Reed Picks Up The Pace In Vegas - Villopoto Comes From Last to Sixth
5/06/2006
Las Vegas, NV (May 6, 2006) — The 2006 Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series came down to Las Vegas with Chad Reed and Ricky Carmichael tied in points with 316 each and James Stewart only five point behind. If that wasn't enough excitement, the sold out Sam Boyd stadium along with a four hour live televised program was sure to add to the fuel to the fire.
Carmichael finished second on the night and walked away with his fifth supercross championship while Stewart came away with the main event win and his first Amp'd Mobile World GP title. Reed rode his best race of the year and matched the pace of the front runners but wasn't able to close gap enough to make a pass. He ended his night in third and tied for second in the championship points with Stewart. Due to the fact that Stewart had more wins than Reed, he would take second while Reed moved to third in the championship points.
Meanwhile in the Lites division, newly crowned Western Region Lites Champion, Grant Langston watched from the stands due to an injury he sustained after going down on press day.
Villopoto grabbed the holseshot in the Lites main event but a mistake in the second corner forced the rookie back to last place. Andrew Short quickly moved into the lead around lap 2 while Davi Millsaps followed closely in second. The two battled for a few laps until Millsaps went down after the second whoop section and eventually DNF'd. Short went on for the win while Mike Alessi finished second and Thomas Hahn rounded out the podium in third. Villopoto put in an amazing ride with some of the fastest lap times in the main event to finish a respectable sixth place.
As the gate dropped for the last race of the supercross season, it was Stewart jumping out front with the holeshot and quickly pulled a lead that he would never relinquish. Carmichael followed about 5 seconds back the entire race. Reed sat in fifth spot and went into a frenzy trying to pass Ivan Tedesco and Kevin Windham. By the time Reed moved into third around lap four, RC was about five seconds ahead. Reed put in some amazing laps, even gaining time on RC but couldn't reel him.
"I felt like I rode a solid race tonight," said Reed in the post-race press conference. "I didn't leave anything on the table. I just made a few too many mistakes. Hats off to Ricky, he had a good race. It didn't turn out in my favor, but in the end it was a really fun weekend."
Supercross results
- James Stewart
- Ricky Carmichael
- Chad Reed - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Kevin Windham
- Travis Preston
- Nicholas Wey
- Ivan Tedesco - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Josh Demuth - THOR
- Brock Sellards - THOR
- Heath Voss
Dave Coombs Sr. East-West Shootout results
- Andrew Short
- Mike Alessi
- Thomas Hahn
- Joshua Grant
- Ryan Morais
- Ryan Villopoto - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Darcy Lange - Moose Racing
- Robert Kiniry
- Kyle Partridge
- Justin Brayton
Final Supercross points
- Ricky Carmichael
- James Stewart
- Chad Reed - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Ivan Tedesco - Parts Unlimted & THOR
- Nicholas Wey
- Michael Byrne - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Travis Preston
- Ernesto Fonseca
- Ryan Clark
- Mike LaRocco
Final World SX Standings
- James Stewart
- Ricky Carmichael
- Chad Reed - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Ivan Tedesco - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Nicholas Wey
- Michael Byrne - Parts Unlimited & THOR
- Jason Thomas
- Jeff Gibson
- Ryan Clark
- Tyler Evans