1. James Stewart – Duh. The guy has won the last four races in a row and has closed the points down to only six behind championship rival Chad Reed. Last week, though, he was only 22 points in front of Reed in our rankings, while this week he is 65 points ahead.
2. Chad Reed – Another duh. Reed has been Mr. Second Place so far this year. No one can stop him right now, except for Stewart. If he’s going to challenge Stewart again, especially with the tracks so hard to pass on, he’s going to need to start with Stewart.
3. Ryan Villopoto – Villopoto is still the third fastest, taking the spot from Josh Grant a couple of weeks ago. He’s solidly the number-three guy on the track right now, too.
4. Josh Grant – After a couple of fifth-place finishes on the track, Grant got back up to the spot befitting of his power ranking in San Francisco. His consistency this year has been outstanding.
5. Ryan Dungey – Despite losing both his Heat and main event last weekend, Dungey maintains fifth on the power rankings – probably due to the manner in which he lost, as he fell while trying to pass for the lead.
6. Andrew Short – Short has been consistently near the front all year with only one finish outside the top five (sixth), and he was second at the opener. Although it seems no one is noticing, his placement in the power rankings says otherwise.
7. Jake Weimer – Weimer has now matched Dungey on wins for the season, but his two other finishes are one position behind Dungey’s non-wins, which means he sits four points behind Dungey in the championship chase.
8. Kevin Windham – K-Dub has had a pretty tough start to the year, but he says his bike is sorted out, and this weekend is a mud race... He is eighth in the power rankings, and the top eight are identical in order to last week’s top eight.
9. Ivan Tedesco – Ivan Tedesco moved up from 10th to an appropriate ninth in the rankings after running up front and finishing 10th last weekend. But the real reason he moved up a spot was...
10. Timmy Ferry – Timmy Ferry fell back a spot by virtue of failing to make the main event in San Francisco after being taken out off of the start in both his heat race and LCQ.
11. Ryan Morais – Ryan Morais maintains 11th in the power rankings. He was fifth at San Francisco, which was his first time this year off the podium. He’s still a strong third in points.
12. Christophe Pourcel – Pourcel moved up a spot to 12th in the rankings. If he continues to win out East, one would have to assume that he’ll continue up the rankings as well.
13. Mike Alessi – Alessi also moved up a spot despite a ninth-place finish that he achieved via a second-place start.
14. Brett Metcalfe – Metty moved up two spots this week at the expense of a couple of his fellow racers.
15. Trey Canard – Canard is back in the game. Last week, he was ranked 22nd, giving him the biggest jump of the week because of his podium finish in San Francisco.
16. Justin Brayton – Brayton was 17th last week and still moved up a spot despite Canard moving in front of him. Brayton might be ranked higher if he rode a 450 this year.
17. Davi Millsaps – One reason Brayton moved up a spot this week is Davi Millsaps, who fell from 15th to 17th on the week despite his best finish of the year in San Francisco.
18. Nico Izzi – Izzi stayed right where he was this week, even though Canard jumped past him in the rankings.
19. Jason Lawrence – The “biggest loser” of this week’s power rankings is Jason Lawrence, who fell from 12th to 19th in the rankings because of his misinterpretation of the AMA rules and subsequent perceived involvement in the Hansen/Boniface incident after the race that he was “too sick” to race.
20. Austin Stroupe – Stroupe lost a spot in the rankings, thanks mainly to Trey Canard, as Stroupe hasn’t raced since a couple of weeks ago.
21. Josh Hill – Hilly doesn’t move this week, even though he posted his best finish so far this year in San Francisco – a seventh.
22. Chris Blose – Despite having his worst finish of the season in San Francisco (a 15th), Chris Blose is ranked this week, and he wasn’t ranked in the top 25 at all last week, even though he finished fifth. Go figure.
23. Nick Wey – Nick Wey fell from 20th to 23rd this week because of his failure to make the main event in San Francisco.
24. Ryan Sipes – Sipes moves not at all this week. He was 24th last week and again this week despite finishing sixth, matching his best finish of the year, in San Francisco.
25. Heath Voss – Voss returns to the power rankings after round five. He’s been a bit under the radar, despite a seventh-place finish at round one. He actually sat out round two to go to an overseas race that he had previous commitments to, yet he still sits 12th in points, just behind Hill and Millsaps, and in front of Ben Coisy, Nick Wey, Josh Summey and more.
