MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
VOL. 51 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 25, 2014 P51
most every lap and put him in a
position to pounce if Villopoto
were to falter, which he did on the
14
th
go-around.
Villopoto drifted a little off the
course, clipping a couple of Tuff
Blocks, which stalled his momen-
tum a bit. This allowed Roczen to
get real close. In the next turn,
perhaps in a bit of a panic to keep
Roczen at bay, Villopoto grabbed
too much throttle and had the
back end skip out at the worst
possible moment – right before a
large triple. As a result, Villopoto
had to roll the jumps, as Roczen
flew over the top of him. And that
was that.
"There was just a little rut be-
fore the triple and my rear tire
missed it and I wasn't able to
make the jump," said Villopoto. "It
wasn't really even a rut, it was just
a minor little edge we were hitting
and my rear tire missed it."
Roczen held on for the next
six laps to take the win over Vil-
lopoto.
"Tonight the track was rough
and tricky with the ruts and I think
that favored my style," said Roc-
zen. "Especially in the rhythm
section, it was really peaked up
and rough. But I think the harder
the track the better for me.
"You kind of had good traction
in some places, but it was slip-
pery in some spots, too, and then
in between the rhythm section it
was soft and had some ruts there
too. Ryan made a mistake and I
was able to get him and I just kept
my focus after that and put down
some solid laps."
After the race, Villopoto admit-
whoops and doubled or tripled
through.
It was here that Villopoto ad-
mittedly struggled and gave time
away to Roczen. This allowed
Roczen to close in on the Mon-
ster Energy Kawasaki rider al-
Mike Alessi (800) couldn't take
advantage of the holeshot, nor
could James Stewart (7) of his quick
getaway.
