Monster Energy Supercross Update: Phoenix
CORONA, Calif. – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ryan Morais led the Monster Army generals in battle at Phoenix’s Chase Field this past Saturday, bringing home a podium 3rd place finish in a hotly-contested WSX Lites division race that was fronted by his teammate, Jake Weimer (4th), during the first half of the event - round two of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship.
Also scoring top ten finishes under the Monster Energy banner were Supercross class racers Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy/Kawasaki), Josh Hill (Yamaha) and Tim Ferry (Monster Energy/Kawasak), who finished 7th, 8th and 9th – respectively.
In the Lites division Weimer was the fastest racer heading into the heats out of the qualifiers. Winning the first heat race, Weimer parlayed that momentum into the Lites main event and pulled the holeshot and led the race through the first seven laps. But it would be a tricky sand section that would catch Weimer when he lost his balance and stuffed the bike into the sand, going from 1st to 5th in a matter of seconds.
“Just lost concentration for a second and that was it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki set both Ryan with the fastest bikes out there and we should have both been on the podium – like Anaheim 1.”
One of the riders that got by Weimer on lap seven was Morais. He’d started in 5th place and was closing at the time, used the momentum to slingshot himself up to 3rd and would battle hard with Justin Brayton for the No. 2 spot. Weimer was able to close and the three riders all finished within a couple seconds of each other at the end.
The podium would be Morais’ second in as many races and he trails Weimer on the WSX overall podium, 43-42, with Ryan Dungey leading (45 points).
In the SX class the story of the night was starts – or lack of a good one for the Monster Energy racers in the series’ premier class. Hill led the Monster Army generals with an 11th place start, followed by Villopoto in 13th, Nick Wey (Boost Mobile/ampm/Monster Energy/Troy Racing) in 14th, Ferry in 17th and Paul Carpenter (Monster Energy/Cernic’s/Kawasaki) in 18th. Despite the poor starts the Monster Army generals marched forward, each one of them making up ground and three of them making the top ten – with nearly a fourth, though Wey went down late in the latter portion of the race while in 10th, but would remount and wind up making the top 15 (15th). Carpenter would also improve on his start, making up five spots to finish 13th.
“My starts are really hurting me right now and we're going to work on that this week,” said Carpenter. “I know the speed is there but this track was just tough to make a pass stick. There was a whole pack of riders in front of me and a good start would have put me at the front of the that pack.”
Next up for the Monster Energy-backed Monster Energy AMA Supercross racers is the second installment of the Anaheim (Calif.) trilogy at Angel Stadium, this Saturday, Jan. 17th.
Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it SX, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, rock crawling, wake, mini bikes, surf, snow, BMX – name it – the athletes are rockin’ Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, Monster’s fruit juice hybrid dubbed “M-80,” the party-friendly MIXXD, the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream drink line supercharged with our Monster Energy blend, along with the new Monster Energy “Hitman” energy shot. The Monster Energy guys running the Monster Energy Supercross series dig ‘em – so will you. On the ‘Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com
