Daytona Practice Report
Saturday, March 5, 2011 | 5:55 PM
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Practice is complete here at Daytona. The track is gnarly and the lap times are long, so speed may not trump endurance or even strategy tonight—going all out in a full sprint for 25 minutes on this track may not work.
With that said, surely the practice times will indicate something. So here they are:
In the first practice session for the seeded Lites riders, Dean Wilson was flying through the second, higher-speed whoop section and making up big time. He logged a flying lap a fill second faster than anyone else, with a 1:18.222, compared to his teammate, Blake Baggett, who was second fastest with a 1:19.413. Nico Izzi was third fastest with a 1:19.976. Izzi caught some attention by jumping off of a small bump and clearing a gap no one else did, and surely he made up some time there. Justin Barcia was next followed by Matt Lemoine, Ryan Sipes, PJ Larsen, Jason Anderson, Ian Trettel and Hunter Hewitt.
Earlier in the day, Barcia admitted he’s riding with two broken bones in his wrist. It clearly isn’t hurting him that much, because he went old-school Barcia in the second practice, revving his bike like a madman and throwing it upside down on every jump. On that crazy lap, he logged a 1:18.143, fastest of the session and just a hundreth away from Wilson’s lap from session two. Wilson took second with a 1:18.600, Izzi was third time with a 1:18.718, followed by Baggett with a 1:19.183, and then came Sipes, Malcolm Stewart, Lemoine, Wharton, Anderson and Hunter Hewitt.
So far it looks like a Barcia and Wilson battle shaping up, which may not be a surprise. Remember that endurance may mean just as much as speed on this track, though.
In the SX class, James Stewart busted out some fast laps in the first session, with his 1:16.341 topping Chad Reed’s 1:16.613. Next came Ryan Villopoto’s 1:17.123, Ryan Dungey’s 1:17.276 and Trey Canard’s 1:17.794. Andrew Short, Davi Millsaps, Ken Roczen, Chris Blose and Ivan Tedesco rounded out the top ten.
In session two, Stewart never really put in a fast lap, perhaps knowing that as the track gets rougher, his fast time from session one was going to hold out as the fastest overall, anyway. The plan worked, because Ryan Villopoto topped everyone with a 1:16.531, which was fast, but three tenths off of Stewart’s best from the first session. Stewart ended up a whopping 23rd in that session after cruising around. However, he did calmly hop over the wall jump, the same area Izzi dialed in during the Lites, just with a different rhythm.
Reed’s 1:16.882 was second fastest in the second session. Normally, both Reed and RV save their best laps for the actual night show, so their fast qualifying efforts indicate they’re on the gas tonight.
Dungey waited until late in the session to log a 1:16.954, then Millsaps had a 1:17.021, and Kevin Windham a 1:17.626. Roczen, Canard, Short, Alessi and Metcalfe rounded out the field.
Stay tuned for racing tonight, live on SPEED, and live via our twitter updates, @racerxonline
With that said, surely the practice times will indicate something. So here they are:
In the first practice session for the seeded Lites riders, Dean Wilson was flying through the second, higher-speed whoop section and making up big time. He logged a flying lap a fill second faster than anyone else, with a 1:18.222, compared to his teammate, Blake Baggett, who was second fastest with a 1:19.413. Nico Izzi was third fastest with a 1:19.976. Izzi caught some attention by jumping off of a small bump and clearing a gap no one else did, and surely he made up some time there. Justin Barcia was next followed by Matt Lemoine, Ryan Sipes, PJ Larsen, Jason Anderson, Ian Trettel and Hunter Hewitt.
Earlier in the day, Barcia admitted he’s riding with two broken bones in his wrist. It clearly isn’t hurting him that much, because he went old-school Barcia in the second practice, revving his bike like a madman and throwing it upside down on every jump. On that crazy lap, he logged a 1:18.143, fastest of the session and just a hundreth away from Wilson’s lap from session two. Wilson took second with a 1:18.600, Izzi was third time with a 1:18.718, followed by Baggett with a 1:19.183, and then came Sipes, Malcolm Stewart, Lemoine, Wharton, Anderson and Hunter Hewitt.
So far it looks like a Barcia and Wilson battle shaping up, which may not be a surprise. Remember that endurance may mean just as much as speed on this track, though.
In the SX class, James Stewart busted out some fast laps in the first session, with his 1:16.341 topping Chad Reed’s 1:16.613. Next came Ryan Villopoto’s 1:17.123, Ryan Dungey’s 1:17.276 and Trey Canard’s 1:17.794. Andrew Short, Davi Millsaps, Ken Roczen, Chris Blose and Ivan Tedesco rounded out the top ten.
In session two, Stewart never really put in a fast lap, perhaps knowing that as the track gets rougher, his fast time from session one was going to hold out as the fastest overall, anyway. The plan worked, because Ryan Villopoto topped everyone with a 1:16.531, which was fast, but three tenths off of Stewart’s best from the first session. Stewart ended up a whopping 23rd in that session after cruising around. However, he did calmly hop over the wall jump, the same area Izzi dialed in during the Lites, just with a different rhythm.
Reed’s 1:16.882 was second fastest in the second session. Normally, both Reed and RV save their best laps for the actual night show, so their fast qualifying efforts indicate they’re on the gas tonight.
Dungey waited until late in the session to log a 1:16.954, then Millsaps had a 1:17.021, and Kevin Windham a 1:17.626. Roczen, Canard, Short, Alessi and Metcalfe rounded out the field.
Stay tuned for racing tonight, live on SPEED, and live via our twitter updates, @racerxonline
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woo
Ryan V has got this tonight, with an outdoor type of track he'll kick it into Carmichael mode and vanish.
