It was truly AllAboutBikes this week in the sunshine state here in Daytona Beach, Florida. Bike Week 2010 had arrived!!! Now I mentioned it being the sunshine state, but nothing about it being warm! The crew of AllAboutBikes regardless of the weather hit the streets running or shall I say riding. I was fortunate enough to be assigned the task of covering the Monster Energy Drink Supercross Races held at the Daytona International Speedway presented by Honda. You didn't have to twist my arm or tell me twice to get a move on it. Especially knowing the legend himself, Ricky Carmichael, 5-time Daytona Supercross Champion had his hand in designing this year's track along with 3-time National Champion Mark Burnett.
For 2010, Ricky held nothing back while unleashing a track that tested the world's top riders' mental and physical capabilities. Located in front of the grandstands in the oval of the historic Daytona International Speedway, this track was nothing short of an amazement. Featuring 38 jumps, it took 10 dump trucks, 175 trips to carry over 5,000 tons of dirt with nearly 400 hours of manpower to create this year's battle ground to seed out the top riders. All said and done when completed, the masterpiece was roughly 2,900 feet from start to finish!
The morning qualifiers started off a little chilly but had progressed to an all around great afternoon for racing. Temperatures in the afternoon reached the 70's on this sunny day with an initial light breeze blowing from east to the west end of the track where the starting gates and staging area were located. Throughout the afternoon towards the evening the temperatures dropped and the light breeze picked up a little. This didn't slow the enthusiasm of the crowd who sat on the banking slopes of the track, nor did it seem to have an effect on any of the riders. The general track conditions stayed pretty consistent thanks to the 3 tractors working to keep up with the ruts of the riders who were giving it 150% to tear it up.
Time for the main event...The Supercross Main Event started a little after 9 o'clock in the evening with 20 riders ready to push their machines to the limits for the 20 laps. The gates dropped and all 20 riders made it out of the gates and into the horseshoe handlebar to handlebar. I was sure someone was going to take a dirt nap on the start of the race. These riders had all day to think about the lines they wanted and positions they earned during qualifiers. #2 Ryan Villopoto on his Kawasaki Monster Energy Bike was able to get the holeshot and pull away from the pack with the #5 rider Ryan Dungey nipping at his heels.
Just as the #2 Villopoto was settling into his lines, #8 Grant Langston on his J Law Racing bike was the first to go down. The #8 rider ended up over his handlebars and landed on his back. The yellow caution flag quickly came out alerting the riders to the situation ahead, then quickly turned to a red flag after the corner workers realized the extent of Grant's injuries required medical personnel to respond. The thousands of people in the stands stood silently as the medical personal assessed his injuries and took all cervical precautions to immobilize the #8 rider from further injuries. After a few grueling minutes the medical personnel had Grant fully immobilized and carried him from the track for further assessment. As they carried Grant away the silent crowd erupted into cheers and applause as he gave the fans a thumbs up to show he was OK. Daytona International Speedway employs the top medical personnel in the United States to train and manage situations such as this. Needless to say, this is one of the best places to crash if there is such a place, this would be it.
Time for the second restart of the main event around 9:45p.m.. The riders had plenty of time to change their goggles or discuss with their crew what worked or didn't work on the first start. I seen a lot of the riders repacking the starting gate positions to give them a better chance at getting the holeshot. As the gates dropped it was all about business. #2 Ryan Villopoto remarkably got the holehot again and was back to work tearing up Carmichael's Daytona Supercross track.
I definitely believe Villopoto when he says, "Getting the holeshot is 90% of winning the race, the rest is just riding." It didn't take long for the #2 rider to get back in the groove and set the pace from the rest of the pack. In 2nd place was the #75 Yamaha rider Joshua Hill, 3rd belonged to #5 Dungey, 4th to #38 Canard. Lap #3 Dungey was able to step it up and pass Hill. Once again #5 Ryan Dungey challenged the #2 Villopoto position in 1st but fell short and allowed Villopoto to pull away. Nothing changed between laps 3 through 6 until the 7th lap when #75 Hill was passed by #38 Canard. Villopoto seemed to be in the zone and lead all 20 laps to win the Daytona Monster Energy Drink Supercross Championship presented by Honda and earned the 3 points he desperately needed. 2nd place and almost 4 seconds behind the leader went to the frustrated #5 Ryan Dungey who rode strong, fast, and had great lap times but couldn't catch the red headed rider on the #2 bike from Seattle, Washington Villopoto. 3rd place went to the #38 Honda Red Bull rider Trey Canard who rode extremely well and is having a great season so far. I'm excited to see what the future has in store for Trey!
