Sign Of The Lap Times: Houston

Round six of Monster Energy Supercross from Houston provided just about everything you can ask from a fan's perspective. Justin Barcia and Dean Wilson slugged it out in the Lites class, while Trey Canard capitalized on a Kevin Windham mistake to hold off a furious charge from Ryan Dungey.  Throw in a James Stewart crash, and a couple of huge first turn pile-ups, and you have a recipe for some great racing. Now onto the lap charts, brought to you by Motion Pro.

The fastest lap of the night went to none other than James… wait what? Davi Millsaps?  That’s right, Millsaps not only had his best race of the season thus far, but he also became the first rider not named James Stewart or Ryan Villopoto to put down the fastest lap of the night.  Millsaps put down a scorching 48.800 edging out Stewart’s 48.842.  After a long off-season Houston might prove to be the turning point in Millsaps' season.

Did Millsaps' season turn the corner in Houston?
Photo: Simon Cudby

As you all know by now Canard captured his first SX victory when he edged Dungey in a drag race to the finish line.  I won’t bore you with anymore commentary on his great race, but I will tell you that he put down the fifth fastest lap time with a 50.504.

Here’s an interesting fact from Houston. The top fourteen fastest lap times were under 51 seconds. Things are getting tight, folks.

AMA Supercross Lites

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	3	49.585	6	51.509	Blake Baggett
2	2	49.880	1	51.144	Dean Wilson
3	4	50.045	4	52.057	Ryan Sipes
4	6	50.061	2	53.246	Blake Wharton
5	1	50.134	8	50.920	Justin Barcia
6	5	50.179	4	52.421	Ian Trettel
7	15	50.311	4	55.696	Nico Izzi
8	7	50.488	5	53.507	Jason Anderson
9	8	50.934	3	53.362	Lance Vincent
10	14	50.951	3	55.738	Malcolm Stewart
11	13	51.079	5	55.129	Gannon Audette
12	18	51.231	2	1:05.447	P.J. Larsen
13	10	51.695	3	53.883	Alex Martin
14	9	51.824	2	53.543	Matt Lemoine
15	17	52.410	7	1:03.556	Taylor Futrell
16	12	52.535	3	55.257	Shawn Rife
17	16	52.648	6	59.098	A.J. Catanzaro
18	11	52.694	9	54.196	Chris Gosselaar
19	19	53.627	3	56.379	Levi Kilbarger
20	20	DNS	DNS	DNS	Darryn Durham

Blake Baggett made quite the first impression on his new team—Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki.  Baggett overcame a treacherous start and laid down the fastest lap of the night with 49.585. Baggett’s seemingly quiet third place finish should go a long way towards a championship run that could have gone wayward had he failed to make a charge through the pack.

Barcia outlasted Wilson to grab the opening round win in Houston.
Photo: Simon Cudby

Justin Barcia and Dean Wilson engaged in what seemed more like a UFC fight than a supercross race in Houston, with Barcia out-slugging Wilson en-route to the opening round win. It's interesting that while he won the race, Barcia set only the fifth fastest lap of the night  with a 50.134.

What a opening round night for privateer Lance Vincent.  The rookie not only managed a surprising top-ten finish but he also managed to put down the ninth fastest lap of the night. With arguably one of the deepest fields this past decade, Vincent proved he may not be just another name on the east coast.