Story By Chris Green
Photos By Scott Hoffman

This past Saturday was Round 5 of the 2012 AMA Supercross series and the second stop at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, CA. With tons of complaints about the track at Anaheim 1, the track crew stepped up and gave the riders a great track for A2. The main points of A2's layout were the many places to pass, a nice long whoop section and numerous rhythm sections that gave the riders optional flight paths around the track.
Justin Brayton laid down the fastest lap in practice and looked solid in his heat race leading a couple of laps after being handed the number one position when Millsaps and Alessi oddly went down in the same corner, each on their own. Weimer was running side by side with JB10 when this happened and he went down in the next corner. After a few laps Villopoto caught Brayton taking the lead and went on with the heat win.

James Stewart looked good in his heat race but went down hard after a tire tap in a rhythm section went bad, ultimately flinging him down hard on his back and right shoulder. Stewart hardly moved and definitely had the wind knocked out of him. As far as injuries, Stewart may have broken some ribs and there is no doubt he felt a bit sore by the time he lined up for the LCQ and especially when the main event rolled around. Dungey took over the lead while Chad Reed made a charge, making RD5 work for the heat win.

The Main Event shaped up good with the top riders all starting out up front. Villopoto took the holeshot and Reed stuck a pass on him right away in the first whoop section confirming the lead over the following triple. Following the two was Brayton, Millsaps, Stewart and Dungey. RV2 quickly took the lead after the first lap and lead the other 19 taking the checkers. We have seen James Stewart fly through the pack early in the race before and this worked out great getting himself away from Dungey and into third place trailing Reed. James got by Chad on lap eight of the main and put a decent cushion on the #22 right away. Later on in the night Chad would catch back up to JS7 but never got close enough to make a move, although there were times it seemed he might reclaim the number two position.

The pink TLD Hondas of Cole Seely and Travis Baker were by far the best "pink bikes" we have seen at the breast cancer awareness themed A2 round.

Supercross Lites/250 Class

The Supercross Lites Main started off with Cole Seely and Eli Tomac putting their Hondas out front right off the bat. Seely was riding great and put a bit of a cushion on Tomac making it look like he was going to run away with the win. Unfortunately Seely slid his rear end out ripping down the loose dirt
of the start straight on lap four. He did however get back up in second place and stayed there for the remainder of the race. At this point, the top five riders were Tomac, Seely, Musquin, Wilson and Izzi--who ended up finishing in this same running order. Nico Izzi didn't stay in fifth the entire time though, he lost fifth place to fellow Yamaha rider Ryan Sipes and didn't gain the position back until the final lap. Even though Eli Tomac was handed the lead early on, he went on to set the fastest lap time and even tossed out a quick line going triple, triple then singling into the corner--something we hadn't seen from any of the other riders. He was riding extremely consistent all night, didn't slow down at all and was very, very confident in his mount. The Geico Honda rider took his third main event win in a row and is currently leading the points series by 22 points.

Ryan Villopoto and Eli Tomac are proving themselves as the guys to beat from the 450 and 250
classes this year in Supercross. At this point, we know there are many guys who have the speed
and can challenge these guys for the win. And the starts are important more than ever this year. With so many fast riders with the potential to win, it makes working through the pack that much more difficult. We can't count out guys like Brayton and Windham in the Supercross class or Dean Wilson riding Lites, as they have shown great speed and all have a chance at running up front.

Supercross Class Results: A2

1. Ryan Villopoto
2. James Stewart
3. Chad Reed
4. Ryan Dungey
5. Justin Brayton

Supercross Overal Points:

1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Chad Reed
3. Ryan Dungey
4. James Stewart
5. Kevin Windham

Supercross Lites Class Results: A2

1. Eli Tomac
2. Cole Seely
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Dean Wilson
5. Nico Izzi

Supercross Lites (West) Overall Points:

1. Eli Tomac
2. Dean Wilson
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Cole Seely
5. Zachary Osborne