | Robby Kiniry |
| 18 | 17 | 58.630 | 6 | 1:01.691 | Cedric Soubeyras |
| 19 | 19 | DNF | DNF | DNF | James Stewart |
| 20 | 20 | DNF | DNF | DNF | Justin Barcia |
450SX
- Ryan Villopoto set the fastest time of the night with 54.995 on lap 2. Villopoto was the only rider to set a lap under 55-seconds, and was the only 450SX rider to have laps under 55 and 56-seconds—54.995, 55.460 and 55.740 on laps 2, 3 and 4, respectively.
- Ryan Dungey set the latest fastest lap in 450SX with a 56.136 on lap 14. His 56.136 would also mark the second fastest lap in 450SX. Yup, a 56 was the second-best lap, but Villopoto had a 54!
- Dungey set 19 of his 20 laps under the 58-second mark—the most of any rider. And remember, he was in traffic most of the race. This kind of consistency is much more consistent with the Ryan Dungey we’re used to seeing.
- The track was obviously tough, and pretty long. Four riders (Robert Kiniry, Matt Lemoine, Les Smith and Cedric Soubeyras) had average lap times exceed the one-minute mark—the most in 450SX all season.
- The numbers confirm what we’re seeing: Davi Millsaps is super-solid this year. In Oakland, he had five consecutive laps (3-7) under 57-seconds, which was the most of any rider in 450SX. After reeling off five consecutive laps under 57-seconds, he backed it up with ten consecutive laps under 58-seconds.
- Ryan Villopoto had the most consecutive laps under 58-seconds with seventeen straight to begin the race.
- After the second turn melee that claimed a number of riders, Chad Reed set five of his next seven laps under 58-seconds.
Villopoto was the only rider with a lap in the 54-second range.
Simon Cudby photo
250SX Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 55.453 | 6 | 56.640 | Ken Roczen |
| 2 | 2 | 55.988 | 8 | 57.073 | Cole Seely |
| 3 | 20 | 56.022 | 4 | 56.483 | Eli Tomac |
| 4 | 5 | 56.349 | 15 | 58.380 | Malcolm Stewart |
| 5 |
3 | 56.441 | 4 | 57.897 | Jason Anderson |
| 6 | 4 | 56.611 | 4 | 58.025 | Martin Davalos |
| 7 |
7 | 56.833 | 11 | 58.441 | Kyle Cunningham |
| 8 | 10 | 56.862 | 8 | 58.935 | Zach Osborne |
| 9 | 8 | 57.265 | 5 | 58.555 | Austin Politelli |
| 10 | 13 | 57.661 | 5 | 59.541 | Jessy Nelson |
| 11 | 19 | 57.679 | 5 | 58.792 | Jake Canada |
| 12 | 11 | 57.694 | 6 | 58.965 | Tyla Rattray |
| 13 | 6 | 57.716 | 8 | 58.715 | Joey Savatgy |
| 14 | 9 | 57.845 | 5 | 58.913 | Christian Craig |
| 15 | 12 | 57.958 | 4 | 59.251 | Travis Baker |
| 16 | 15 | 58.895 | 5 | 1:00.842 | Jean Carlos Ramos |
| 17 | 14 | 59.168 | 6 | 1:00.575 | Chris Plouffe |
| 18 | 16 | 59.220 | 8 | 1:00.272 | Josh Cachia |
| 19 | 17 | 1:00.135 | 5 | 1:03.319 | Kade Mosig |
| 20 | 18 | 1:01.604 | 4 | 1:02.771 | Killy Rusk |
250SX
- For the first time all season, someone not named Eli Tomac would set the fastest lap in 250SX. Ken Roczen would claim the top spot with a 55.453 on lap 5.
- Roczen and Cole Seely joined Ryan Villopoto as the only riders in the field to have laps times under 56-seconds.
- Malcolm Stewart set the latest fastest lap of the night with a 56.349 on the final lap! His 56.349 would also mark the fourth fastest in 250SX.
- Roczen reeled off eleven straight laps (4-14) under 57-seconds, the most of any rider in 250SX.
- Seely began the race with nine consecutive laps under 57-seconds.
- Another from the track is tough department: Five riders (Killy Rusk, Chris Plouffe, Josh Cachia, Kade Mosig and Jean Carlos Ramos) had average laps times over the one-minute mark—the most all season.
- And another: For the first time all season, two riders (Rusk and Mosig) would set every lap over the one-minute mark.
- Before going out of the race after a crash in the whoops, Eli Tomac laid down three straight laps under 58-seconds and two straight (2-3) under 57-seconds.
