Race Report: New Orleans SX 2012

By Brendan Lutes

Photos by Chris Kinman

After a weekend off, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series picked back up for round 14 in New Orleans. Coming into the race, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto had already wrapped up the title in Houston, however, that didn’t stop him from dominating the night’s action. The win for RV was his ninth of the season and icing on the cake for the Washington native.

In the Lites class, Geico Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia just had to finish fourth or better to wrap up his second consecutive East Coast Lites Championship. And as it turned out, the defending champion did just that to take home the title with one round left to run in Las Vegas. The win for the evening, however, went to Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Darryn Durham who led the main event from the first lap to the last. The win for Durham was his first ever and the first 2012 win for the usually dominant Pro Circuit team out east.

LITES HEAT 1
Geico Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia dominated the first race of the night, as he took the holeshot and quickly opened up a sizeable lead over the field. Behind him, Eleven10 Mods/Honda’s Phil Nicoletti and JDR/KTM’s Malcolm Stewart began battling for second. Halfway through the race, though, Stewart made his way around Nicoletti to take over second. From there, the running order up front remained the same. Barcia went on to take the win followed by Stewart and Nicoletti,

Results:
1. Justin Barcia (Hon)
2. Malcolm Stewart (KTM)
3. Phil Nicoletti (Hon)
4. Tyler Bowers (Kaw)
5. Justin Bogle (Hon)
6. Austin Politelli (Hon)
7. Kyle Peters (Yam)
8. Shawn Rife (Hon)
9. Sean Lipanovich (KTM)

LITES HEAT 2
The start of the second heat race saw Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen take the holeshot followed by Rockstar Suzuki’s Blake Wharton and Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Blake Baggett. As the race continued, the top three riders began to separate themselves from the rest of the field with Roczen simply checking out, as the German rider put together flawless laps. When the checkered flag flew, Roczen took the win followed by Wharton in second and Baggett in third.

Results:
1. Ken Roczen (KTM)
2. Blake Wharton (Suz)
3. Blake Baggett (Kaw)
4. Darryn Durham (Kaw)
5. Kyle Cunningham (Yam)
6. Matt Lemoine (Kaw)
7. Jake Canada (Hon)
8. Z. Freeberg (Hon)
9. A.J. Catanzaro (KTM)

LCQ:
Eleven10mods.com/Honda’s Alex Martin rocketed off the gate to take the holeshot. Behind him MotoConcept’s Tommy Weeck held down second with KTM-mounted Sewell in third. As the laps continued to click by, the top-three tightened up and on the last lap, Sewell did all he could to make it around Weeck. The two made a little contact, but Weeck was ultimately able to hold on to the final transfer position.

Results:
1. Alex Martin (Hon)
2. Tommy Weeck (Hon)

SUPERCROSS LITES MAIN EVENT
When the pack raced through the first turn it was Martin with the holeshot followed by Barcia, Stewart, and Durham. Before the first lap was over, though, Durham had moved into second behind Martin and on the second lap took over the lead position. Behind them, Stewart passed Barcia to move into third and soon after that moved past Martin to take over second. After that, Durham began to open up a comfortable lead while Stewart held down second and Barcia third.
Things got interesting at the halfway mark when Stewart went down very hard in the whoops, handing second over to Barcia. A few laps later, Roczen, Bogle, and Baggett had all worked their way up and began battling for second position with Barcia. Soon after, all three riders has worked their way around Barcia, dropping the Honda rider back to fifth. Then with roughly five laps remaining, Durham made a mistake, allowing Baggett to close up on him. Durham was, however, able to open his lead back up. On the last lap, Baggett managed to close back up on the rear wheel of Durham and even made an attempt to pass, but Durham was able to hold him off to take the win. Behind him, Baggett finished second, Bogle third, Barcia fourth, and Roczen fifth. Barcia’s fourth place finish, though, was good enough for him to wrap up the title with one round of the series left to run in Las Vegas.

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