MotoX

Villopoto Becomes First Duel Winner of 2012

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto became the first rider of the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season to win two races, leading all 20 laps of the Main Event on Sunday night at Angel Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd.

GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac won his third consecutive Western Regional Supercross Lites Class race and extended his points lead to 22.

Villopoto picked up his second Nuclear Cowboyz Holeshot of the season to start the Supercross Class Main Event with TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray/Honda's Chad Reed in tow. Reed passed Villopoto on the opening lap but was passed back the following lap. Toyota/Yamaha/JGRMX's James Stewart, who qualified through the LCQ after crashing out of his heat race, moved into third place on Lap 1. On Lap 8, Stewart passed Reed for second place. Stewart finished second and Reed finished third.

"James (Stewart) and Chad (Reed) were riding good tonight," said Villopoto. "I knew I had to stay on my toes and not make a mistake. We need to take it one race at a time. I had a great start and to be perfect on the start difficult."

Tomac opened the Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites Class main Event with the Nuclear Cowboyz Holeshot with Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda's Cole Seely, who won the season opening race in Anaheim earlier this year, on his rear wheel through the first turn. Seely quickly passed Tomac for the lead. On Lap 3, Seely, of Murrieta, Calif., slid out and fell back to second place as Tomac assumed the lead. Seely finished second and Red Bull KTM's Marvin Musquin finished third.

"Tonight's track was difficult," said Tomac. "It's too bad Cole (Seely) slid out because he was going really fast, and I knew that I would have to work hard to get around him. I look forward to going to San Diego next weekend."

Australian Matt Moss once again had to overcome difficulty to post a decent result. The Australian Champion qualified 9th fastest and went straight into the main, where he had to fight back from last to eventually finish a respectable 7th. Ryan Marmont qualified better then his team-mate with 5th in his heat but finished 17th in the final.

Cody Mackie didn't make it through to the nights final in the open class finishing 4th in the LCQ.