Night two of the 2009 Rockstar Energy U.S. Open of Supercross is in the books and as expected, it was James Stewart who took the win—but it didn’t come easy. Number seven had to play catch-up to Ryan Villopoto who nailed the holeshot in the main event. Stew made quick work of Dan Reardon who was in second, and then straight-up reeled in Villopoto-passing him and eventually running away with the win. Unfortunately Stewart didn’t pull his signature whip off the finish line, but I guess his double fist pump will have to do. ESPN Action Sports
Reardon grabbed the holeshot and the early lead, but Villopoto soon worked his way around the Aussie to lead the way. Stewart still had some work to do before he had RV in his sights, and Villopoto used the time to run away and open up as much of a gap as possible. But by the time Stewart got around Reardon (which was actually a few laps) the five seconds Villopoto had put on Stewart just wasn’t enough. Stewart quickly reeled in the number two Kawasaki, and the two handed off the lead through a couple of straights before Stewart secured the lead and proceeded to check out.
Reardon held on to third for much of the race, but Red Bull Honda’s Davi Millsaps and Rockstar Suzuki rider Michael Byrne were closing the gap. In the last laps of the race, Millsaps was able to get around Reardon to take the final podium position. Reardon finished fourth followed by Byrne, who rounded out the top five.
In the overall standings, Stewart collected the spoils with a perfect 1-1 score. Millsaps’ third place on Saturday night gave him second overall and Reardon took third on the weekend with a 3-4 score. Cycle News
During lap 10 of 20, the defending Supercross champion caught up to Villopoto, and the two exchange the lead a few times before Stewart, after landing a bit ahead of Villopoto off a jump, secured the lead and rode to the win.
“It kind of reminded me about Vegas last year, with me and Ryan battling it out,” Stewart said on the podium. “It’s just an awesome bike and an awesome team,” he said. “All my guys on the Yamaha team work so hard, and I always have fun with these guys.”
Stewart finished 9.8 seconds ahead of Villopoto. The last time both riders raced was at Sam Boyd Stadium in May. During the downtime, Stewart was busy promoting the sport (even landing a reality TV show), but Villopoto had some ACL surgery. Motorcycle News
Overall Results:
1. James Stewart, Yamaha, 53
2. Davi Millsaps, Honda, 44
3. Dan Reardon, Honda, 40
4. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, 31
5. Michael Byrne, Suzuki, 27
6. Nick Wey, Yamaha, 27
7. Tyler Bowers, Yamaha, 27
8. Chris Blose, Honda, 26
9. Matt Boni, Honda, 25
10. Matt Georke, Yamaha, 18
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