Cycle News

SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES ROUND 13/MARCH 29, 2014 EDWARD JONES DOME/ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI P52 lead until maybe the final lap when Stewart finally got away to a more confortable lead. "I didn't see him coming, just because I was focusing on the whoops and getting into the turn good," said Villopoto of Stewart's pass. "But he made it stick, it was clean." Villopoto crossed the finish line two-and-a-half seconds behind Stewart, but he kept that gap to less than a second for most of the race. "James was riding really well tonight," said Villopoto. "I was able to get the lead early and I felt like on most of the track I was good. I was giving up a little bit in the whoops and then I gave up a lot, I believe, in the turn before the triple. It seemed like he was able to bridge the gap because of those two places. We were probably about the same on the rest of the track, but he was able to get me there." With a 36-point lead in the standings, Villopoto admitted that it was difficult to find logic in put- ting it all on the line to try to catch Stewart when the Suzuki rider is riding so well at this point in the season. "You know, I was in position to get a win early in the race and we don't work hard all year to build a big lead and then make a big mistake and throw in all away at this point in the season," added Villopoto. "So it's tough, you want to win but you have to look at the bigger goal. Having races like this one and being consistent is what it's about. He doesn't have much to lose; at this point he's got to get those wins. I would love to win, but it's consistency and being there every weekend that will pay off in the end." Barcia Back On The Box Justin Barcia was the best of the rest at St. Louis, though the Team BRAYTON'S PAINFUL DAY Justin Brayton had a rather eventful day, the JGRMX/ Toyota Yamaha rider winning his heat race despite riding with a broken bone in his right foot, which he suffered when he hit Justin Barcia's bike when the Team Muscle Milk Honda rider went down in front of him. Barcia's fall, along with a spec- tacular crash by GEICO Honda rider Wil Hahn, brought out the red flag, stopping the race. Brayton was able to holeshot the restart and went on to win the heat race over Barcia, Weston Peick and Ryan Dungey. In the main, Brayton ran in the top five for most of the race, but on the final lap, Brayton hit a fallen rider's [Dungey's] bike and went down, crashing out of a certain fifth-place finish, ending up 10th. "In the first heat race I was third behind Barcia and he crashed before the triple and we were all kind of wheel- tapping that combo before it, so I was going so fast and I just slid sideways trying to miss him. The right side of my right foot smashed into his bike and right when I did it I knew something was broken," said Brayton. "There was nothing really I could do and that's the bummer part of it. It was kind of out of my control. "So on the restart, I holeshot- ted and I was riding well, but in the right-hand corners, if I put my foot down it hurt like hell, so when I came back to the truck, I told the guys I didn't want to take my boot off, I just wanted to elevate it and just wait for the main." In the main, Brayton ran fourth until lap eight when Ken Roczen passed him. "I had a solid fifth at that point of the race," said Bray- ton. "But then I was going triple over the table top after the finish and I dabbed my foot really bad there. It was really painful." On the final lap, Ryan Dungey went down in front of Brayton and the Yamaha rider couldn't see Dungey's bike and he hit it and went down. Brayton was able to get up and finish 10 th , while Dungey managed to cross the line ahead of him for ninth. "There were no yellow flags and I didn't know he was down, so once again, something really out of my con- trol," said Brayton. Brayton had the foot evaluated after the race by the Asterisk Mobile Medical crew and they told him he had a clean break in one of the bones in his right foot. Brayton insisted he will be ready for Houston this coming week.

• Cover