At 2 previous races (Oakland & A2) when JS7 cruised the second practice and pulled off early or didn't even ride it at all, he has come out on fire and was victorious in the main....Villomoto's gear looks awesome and I hope he wins tonight......
....and it looks like there is a spell check feature here now
JS must be as proud as an 80 Novice to win practice. His pride might be greater if he holeshots by a large margin and then checks out. Then there's the Reed factor. Bring cash, because this yard sale might bring lots of Yamaha parts at bargain basement prices!
Remember............Daytona...............those sandy turns, a podium position ALWAYS washes out the front end, never fails, and we've seen that scenario already this year amongst several frontrunners. Gonna be a good one. Got the Blue Ribbon longnecks on ice......................oops, sorry Dub, you'll have to wait a few hours for yours brother.
Wouldn't it be great if the rest of the Supercross tracks were this rough and long? I love it.
I remember the good ol' days of afternoon the post practice qualifying races if you were not in the top 20 pts and practice was just "practice".....some of those 5 lap qualifiers were awesome to watch ....more racing....and they should bring back the old Heat , Semi , LCQ format....more racing!
To 'don',
Because its like an outdoor track, bubba is definetly in his element. He dominates outdoors!!! Go bubba
From Ryan93
@Ryan....and Ryan Villomoto is not in his element outdoors? he has won way more outdoors and two motos at the MXDN on a 250 vs. 450's.
IF the race is on "live" tonight, why does it start at 8 when almost all the qualifiers are over???
bubba dominates outdoors? One season ( after carmicheal retired and before villopoto moved up ) woohoo.
To Don:
First off, i like ryan villopoto, he is my favorite rider, personality-wise, and I am not 'swinging on stewies nutsack', just providing the cold, hard facts.
For those who think villopoto was more dominant in the lites class outdoors, than stewart.
villopoto won 19 races out of a possible 36, which is 52%. In season #2, he only won 5 out of 12 (against townley).
He raced against canard, townley, and dungey, his biggest challengers.
(and of course, no one will ever forget his mxon o/a, on a 250f)
stewart won 29 races out of a possible 35, which is 83%. In season #1, he lost once to reed, when he crashed hard in practice, and got 6th in moto 1, and dnf'd moto 2, still hurting from the crash. He also lost to kelly smith, when his kx125 had a mechanical problem and dnf'd, then he won the second moto. In season 2, he won every race he entered (he missed the first 4, due to injury suffered in the vegas sx final, which was the week before the outdoors started), and in season 3, he only lost one moto, when his kx fried its clutch in the unadilla mud, bringing his bid for a 29th consecutive moto win, to a halt.
He raced against reed, brown jesseman, langston, preston, millsaps, tedesco, ramsey, roncada and fonseca, who all have at least a regional sx title, some have outdoor titles as well, and one was a world champ (like townley).
On the big bikes, villopoto has one outdoor race under his belt so far, which he won, going 1-1 against alessi.
stewart has a full season, battling against the greatest of all time, bar to bar, even beating him a few times. He was dominating in 2007, when he wrecked his knee. he also has that 24-0 in 2008, which also was against alessi. That is around 30 races, on the big bike outdoors.
stewart has raced in 4 outdoor seasons, so far. one was on a 250 2-stroke, against r/c on a 450 4-stroke (kawasaki did not have a 450f for him to ride yet). one was against ricky on equal bikes. one was the 24-0 against alessi. one he was leading and hurt his knee (langston won it).
I do not understand why some people think stewart sucks outdoors, and villopoto is the shit.
I like villopoto, he is fast as hell, but i dont think he will beat stewart outdoors.
here is a u tube of stewart, in his first race back from the broken collarbone, suffered at 2002 vegas. He missed the first four rounds, this is budds creek round five. This is where the 'bad blood' originated between him and tedesco.
http://letgame.net/video/fZHk_PI3bTk/2003-budds-creek-125cc-moto-2-part-1.html
http://letgame.net/video/96jQZPHSjVU/2003-budds-creek-125cc-moto-2-part-2.html
Nothing personal, but you are historically challenged.
@Trick. I can't argue the facts you have,we'll see tonight I guess. They are both strong outdoor riders that's for sure.
I meant chromob not don, sorry don. my bad.
JamesGayStewart
One thing Stewart really sucks at is trying to make it look like he is actually drinking a Red Bull on the podium.
Nice ride by Baggett, nice points ride for 2nd by Barcia.
As for the 450s, Villopoto tried to teach Stewart last week about riding fast and riding smart. I guess Stewart will never understand the "riding smart" part. We can be sure that his dad will be windmilling his arms around like somebody on the dance floor doing the "Moving Like Bernie" dance.
@Jairtime I couldn't agree with you more. I was going to say that earlier that Stewart is fast but wreckless and Villopoto is fast but is in control. Smart man makes it to the finish line, sometimes you have to go slow to go fast.
What a good race. I thought Stewie was hurt bad, glad to see him get up. What a great ride by Dungey, he finally got aggresive and made alot of good passes, great ride by Reed too. I was funny at the end that Ralph Shaeen thought the crowd was cheering for Stewie to finish, and they where cheering for RV2 for lighting up his tire on the pavement, made Shaheen look like an even bigger fantard for Stewie. But am glad Stewie is O.K. and didnt want to see anyone get hurt.
And a good ride by Short too, Roczen didnt get to the top 5 or higher like a few guys predicted, a little premature for my opinion, but he got a few positions given to him for a big crash my Metcalfe, but good to see him get out of supercross healthy, he will do great in the GP's.. Dungey on the podium again..
FYI people if everyone rode "smart" like villopoto, Motocross and Supercross would be boring!!!! Go Stewart!!!!!!!
What happened to Ian Trettel? i heard he took a nasty crash.