Almost 60,000 spectators witnessed a dramatic fourteenth round of seventeen in the AMA Supercross/FIM SX World Championship at the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis as Ryan Dungey forged ahead with his designs on the title and Muscle Milk JGR’s Justin Brayton was the top Yamaha runner in 6th. The American was the first of three 2010 YZ450F riders in the top ten with Michael Byrne in 7th and Kyle Chisholm making it to the line in 8th.
A crash between championship rivals Dungey and Ryan Villopoto and a hefty fall later on by Villopoto, leaving Dungey free to win, was the main talking points of this meeting as the series enters the ‘home straight’ with visits to Seattle, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas to go. Brayton, who has finished outside of the top ten only once this season, won his Heat race and was part of the second group battle, narrowly failing to pip former champion Chad Reed to 5th spot.
“It’s disappointing to have so many things looking good for me going into the main event but still come away with nothing,” he said. “That’s what happens when you get bad starts and get mixed up back there with everyone going everywhere. At least I know I have the speed though. This was the closest I have to a hometown race, so it was nice racing in front of my friends and family, but I would’ve liked to have done a bit better.”
It wasn’t a happy evening for Josh Hill after the LandM San Manuel Yamaha rider faded back to 13th and his lowest finish of the season. Valli Motorsports Ivan Tedesco crashed on the same triple that claimed Villopoto and suffered a collapsed lung, meaning the Houston-podiumee could miss the rest of the calendar.
Hill is third in the points table and with a gap of 41 points to Villopoto could seize second place if the latter cannot participate in the three events remaining due to a suspected broken leg. Brayton is 6th, just ahead of Tedesco.
St Louis saw the last round of the East Coast Lites series and Ryan Sipes has finished 7th in the final classification on the YZ250F. The Moto Concepts rider was challenging for 3rd on Sunday until a slip at the end of the whoops section ended his race. Kyle Cunningham and Martin Davalos were 8th and 9th; Davalos the first finisher at the Edward Jones Dome with 4th.
