Sign Of The Lap Times: Las Vegas

What a way for Monster Energy AMA Supercross to ride off into the Vegas sunset. With three titles up for grabs in Sin City, the already wild and crazy Vegas strip got turned up a notch. The Lites class put on a show to remember, but not to be outdone, Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey fought to the death for yet another victory in the AMA Supercross class. Now onto the lap charts brought to you by Motion Pro to see how the numbers break down.

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto claimed his first career SX title with his third place finish at Vegas. But RV wasn't out there just cruising around hoping to have the title handed to him. No sir, he was busy throwing down some soul crushing laps. He even managed to put down the fastest lap of the night with a 1:01.787 on lap eight. Congrats to RV on his championship run; it was well deserved.

The sign says it all.
Photo: Simon Cudby

Las Vegas proved to be one of the longest tracks of the series, with every rider surpassing the one-minute mark on their fastest and average lap time(s). Daytona was the only other track where every rider surpassed the one-minute mark.

It hasn't taken Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jake Weimer long to adjust to the Supercross class. After missing all but the final two rounds with a broken arm, Weimer has returned with a fist full of throttle. He secured a place inside the top-ten at Salt Lake City and Vegas, and posted the tenth fastest lap of the night in Vegas. Now imagine if he was healthy the entire season, we may have been talking about the "Big Six."

 

AMA Supercross Lites
East Lites

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	1:03.077	14	1:04.378	Blake Baggett
2	2	1:03.793	9	1:04.478	Ryan Sipes
3	3	1:03.956	12	1:05.415	Justin Barcia
4	4	1:04.127	13	1:05.296	Dean Wilson
5	5	1:05.752	5	1:06.759	Malcolm Stewart
6	6	1:05.874	6	1:06.915	Matt Lemoine
7	8	1:06.181	7	1:07.565	Hunter Hewitt
8	7	1:06.397	13	1:07.463	Lance Vincent
9	9	1:06.507	10	1:07.691	Les Smith
10	11	1:06.930	10	1:08.642	Chris Gosselaar
11	10	1:07.114	3	1:08.192	Justin Sipes
12	12	1:08.094	6	1:10.598	Taylor Futrell
13	14	1:08.343	11	1:11.028	Tyler Bright
14	19	1:09.007	2	1:17.940	Bradley Ripple
15	15	1:09.211	6	1:11.439	AJ Catanzaro
16	13	1:09.356	9	1:10.741	Levi Kilbarger
17	16	1:09.580	12	1:11.629	Johnny Moore
18	17	1:09.794	12	1:12.053	Killy Rusk
19	18	1:10.033	3	1:16.760	Ricky Renner
20	20	DNF	DNF	DNF	Gannon Audette

It took a while, but Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Blake Baggett finally broke out of his sophmore slump. After grabbing a victory at Daytona, things have been a struggle for Baggett. But the young star managed to keep his focus and determination until the end, and rode home to his second victory of the season at Las Vegas. He also managed to set the fastest lap of the night with a 1:03.077.

Coming into the 2011 season many were skeptical of what we were going to get from ARMA Suzuki City's rookie Malcolm Stewart. After a few crash and burn efforts from the rookie early, Stewart really began to harnass the speed that made him a hot prospect coming out of the amateur ranks. With a fifth in Vegas Stewart moved himself into seventh in points, just ahead of privateer Lance Vincent for most points for a rookie in the East Lites class. Stewart also managed to put down the fifth fastest lap of the night in Sin City.

Baggett finally broke out of his slump at Vegas.
Photo: Simon Cudby

West Lites

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	1:03.401	4	1:04.824	Ken Roczen
2	5	1:04.050	5	1:05.887	Cole Seely
3	3	1:04.167	8	1:05.423	Kyle Cunningham
4	4	1:04.432	9	1:05.622	Eli Tomac
5	2	1:04.697	9	1:05.476	Broc Tickle
6	7	1:05.213	4	1:06.117	Ryan Morais
7	6	1:05.281	9	1:06.123	Tyla Rattray
8	10	1:05.281	3	1:07.377	Josh Hansen
9	9	1:05.602	14	1:06.452	Martin Davalos
10	8	1:05.622	8	1:06.336	Travis Baker
11	12	1:06.328	8	1:08.051	Nick Paluzzi
12	18	1:06.455	5	1:08.048	Tommy Weeck
13	11	1:06.475	9	1:07.576	Bruce Rutherford
14	13	1:06.824	8	1:09.003	Jake Canada
15	14	1:06.988	5	1:09.460	Ben Evans
16	16	1:09.183	6	1:11.700	Dakota Tedder
17	15	1:09.190	4	1:11.571	Casey Hinson
18	19	1:09.678	5	1:11.046	Gared Steinke
19	17	1:09.891	3	1:13.461	Landen Powell
20	20	1:10.104	5	1:28.245	Topher Ingalls

German wunderkind Ken Roczen finally took his first step to becoming a bona fide superstar this weekend in Vegas. The 17-year-old rookie finally had the breakout ride everyone has been waiting for en route to his first career SX Lites victory. Roczen also set the fastest lap of the night with a 1:03.401 on lap four aboard his Red Bull KTM.

Credit must also be given to DNA Shred Stix Yamaha's Kyle Cunningham. Cunningham has shown the speed to be a podium threat all year but he had yet to pull it all together until Vegas. Cunningham was on the pipe all night and scored his first podium of the season. He also set the third fastest lap of the night with a 1:04.167.

Roczen had a breakout ride at Vegas.
Photo: Simon Cudby

East/West Shootout Lites

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	3	1:03.455	4	1:04.749	Ken Roczen
2	1	1:03.585	7	1:04.124	Ryan Sipes
3	4	1:03.722	4	1:05.008	Dean Wilson
4	2	1:03.872	6	1:04.658	Cole Seely
5	16	1:04.154	2	1:11.131	Justin Barcia
6	7	1:04.245	6	1:06.407	Kyle Cunningham
7	5	1:04.306	5	1:05.461	Martin Davalos
8	6	1:04.699	10	1:06.075	Eli Tomac
9	14	1:05.528	9	1:08.603	Matt Lemoine
10	18	1:05.540	5	1:12.889	Malcolm Stewart
11	8	1:05.548	9	1:06.633	Lance Vincent
12	9	1:05.653	7	1:06.951	Travis Baker
13	12	1:05.832	6	1:07.722	Blake Baggett
14	10	1:05.950	6	1:06.732	Broc Tickle
15	15	1:06.146	5	1:08.905	Ryan Morais
16	11	1:06.246	7	1:07.528	Tyla Rattray
17	13	1:06.512	8	1:08.025	Nick Paluzzi
18	19	1:06.905	4	1:16.065	Jake Canada
19	17	1:07.031	4	1:10.662	Les Smith
20	20	DNF	DNF	DNF	Hunter Hewitt

The Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout got a makeover this year. Instead of being the only pony show in town it was up against a stable of horses in the form of the East and West Lites Championship races. But never failing to live up to the hype the East/West Shootout was once again one of the best races of the series with DNA Shred Stix Yamaha's Ryan Sipes taking home the victory and the second fastest lap of the night.

Once again it was the German Ken Roczen who would lay claim to the fastest lap of the night, this time with a 1:03.455, just tenths of a second off his West Coast Lites race pace.

Sipes would take home the victory at the East/West Shootout.
Photo: Simon Cudby