Race Report: Houston SX 2012

By Brendan Lutes
Photos by Chris Kinman

With four rounds remaining, Ryan Villopoto wrapped up the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

The 13th round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series in Houston, Texas, was literally one for the record books. Not only did the night produce some excellent racing and story lines, but also Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto clinched his second Supercross Championship, making it back-to-back titles for the popular Washington native. The win was also Villopoto’s eighth of the season.
In the Lites class, Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen carded his first win of the season and second-ever Supercross Lites victory after points leader Geico Honda’s Justin Barcia went down on the last lap when he came together with a lapper.

SUPERCROSS LITES QUALIFYING

LITES HEAT 1
The start of the opening race of the night saw Geico Honda’s Justin Barcia take the holeshot followed by Eleven10Mods/Honda’s Alex Martin. Behind them, though, Kawasaki privateer Tyler Bowers went down hard in the first turn, causing a red flag to come out and a restart of the race. When the gate fell for the second start, Barcia again took the holeshot with Martin in second, Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen in third, VMS/Yamaha’s Kyle Peters in fourth and KTM-mounted Lance Vincent in fifth.
As the laps continued, Barcia began to open up a comfortable lead, leaving Roczen and Martin to battle for second. Behind them, VMS/Yamaha teammates Peters and Kyle Cunningham battled for fourth. On the last lap, Barcia had a big lead and finished the race unchallenged. Behind him, though, Roczen got around Martin for second while Cunningham did likewise, moving into fourth ahead of Peters.

1. Justin Barcia (Hon)
2. Ken Roczen (KTM)
3. Alex Martin (Hon)
4. Kyle Cunningham (Yam)
5. Kyle Peters (Yam)
6. Lance Vincent (KTM)
7. Austin Politelli (Hon)
8. Phil Nicoletti (Hon)
9. Jake Canada (Hon)

LITES HEAT 2
The holeshot of heat two went to Rockstar Suzuki’s Blake Wharton followed by Geico Honda’s Justin Bogle and MotoConcept’s Tommy Weeck. One lap into the race, Wharton began to open up a comfortable lead, but on the next lap, came up short in the first rhythm section and went over the bars, handing the lead to Bogle and allowing Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Blake Baggett to move into second.
On the final lap, Bogle was in a comfortable lead with Baggett trying his best to close the gap with J-Star/KTM’s Malcolm Stewart holding down third. When the checkered flag flew, Bogle took the win with Baggett second and Stewart third.

1. Justin Bogle (Hon)
2. Blake Baggett (Kaw)
3. Malcolm Stewart (KTM)
4. Tommy Weeck (Hon)
5. Les Smith (KTM)
6. Sean Sewell (KTM)
7. Blake Wharton (Suz)
8. Z. Freeberg (Hon)
9. D. Herrlein (Hon)

LCQ
Kawasaki-mounted Matt Lemoine jumped out to the early lead, but one lap in, made a mistake allowing Darryn Durham to take over the lead. Behind them, Eleven10Mods/Honda’s Jeff Gibson was doing his best to keep them in sight with hopes of making it into a qualifying position.
On the last lap, Durham held down a comfortable lead over Lemoine and Gibson. When the checkered flag flew, Durham took the win with Lemoine second and Gibson third.

1. Darryn Durham (Kaw)
2. Matt Lemoine (Kaw)

SUPERCROSS LITES MAIN EVENT
The start of the main event saw Barcia take the holeshot followed by Roczen and Wharton. Before the conclusion of the first lap, though, Roczen took over the lead, but soon after made a mistake, allowing Barcia to retake the lead. Through it all, Wharton held down third with Baggett fourth, and Phil Nicoletti fifth.
On the fourth lap, Baggett made his way around Wharton for third and set his sights on Roczen for second while Barcia continued to open up a sizeable lead. On the 10th lap, Baggett closed right up on Roczen, but made a mistake and dropped several bike lengths back from the German rider. With two laps to go, Baggett closed back up on Roczen for second, but couldn’t make a move, and as lappers got in the way, Roczen opened up a lead on Baggett. On the last lap, Barcia—while way out front—came together with Lance Vincent over a jump, causing both riders to go down. The crash gave Roczen his first win of the season while Barcia remounted to take second. Baggett finished third with Wharton fourth. On the podium, Roczen spoke about his win. “It’s so awesome, but I have to say that this is not how I want to win a race,” Roczen said. “I rode a race without any mistakes and I’m super happy to be on top of the box.”

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