OCTOBER 19, 2013
SAM BOYD STADIUM/LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
MOTOCROSS
P54
MONSTER ENERGY CUP
it occupies two jumps' worth
of space) and then tripled out.
Stewart went quad/triple, touching the ground only once in the
rhythm section, and that allowed
him to carry far more speed into
the stand-alone double.
"The way the track was, I kind
of knew on press day that it was
possible to hit it," Stewart said.
"And then when I was passing
people coming up through the
first moto, I realized that it was
better to be in second [behind
someone]. The lines, the way it
was, you could brake a little bit
later if you needed to because
the way the corners were, you
had to leave them so far open to
hit the fast lines on the track. So I
knew I needed to pull something
out to just kind of get that gap
and keep going. So, I just hit it.
I didn't know if I would make it or
whatnot, but I hit it. And to me,
that's what I used to do. I used to
just wait all day and just hit stuff
whenever it counted. I'm happy
with that."
Not to be outdone, Villopoto –
with about a million reasons not
to let Stewart get away – followed
suit on lap four, and the two started to put on a riding clinic for everyone else in the field.
Although Stewart officially never let Villopoto lead a lap, the two
swapped the lead spot a number
of times. Villopoto was clearly just
a smidgen faster, because when-
(Left) Defending race champ Justin
Barcia was in the hunt until a couple
of crashes left him pushing his bike
back to the pits in the final moto.
(Right) Dungey looks up in disgust
after being told – by Villopoto – that
he didn't take the Joker Lane.
ever he would make a mistake
and lose ground, he'd quickly
catch back up to Stewart, but on
the final lap, Stewart pulled into
the Joker Lane, and it was Villopoto who went racing by.
The crowd – having just witnessed Dungey making the same
mistake – went nuts, and Villopoto must have realized that he just
made a million-dollar mistake.
Distracted by his own error, Villopoto made a huge mental error
