Sign of the Lap Times: Minneapolis

 

 

 

 

 

450SX Class

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	49.652	11	50.263	Ryan Dungey
2	2	49.754	9	50.395	Ryan Villopoto
3	3	50.116	5	51.101	Davi Millsaps
4	18	50.449	6	51.129	James Stewart
5	8	50.754	3	52.469	Josh Hill
6	5	50.872	7	51.901	Chad Reed
7	4	50.948	9	51.630	Justin Barcia
8	7	51.068	4	52.210	Trey Canard
9	12	51.147	12	52.526	Jake Weimer
10	9	51.264	9	52.421	Justin Brayton
11	6	51.275	5	52.185	Andrew Short
12	11	51.732	8	52.440	Matt Goerke
13	10	51.925	5	52.533	Weston Peick
14	13	51.939	9	53.169	Broc Tickle
15	19	52.395	4	53.545	Phil Nicoletti
16	14	52.402	9	54.112	Mike Alessi
17	15	52.482	3	53.994	Chris Blose
18	17	52.817	5	54.110	Ben LaMay
19	16	53.465	9	55.367	Robby Kiniry
20	20	55.100	2	55.100	Les Smith

450SX

- The high level of intensity was apparent from the get go in Minneapolis. Ryan Villopoto set his first fifteen laps under 51 seconds. Normally, that would easily top the class. But Ryan Dungey was right there every step of the way, setting his first sixteen laps under 51 seconds. Dungey also had the fastest lap of the night with a 49.652.

- Davi Millsaps rode to a lonesome third place finish, but he wasn’t too far off the pace of the Ryans, setting his first thirteen laps under 51 seconds. This speaks to the volume of how fast and hard the leaders are pushing early, and also, how long they’re able to maintain that torrid pace.

- James Stewart laid down seven straight laps under 52 seconds before pulling off with an apparent wrist injury.

- The Ryans weren’t the only ones laying down impressive lap times, as 450SX rookie Justin Barcia joined the duo as the only three riders to not have a single lap over 53 seconds.

- A little more than two weeks removed from knee surgery, Chad Reed looked smooth in his return. Reed only had two laps over 53 seconds—the second and last lap.

- The latest fastest lap belonged to Jake Weimer, who set a 51.147 on lap 12.

Cool Stat: Our friend Bill Disney sent us this cool stat early this morning:

Looking at the lap times you find that only .611 of a second separated RD’s fast lap of 49.652 and his average lap time of 50.263. RV’s was just as amazing as only .641 seconds separated his fast lap of 49.754 and average of 50.395. Only one rider, Millsaps, had a faster lap than the Ryans’ average lap at 50.116. Also, the Ryans both turned faster laps on the last lap than they did on their first timed lap!

Comparison:
Ryan Dungey vs. Ryan Villopoto

A battle of the titans took place in Minneapolis on Saturday night, in a final farewell to a packed house at the Metrodome. Let’s look at the lap charts between the Ryans for deeper analysis.

Lap	Ryan Dungey	Ryan Villopoto
2	50.496	50.224
3	50.281	50.787
4	50.328	49.954
5	50.315	50.079
6	50.206	49.888
7	49.797	50.337
8	49.73	49.961
9	49.885	49.754
10	49.959	49.997
Avg	50.110	50.109
11	49.652	49.985
12	50.14	50.346
13	50.444	50.334
14	50.51	50.53
15	49.971	50.589
16	49.868	50.081
17	50.743	51.333
18	52.187	52.678
19	50.213	50.614
20	50.286	50.042
Avg	50.401	50.653

This was a pure chess match between two of the prime athletes in the sport. You might not find a race where two riders were more closely matched. For example, Villopoto would edge Dungey during the first nine laps, averaging a 50.109, with Dungey averaging a 50.110. That’s only one thousandth of a difference in average lap time from laps two through ten. ONE THOUSANDTH! The second half of the race told the real story, as Dungey set faster times in eight of the final ten laps. But the racing was still bar-to-bar as Dungey’s 50.401 was just a tick faster than RV’s 50.653, but was just enough to propel Dungey to his first win since Anaheim III.