2. Chad Reed – Another duh. Reed has been Mr. Second Place so far this year. No one can stop him right now, except for Stewart. If he’s going to challenge Stewart again, especially with the tracks so hard to pass on, he’s going to need to start with Stewart. 3. Ryan Villopoto – Villopoto is still the third fastest, taking the spot from Josh Grant a couple of weeks ago. He’s solidly the number-three guy on the track right now, too.
4. Josh Grant – After a couple of fifth-place finishes on the track, Grant got back up to the spot befitting of his power ranking in San Francisco. His consistency this year has been outstanding.
5. Ryan Dungey – Despite losing both his Heat and main event last weekend, Dungey maintains fifth on the power rankings – probably due to the manner in which he lost, as he fell while trying to pass for the lead.
6. Andrew Short – Short has been consistently near the front all year with only one finish outside the top five (sixth), and he was second at the opener. Although it seems no one is noticing, his placement in the power rankings says otherwise.
7. Jake Weimer – Weimer has now matched Dungey on wins for the season, but his two other finishes are one position behind Dungey’s non-wins, which means he sits four points behind Dungey in the championship chase.
8. Kevin Windham – K-Dub has had a pretty tough start to the year, but he says his bike is sorted out, and this weekend is a mud race... He is eighth in the power rankings, and the top eight are identical in order to last week’s top eight.
9. Ivan Tedesco – Ivan Tedesco moved up from 10th to an appropriate ninth in the rankings after running up front and finishing 10th last weekend. But the real reason he moved up a spot was...
10. Timmy Ferry – Timmy Ferry fell back a spot by virtue of failing to make the main event in San Francisco after being taken out off of the start in both his heat race and LCQ.
11. Ryan Morais – Ryan Morais maintains 11th in the power rankings. He was fifth at San Francisco, which was his first time this year off the podium. He’s still a strong third in points.
12. Christophe Pourcel – Pourcel moved up a spot to 12th in the rankings. If he continues to win out East, one would have to assume that he’ll continue up the rankings as well.
13. Mike Alessi – Alessi also moved up a spot despite a ninth-place finish that he achieved via a second-place start.
14. Brett Metcalfe – Metty moved up two spots this week at the expense of a couple of his fellow racers.
15. Trey Canard – Canard is back in the game. Last week, he was ranked 22nd, giving him the biggest jump of the week because of his podium finish in San Francisco.
16. Justin Brayton – Brayton was 17th last week and still moved up a spot despite Canard moving in front of him. Brayton might be ranked higher if he rode a 450 this year.
17. Davi Millsaps – One reason Brayton moved up a spot this week is Davi Millsaps, who fell from 15th to 17th on the week despite his best finish of the year in San Francisco.
18. Nico Izzi – Izzi stayed right where he was this week, even though Canard jumped past him in the rankings.
19. Jason Lawrence – The “biggest loser” of this week’s power rankings is Jason Lawrence, who fell from 12th to 19th in the rankings because of his misinterpretation of the AMA rules and subsequent perceived involvement in the Hansen/Boniface incident after the race that he was “too sick” to race.
20. Austin Stroupe – Stroupe lost a spot in the rankings, thanks mainly to Trey Canard, as Stroupe hasn’t raced since a couple of weeks ago.
21. Josh Hill – Hilly doesn’t move this week, even though he posted his best finish so far this year in San Francisco – a seventh.
22. Chris Blose – Despite having his worst finish of the season in San Francisco (a 15th), Chris Blose is ranked this week, and he wasn’t ranked in the top 25 at all last week, even though he finished fifth. Go figure.
23. Nick Wey – Nick Wey fell from 20th to 23rd this week because of his failure to make the main event in San Francisco.
24. Ryan Sipes – Sipes moves not at all this week. He was 24th last week and again this week despite finishing sixth, matching his best finish of the year, in San Francisco.
25. Heath Voss – Voss returns to the power rankings after round five. He’s been a bit under the radar, despite a seventh-place finish at round one. He actually sat out round two to go to an overseas race that he had previous commitments to, yet he still sits 12th in points, just behind Hill and Millsaps, and in front of Ben Coisy, Nick Wey, Josh Summey and more.
