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Yamaha Racing
Hill takes first SX victory in Minneapolis
 Yamaha's Josh Hill toasted a fine maiden AMA-SX triumph in front of almost 41,000 fans at the Metrodome in Minneapolis last Saturday for round eleven of seventeen in the 2008 championship. The 18 year old steered his YZ450F to the chequered flag ahead of Ryan Dungey and Kevin Windham. Series leader Chad Reed was a protagonist in the Main Event but a crash dropped him down the race order and he finished seventh for the second week in succession.
Reed, who was struggling with sickness and sat out second practice, was hounding the back wheel of early leader Hill as the Yamahas formation-flew in the first half of the sprint. The Australian then made an uncharacteristic mistake at the end of the whoops section, and his slip caused him to plummet down the leaderboard to ninth position. Hill was then free to continue his fine rhythm to the finish line.
"I knew that I had to get going because somewhere in the mix, Chad would be there," said Hill, a first ever debut-winner in Minneapolis who is currently negotiating his first season in the SX class. "I was just in the right place at the right time. Chad made a mistake, and I just cruised along to victory, pretty much. After I broke away from Dungey, I kind of just was able to get into a smooth pace and keep it going."
"Chad had problems," he continued. "I haven't beaten Chad straight-up. Has anybody? He's gnarly! It's not going to be easy at all to do this again, and with my roller coaster-ride season... if I keep my track-record, I should be 17th next weekend! But I think my program has really improved to a point where I'm mentally in the game a lot more when I show up to the race. Before, I'd really work hard during the week, and I'd do my homework, but I'd show up at the race and either be drained or just mentally not focused and I think Ryan Hughes has really helped me out with that."
As for Reed it was the first time he has missed the podium for two races this season. His error also sliced his advantage in the overall standings down to 17 points with six rounds left to run. AMA Motocross Champion Grant Langston is still unable to compete due to an eye problem.
Another Yamaha-mounted teenager, Tyler Bowers, was sixth in the East Coast Lites division on the YZ250F.
The AMA-SX (also an FIM World Championship) campaign now enjoys a break for the first time this year. The teams and riders will have two weeks to recollect over Easter weekend before the trip to the Rogers Centre in Toronto on March 29th.
KTM Racing
MDK KTM Factory rider Martin Davalos takes home a podium finish at the Minneapolis Supercross. MDK KTM Lites team rider Ryan Sipes picked up a hard earned fifth.
Although the night ended well for Davalos and Sipes it wasn't as pleasant for MDK KTM Lites team rider Matt Goerke. Goerke was in good position to qualify in the first Lites Heat of the night when he suffered an unfortunate crash and DNF'd the moto. He came back in the LCQ but had worse luck and was not able to qualify into the main event.
The second Lites Heat had Davalos and Sipes out front early. At one point Davalos was in 2nd with Sipes behind in 3rd. Unfortunately, Davalos crashed around the halfway mark and remounted in 8th. With the laps left he worked his way back into 5th qualifying into the main. Sipes had a few rough moments in the heat as well but was still able to transfer into the main with an 8th place finish.
In the Lites main event the fans again saw Davalos grab another good start coming around the first turn in 4th. Sipes was able to salvage a mid-pack start and had to begin to pick riders off quickly to move through the pack and up toward the leaders. Davalos rode an impressive race moving into third place around the sixth lap. Meanwhile, the hard charging bike of Trey Canard was hot on his tail. Davalos and Canard battled for the last nine laps back and forth. The crowd was on their feet as they stayed within half a bike length of one another for the entire last half of the race. When the checkered flag dropped Davalos held off Canard and finished third overall for the night. Furthermore, Sipes showed incredible speed and strength as he had moved up behind the two earning a hard fought 5th place for the night. Sipes now sits third in overall points and Davalos moves into fifth.
US Supercross Series
MDK KTM Factory rider, Nick Wey, got a great start coming out 5th after the first few turns. He stayed smooth and consistent and was able to finish 6th in his Heat.
In class main event Wey suffered a poor start finishing the first lap in 17th. However, he quickly began to pick riders off and by the end of the first few laps had moved into 12th position. Unfortunately, this was short-lived as Wey got tangled with approximately four other riders around the halfway mark. This crash put him in near dead last by the time he was up and going again. Wey tried the best he could to gain ground on the riders ahead of him but was only able to catch back up to 15th by the end of the race. Wey now sits 10th in overall points.
Team Suzuki
DUNGEY PODIUMS AT MINNEAPOLIS!
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing's Ryan Dungey scored his first podium in the AMA/ FIM Supercross class on Saturday night with a strong second-place finish at the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
After grabbing the holeshot, Dungey led for three laps before relinquishing the lead and settling down in second place.
Team mate David Vuillemin also put in a strong performance on the Suzuki RM-Z450, maintaining sixth place for nearly the first half of the race but raced to eighth after crashing off the track at one stage.
In the AMA Supercross Lites class, Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Nico Izzi struggled a bit in the whoops in Minneapolis, scoring sixth place in his heat race aboard his RM-Z250, following that up with a ninth-place finish in the Lites main event. Izzi has moved up to fourth overall in the Supercross Lites East Coast championship.
Ryan Dungey: "The crowd was behind me 100 per cent and I could hear them on every lap. This is only my third race in this class so I'm very happy being able to score a second place. I mean, what a way to really go out. I hope we gave the fans a show! My Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 worked flawlessly and it was great to have the team, the fans and my family behind me all the way. I'm looking forward to another race or two on the RM-Z450 and then getting back to business on my Suzuki RM-Z250 in Seattle."
David Vuillemin: "Minneapolis started pretty good for me. I had good practice times on a basic style track. I started good in the heat race and finished fourth. I had a great start again in the main and was sixth after a lap. I took advantage of Reed's crash and moved to fifth around half way. I made a few bobbles and even went off the track due to a front brake issue. I was then seventh and eventually got passed by Reed towards the end. Overall it was an okay weekend and I am happy for the team, with Ryan Dungey's second place in front of his hometown crowd. We have a weekend off now, which is good to regroup, get some training done and start working on some outdoor testing."
Nico Izzi: "I kind of struggled all night in the whoops. I felt pretty good on the rest of the track but the whoops were tough for me and I knew I had to make it up somewhere else. I was able to pull off a sixth in my heat and a ninth in the main. I was disappointed with the result but felt better when I found out I still moved into fourth over-all in points. It will be good to have a couple weeks off to train and work on my weaknesses."
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing's David Vuillemin and Ryan Dungey will be racing their Suzuki RM-Z450s next at the Roger's Centre in Toronto, Canada on Saturday, March 29th.
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