For the first five rounds of the 2011 AMA Supercross season, the top spot of the podium has been reserved for James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto. But on Saturday night in Houston, Supercross rookie Trey Canard climbed the steps to take his first ever Supercross win ahead of Ryan Dungey.
The sixth race of the AMA Supercross season started off with some excitement as James Stewart took a spill on the first turn. Ryan Villopoto also got off to a slow start, and was riding behind the top ten at the beginning of the race.
With Villopoto and Stewart falling behind, riders like Canard, Dungey, Chad Reed and Andrew Short saw the oportunity for podium finishes. There were numerous lead changes up at the front, but a mistake by Kevin Windham with five laps remaining opened the door for an exciting finish between Canard and Dungey.
But Canard was able to hold off the defending champion to claim his first Supercross victory of his career.
“It was an awesome race. I just tried to hang in there, because it was a tricky track," Canard said. "I made a mistake and (Ryan) Dungey gained a lot of time on me and from there I was just riding defensive. We had a bit of a rough week this week, but this makes it all better.”
Dungey still hasn't claimed a race win this season, but he knows that the fight from the championship is far from over.
"The championship isn't over till it's over," said Dungey. "There's still a lot of racing left. We came up a little bit shy and I just have to look forward to next weekend."
Despite a poor start, Villopoto was able to lead a charge to land him his fifth podium finish of the season. Stewart, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky, and fell from the podium for the first time this season with a fifteenth place finish.
Villopoto reclaimed the top spot in the point standings last night, and is now nine points ahead of Stewart. Canard's victory moves him into third place ahead of Chad Reed. Defending champion Ryan Dungey earned some much needed points in Houston after last week's DNF, and holds onto fifth place 31 points behind the leader.
2011 AMA Supercross Standings
- Ryan Villopoto 132
- James Stewart 123
- Trey Canard 112
- Chad Reed 105
- Ryan Dungey 101
- Andrew Short 80
- Brett Metcalfe 80
- Justin Brayton 65
- Davi Millsaps 62
- Kevin Windham 61