Comparison:
Ken Roczen vs. Cole Seely – Laps 8-11
Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Cole Seely set the pace early in Oakland, leading the first eleven laps before Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen made a late charge en route to his first victory in 2013. Let’s dig a little deeper and look at laps 8-11 to see where Roczen made up the most ground.
| Lap | Ken Roczen | Cole Seely |
| 8 | 55.739 | 55.988 |
| 9 | 55.689 | 56.525 |
| 10 | 56.182 | 56.4 |
| 11 | 56.824 | 57.571 |
| Avg. | 56.108 | 56.621 |
Roczen began to cut into Seely's lead on lap 8 and bested the TLD rider in lap times on three of the next four laps before taking the lead for good on lap 12 (the first full lap Roczen was registered as the leader). Roczen was knocking off tenths of seconds before lap 11 when he picked up nearly a full second--setting a 56.824 to Seely's 57.571.
Ken Roczen became the first rider other than Eli Tomac to set the fastest lap in 250SX.
Simon Cudby photo
Seely (A2) vs. Seely (Oakland)
At first glance, Cole Seely’s performances at Anaheim 2 and Oakland match up quite similarly. He led a ton of lap at both (10 at A2 and 11 at Oakland), but was passed for the lead late in the race and seemed to have lost stream down the stretch. Let’s look at his laps from the last two races closely to see what happened.
| Anaheim 2 / Lap | Time | Oakland / Lap | Time | |
| 2 | 55.299 | 2 | 56.623 | |
| 3 | 54.567 | 3 | 56.587 | |
| 4 | 54.238 | 4 | 56.354 | |
| 5 | 55.042 | 5 | 56.192 | |
| 6 | 54.937 | 6 | 56.224 | |
| 7 | 54.97 | 7 | 56.163 | |
| 8 | 55.028 | 8 | 55.988 | |
| 9 | 54.854 | 9 | 56.525 | |
| 10 | 55.194 | 10 | 56.4 | |
| Avg. 2-10 | 54.903 | Avg. 2-10 | 56.339 | |
| 11 | 56.16 | 11 | 57.571 | |
| 12 | 56.921 | 12 | 58.324 | |
| 13 | 57.205 | 13 | 57.538 | |
| 14 | 55.844 | 14 | 58.665 | |
| 15 | 58.656 | 15 | 59.87 | |
| Avg. 11-15 | 56.557 | Avg 11-15 | 58.396 |
At Anaheim 2, Seely ran lap times in the 54-55 second range through lap 10. On lap 11, he started to lose that pace, going from a 55.1 on lap 10 to a 56.1 on lap 11. He got back into 55s once—on lap 14—but also hit the 57 mark on laps 13 and 15.
Similarly, in Oakland his lap times were in the 56-second range for the first 10 laps—and he even hit a 55 on lap eight. But again on lap 11, he lost steam, jumping into the 57s on the 11th lap, and then compounding that with times ranging in the 57-59 range through the finish.
After the race, Seely told Racer X’s Aaron Hansel that he has been “trying to ride smart races,” and would “rather take a second than go down and end up in last.” So maybe Seely was making the smart decision to back it down a touch, or maybe he just lost stream down the stretch—he is only four races back from a long injury. Maybe he just lost momentum once he lost the lead. Either way, at both races, Seely’s first ten laps were great, but his last five weren’t as strong.
Did you like this article?
Check out ACTION FIGURE
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda’s Cole Seely is a man of many talents— skateboarding, BMX, import drifting … and he’s pretty good at this motocross thing, too. Page 156 .
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Impulse Studios
First!! 'cause i holeshot with this sweet machine!! http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/mcy/3570822481.html
@ jd805
Sweet ride...lol. Chain looks a little snug though.
i got 50$ on it
needs a foot peg, front brakes, air filter
could use a chain
motor doesnt have much compression
smokes a little when cold
...lol...
Thank you for getting rid of that before it started a shit storm.
Since there is so much talk on 450 vs 250 how about comparing the two winners laps, at least until lap 15.
the biggest differences only come in cornering and momentum carried for jumps. Interesting to look at i suppose but not very telling really.
There is no reason why the little bikes can beat big bikes. I know it won't change, it is what it is now. But I remember indoors and out a two to three second faster lap time for the big bikes. What kind of message does it send when the factory teams are out testing and about half of the little bike kids are going faster then the supposed fast, experienced, bad ass riders that the kids are supposed to look up at?
The 2nd corner crash that took down and held up the rest of the field, allowed RV to take which ever line he wanted to register those first 5 fast laps. Villopoto is fast, which we all knew, but his lap times were made a lot easier by getting the holeshot and having no one around him. He has more traffic around him when trying to run a hot lap in practice...Heck he had a 6 second lead, before Millsaps made his way around Brayton..Far to easy for some one like RV,
On an fresh open track, on lap 2, Villopoto had 54.995 to Dungey's 56.136 = 1.141 sec faster than Dungey's best time in the main, on lap 14, when the track was pretty broken down. Dungey too had a lap time in the 54's, in his heat race while chasing down Millsaps, RD ran a nights best 54.857..so both the Ryans posses speed..
Our champion, Ryan Villopoto is defiantly the one to watch, he has quickly made up points and seems to be on a roll and that's bad for the competition, but there is a long way to go...As we have seen, the Key to the race is the HOLESHOT!!!
