Sign of the Lap Times: Dallas

After beginning the season with six straight rounds out west, Monster Energy Supercross packed up and headed east to The House that Jerry Built for round seven. Just when it looked like we were in for another barn-burner between Ryan Villopoto and Chad Reed, a horrific crash from Reed left over 53,000 fans stunned. Villopoto cruised home from there for his third straight victory. Reed is now faced with the very real possibility of missing the rest of the 2012 season, after suffering a torn ACL among other injuries. But let’s not count out the gritty Aussi for an outdoors return just yet.

Saturday also marked the East Region Lites opener, and boy did Justin Barcia and crew bring the heat to the Big D. Barcia grabbed the opening round win, sending a clear message to the rest of the field that the title runs through him. Barcia’s GEICO Honda rookie teammate, Justin Bogle and J-Star JDR KTMs Malcolm Stewart provided fireworks of their own, ending with each receiving $500 fines from the AMA for their actions on the track.

Now let’s get to the lap charts to see how it all broke down.

For the second straight week Chad Reed bested Ryan Villopoto to set the fastest lap of the night with a 46.662. Sadly he set that lap on the sixth go around. Just two laps later, he crashed out for the season.

The lap charts confirmed what most of us already knew from Dallas—Villopoto and Reed were in a league of their own. The two set the track ablaze consistently throwing down 46 and 47 second lap times (before Reed crashed), which at times were up to two seconds faster than Ryan Dungey and James Stewart.

After taking his first SX class podium in Phoenix, Jake Weimer has struggled to find that podium magic again. Weimer proclaimed that he was going to get more aggressive in Dallas and he did just that, fighting for second with Dungey before settling for third, and his second podium of the year. With Reed now out of the mix this may not be the last time in 2012 Weimer graces the podium.

Reed would set the fastest lap of the night before a big crash ended his night and SX season.
Photo: Simon Cudby

AMA Supercross Lites

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	48.903	6	49.628	Justin Barcia
2	14	49.100	6	55.305	Justin Bogle
3	3	49.147	6	49.939	Ken Roczen
4	2	49.150	5	50.080	Darryn Durham
5	6	49.369	5	51.635	Malcolm Stewart
6	15	49.709	4	52.935	Blake Bagget
7	4	50.081	4	50.945	Blake Wharton
8	5	50.393	5	51.360	Phillip Nicoletti
9	9	50.744	3	52.241	Cole Thompson
10	8	50.865	3	51.974	PJ Larsen
11	10	50.970	5	52.510	Lance Vincent
12	7	50/971	4	51.825	Jake Canada
13	11	51.424	8	52.428	Alex Martin
14	12	51.701	4	53.894	Hunter Hewitt
15	13	52.787	6	54.390	Austin Politelli
16	17	53.475	3	1:00.635	Angelo Pellegrini
17	18	53.587	3	54.839	Sean Hackley
18	16	54.899	10	59.019	Les Smith
19	19	-	-	-	Matt Lemoine
20	20	-	-	-	Kyle Cunningham

Justin Barcia began his title defense with an impressive showing in Dallas, not only securing the East Region opening round win, but taking home the top spot on the lap charts as well. Most expected Barcia to be at, or near, the top of the charts but a bigger surprise was his teammate Justin Bogle setting the second fastest lap of the night in his first career SX Lites race. Although Bogle’s impressive performance was somewhat overshadowed by a slap to the back of Malcolm Stewart’s head (after a suspect pass/knockdown from Stewart), Bogle looks to have what it takes to challenge for wins in 2012.

After spending last year down under competing in the Australian Nationals, Phil Nicoletti made his return to Monster Energy Supercross and proceeded to shock the industry with a fifth. In 2010 Nicoletti was a very under-the-radar privateer that was a consistent top ten threat, so while his fifth wasn’t the most shocking in history, it was a surprise that he accomplished it in his first race back.

Barcia would top the charts in the Lites class en route to his opening round win.
Photo: Simon Cudby