Sign of the (Lap) Times: St. Louis

April 22, 2008 9:42am

The Lites class in St. Louis provided fans of Monster Energy Supercross everything they wanted: a one-race showdown for all the marbles. The main event delivered everything we had hoped for, with Trey Canard making an aggressive pass on Ryan Villopoto to take the lead en route to victory and the championship. Of course, the pass is being talked about, but what do you think? Take a look at it and decide for yourself.

Trey Canard was fastest on his way to the title.

Some may wonder what would’ve happened had RV not crashed. But after taking a look at the lap times, in the end the fastest rider did prevail, as Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s Trey Canard recorded the fastest Lites lap time of the main event with a 53.063. Villopoto, on the other hand, was two hundredths of a second slower, with a 53.083. Canard’s best time came on lap six; Villopoto’s on lap four.

As for the other guys, RV’s teammate Branden Jesseman appears to get faster each week, and he had the third-best time with a 53.552. The top-three guys were all in the 53-second range, with the next fastest rider being over a second slower – that being Josh Grant. Rounding out the top five was Honda Red Bull Racing’s Ben Coisy, who unfortunately crashed out on lap 12. Check out the rest of the best lap times below:

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
1	53.063	Trey Canard	Honda
4	53.083	Ryan Villopoto	Kawasaki
2	53.552	Branden Jesseman	Kawasaki
3	55.009	Josh Grant	Honda
22	55.024	Ben Coisy	Honda
7	55.090	Ryan Sipes	KTM
5	55.259	Ryan Morais	Yamaha
6	55.769	Kyle Chisholm	Kawasaki
11	55.984	Tyler Bowers	Yamaha
9	56.034	Matt Goerke	KTM
8	56.252	Nico Izzi	Suzuki
20	56.481	Kyle Keylon	Honda
10	56.504	Billy Payne	Honda
13	56.627	Kyle Partridge	Honda
12	57.190	Travis Sewell	Suzuki
14	57.652	Jimmy Albertson	Suzuki
16	58.010	Ricky Renner	Kawasaki
15	58.111	Justin Sipes	Suzuki
17	58.185	Levi Kilbarger	Honda
18	59.074	Tanner Reidman	Suzuki
19	59.438	Jason Hussey	Honda
21	59.837	Bruce Dehn	Kawasaki

Biggest surprise: It’s impressive to see Branden Jesseman’s lap times up there with TC and RV. Granted, he is the 2003 125cc Eastern Regional Champion, but that was five years ago!

Jesseman is not far off the pace.

AMA Supercross

A broken and/or cracked scapula didn’t slow down San Manuel Yamaha’s Chad Reed in St. Louis. Although he backed it down and played it safe for second, Reed still managed to log the fastest lap time in the AMA Supercross main event with a 52.482. Windham, who closed the points gap down to 13 with his win, was next with a 52.693, followed by Honda Red Bull Racing teammates Andrew Short (53.3) and Davi Millsaps (54.0). Check out the rest of the top 20 below:

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
2	52.482	Chad Reed	Yamaha
1	52.693	Kevin Windham	Honda
3	53.311	Andrew Short	Honda
6	54.025	Davi Millsaps	Honda
16	54.157	Josh Hill	Yamaha
5	54.229	Tommy Hahn	Kawasaki
4	54.459	Nathan Ramsey	Yamaha
7	54.632	Justin Brayton	KTM
11	55.141	Nick Wey	KTM
8	55.312	Paul Carpenter	Honda
14	55.477	Eric Sorby	Honda
9	55.519	Travis Preston	Kawasaki
19	55.591	Troy Adams	Honda
15	55.901	Bryan Johnson	Honda
10	55.996	Jason Thomas	Honda
13	56.008	Heath Voss	Honda
12	56.184	David Vuillemin	Suzuki
17	56.261	Jeff Gibson	Kawasaki
18	56.357	Kevin Johnson	Yamaha

Reedy was still speedy in St. Louis

Biggest surprise: Motosport/Xtreme Kawasaki’s Tommy Hahn is adapting well to the 450, and he had the sixth fastest lap time in only his third AMA Supercross event before switching back to the 250F for the remaining round of the Western Regional Lites series. Another surprise was MDK KTM’s Justin Brayton, who had the eighth-fastest time in his first-ever AMA Supercross, besting his teammate, Nick Wey.

Tommy Boy