I snarfed my coffee when i saw that thing! I was looking for an 06 or newer yz125 for short money and this beast popped up on the search. Sweet flame job....
average lap time for Dungey and Villo are surprising. Dungey had to be ripping some very consistent lap times considering his 2nd turn hang up. I think Dungey is due for a win if not a battle for a win.
Don't count anything in that race even villo won't buy into that gap.. Every good rider but 1 and 18 went down in 1st turn and either was out or had to work through the pack on a one line crappy track
Cole Seely better get in shape!!
If he wants a good shot at the #1 he'd better. it's all there, just needs to build some stamina.
It looks like all that "parity" stuff is over. Villopoto is straight up the fastest dude. The only guy that will beat RV this year is RV himself.
The crash in the second turn does NOT count towards the average. The first lap doesnt count towards the average because the track is not the same length (it doesn't start at the finish line, it starts at the starting line).
Boy that Millsaps is slow, I cant believe he turned faster laps than Canard and his average lap time was even higher, since he looked so slow at the race..and Canard looked great (which he did) LOL!!!!
the real reason 450's are faster than 250's is Ryan Villapoto. would love to see his times on a 250....... @byrner99 so true...RD is not beating RV unless RV goes down or has a major problem his speed isn't
even close in reality. Big difference between turning one close qualifying lap and catching and PASSING RV...i'm waiting to see him try though and wish him good luck with that......
It's just wrong to try to relegate the 250 class to being some glorified schoolboy class, subservient to the 450 class. It holds their salaries down, makes them look less than the 450 guys. Somebody needs to face the fact that if they didn't try to load the 450 class with all the best guys, the 250 class would be extremely competitive in lap times, and even with most of the good guys in the 450s, what few remain in the 250s still hang with the 450 leaders. Let Arenacross be the subservient series to the Supercross series, and give the 250 riders the status they deserve as an equal class. Let the spectators and sponsors sort out who gets the big bucks. After all, when we go to a local race, what classes do we really care about watching? In days gone by, it was three classes: the 125 Beginners/Novices (for the fantastic crashes), the 125 Expert/Pros (for the fantastic racing) and the 250 Expert/Pros. Nowadays nobody cares because they're all four strokes, but if they did care, it would be the 250 Beggars/Novices (for the crashes), the 250 Exp/Pros and the 450 Exp/Pros. Those are the only classes we care about. In the two stroke days, the 125 Pros were extremely entertaining, every bit if not more than the 250 Pros. Nowadays the 250s are extremely entertaining, and there's no reason to dismiss the excitement of that class just because some politically posturing, money-grubbing, street-bike-focused sanctioning body says it's not as important.
Pitbull
think you're being a little too optimistic...
RD had a whole race to catch Millsaps and pass him.....RV did it in 6 laps at A2, passing a handful of other top guys in the process.
If RV gets even a decent start he's the favorite...
Therealmofo Your right!! canard did that coming from 16th and Saps was in to top 3 the hole time. Just shows how good Canard did!! Just imagine what canard would have done with a clear track like Saps had!!
Kill-a-Dodo 1.141 secs faster, looks good on paper to be sub-double-nickels. He was flowin' schmoov, on the move, in the groove, like art in the Louvre.
the 250s are getting so fast and due to the light weight it wont be long before they surpass the 450s in lap times, you can only use so much power before it makes the bike unridable even at this level, in a couple years these things will be probably be making 4 more horse than right now so it seems inevitable.
@BILLC--but you are missing the point--you said yourself, Millsaps looked slow!!!!
People still getting on BillC I see. He said RV made Milsaps looks slow and the thing is Milsaps does look slow, even when he has fast lap times. Who cares? He was only trying to highlight that RV was flying. He did make Milsaps look slow at A2 and I'm sure Milsaps had decent lap times there as well. Milsaps got 2nd! Does what BillC somehow negate that accomplishment? Milsaps is doing awesome this year, don't worry if he looks fast doing it. Some guys look like they are flying and are going nowhere, so I think Davi's alright with it.
@BKR-- I know myself and Bill just like to give each other a hard time, its all good..
Ok,I know its only going on the 5th round of the SX season.But,I hope Villopoto stays injury free so we can see some real riding from him in the outdoors.The outdoors just isnt right without him in it!
@Webman, 125s have been winning against bigger bikes since the 1960s here and there, so it should come as no surprise that 250 four strokes would beat 450s here and there.
What B-KR said. LOL
.and therealmofo. good times
..poto was laying down the fastest lap times in 06 outdoors ,ocsnly. He was the fastest racer on the planet when RC wasnt racing. I find that Canoliolio is the only racer to be as good on a 350. We see so many racers that cant adapt to the 450..austin stroupe,bt,even poto has already crashed out of 3seasons. Would having racers stay n the 250's be so bad..is stroupe still racing
Tonewall, Ripdown and all you other RV junkies need to just accept that RD had the fastest lap of the night during the heat race in the ONLY lap of the night where he had a clear track. Had he gotten the holeshot, he'd have checked out also. So big ups to RV for nailing the holeshot but it's a long season and RD WILL have some good starts eventually.