Cycle News

MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES VOL. 51 ISSUE 17 APRIL 29, 2014 P39 far) when others have fallen by the wayside, he managed to get better. During many of the early rounds, riders like Ken Roczen and Chad Reed were the hot commodities and threatened to challenge RV's bid for a fourth title. Honda had high hopes com- ing into the series, as well, with Eli Tomac, Trey Canard and Jus- tin Barcia getting much of the pre-season hype. However, with 16 races now in the books, Reed hasn't been on the starting line since San Diego, and Roczen hasn't been on the podium since Houston. Tomac and Canard are rebound- ing from injuries, and Barcia hasn't lived up to expectations. "The field was a little bit clos- er this year and, for me, I didn't start off very well," said Villo- poto. "The first six rounds were pretty tough for me and I wasn't able to do much, I just wasn't riding that well, just trying to get into the groove." But in the end, when history was finally made, there was no doubt as to who was the top rid- er, although Villopoto admitted it has been a rough road getting there. "This is hard, it's pretty much 17 weekends straight, with one weekend off in the last two weekends," said Villopoto. "And then add in the stress of the per- sonal sponsors and the team, they basically hire you to win races and do all those things, so it's a lot of weight on your shoulders. But now it's over and it was totally worth it." FOUR STRAIGHT It's been 14 years since Jeremy McGrath won the last of his Su- percross titles in 2000. Since then, many, including Ryan Vil- lopoto, think that today's series is a bit more competitive than it was back in McGrath's day. "I might get my hand slapped for saying this, but ever since RC [Ricky Carmichael] left, the sport has changed at lot," said Villo- poto. "Back then, in McGrath's time, it was two guys, three at Briefly... MetLife track held up well despite the amount of rain that fell through- out the day. Justin Barcia, who called the race a home race, said, "I liked this track," said Barcia. "All this rain was good for this track, it wasn't muddy and it had good trac- tion. This kind of track I can win on, so I'm disappointed I couldn't do it tonight." Josh Hill said of the track: "That start straight was like ice, I al- most tucked the front two or three times. It was a little tricky, but other than that, the track was really good for as much rain as we got." Trey Canard captured a spectacu- lar heat-race win, holding off a hard charging James Stewart to the very end. However, the Team Muscle Milk Honda rider crashed on the first lap of the main and could only manage a ninth-place finish. Despite his great ride in the main event, Josh Hill's immediate racing future is still very much in doubt. A few weeks ago, Hill's Soaring Eagle RCH Suzuki Team revealed it would not renew Josh Hill's contract this summer for the outdoor season. After the New Jersey race, Hill said that he might consider going to Can- ada to race. "I'm weighing all my op- tions and actually looking for a ride," said Hill. "I'm going to look into the Canadian series, [and] if nothing de- velops, I've also thought about get- ting a part-time job this summer just to make some money." Eli Tomac (3) leads Josh Hill (75) in their bat- tle for podium positions.

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