Yamaha captured two positions in the top seven of the fourteenth round of the AMA Supercross series (also and FIM World Championship) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans last weekend. Watched by more than 33,000 spectators JGRMX’s Davi Millsaps again demonstrated his decent speed and form this season by recovering from a first corner crash in the 20 lap main event to charge back to 6th place.
New Orleans was a tough meeting for Millsaps who crashed in the Heat race and had to dig into his reserves to win the Last Chance Qualifier and enter the gate for the Main with a lowly slot. The 24 year old was again racing alone after James Stewart’s hand injury kept the former champion on the sidelines.
Millsaps was then part of a pile-up that caught another three riders around the first turn but recovered his YZ450F and began a flight behind the disappearing pack that would eventually drag him past brand-mate Weston Peick. “He has really shown a lot of heart this year,’ commented JGR owner Coy Gibbs on Millsaps’ efforts. “He’s working hard, and it shows. He went down in the heat race and we didn’t know if he’d be able to come back for the LCQ, but he did, and he won the LCQ. Then he went down in the first turn in the main event and came all the way back up to sixth from way back there. He was on the gas. We’re really proud of Davi.”
Millsaps is now second in the standings – a career-best ranking – and five points in front of Justin Brayton. Stewart is fifth. Rounds in Seattle, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas remain for the injury-hit campaign, starting with the visit to CenturyLink Field next Saturday.
2012 AMA-SX United States
Louisiana Superdome 15/04/2012 20 Laps
race I
1 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 18’05.208
2 Josh Grant Kawasaki USA 0’10.845
3 Justin Brayton Honda USA 0’16.377
4 Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 0’23.177
5 Andrew Short Honda USA 0’29.710
6 David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 0’34.853
7 Weston Peick Yamaha USA 0’37.373
8 Kyle Chisholm Kawasaki USA 0’38.453
9 Wil Hahn Honda USA 0’45.317
10 Broc Tickle Kawasaki USA 0’48.938
11 Nicholas Wey Kawasaki USA 0’51.875
12 Jimmy Albertson Suzuki USA -1Laps
13 Mike Alessi Suzuki USA -1Laps
14 Justin Sipes Kawasaki USA -1Laps
15 Gavin Faith Honda USA -1Laps
18 Robert Kiniry Yamaha USA -2Laps
19 Nico Izzi Yamaha USA -6Laps
AMA-SX World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 14 of 17
1. Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 321
2. David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 206
3. Justin Brayton Honda USA 201
4. Ryan Dungey KTM USA 192
5. James Stewart Yamaha USA 178
6. Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 172
7. Jake Weimer Kawasaki USA 171
8. Kevin Windham Honda USA 166
9. Mike Alessi Suzuki USA 162
10. Broc Tickle Kawasaki USA 133
11. Kyle Chisholm Kawasaki USA 129
12. Chad Reed Honda AUS 128
13. Josh Hansen Kawasaki USA 89
14. Nicholas Wey Kawasaki USA 86
15. Andrew Short Honda USA 75
16. Robert Kiniry Yamaha USA 70
23. Nico Izzi Yamaha USA 31
35. Ryan Morais Yamaha USA 7
42. Ben Lamay Yamaha USA 2
Circuit Length:
0
Crowd:
33, 392
Weather:
Dry
Manufacturer Standings
15/04/2012
1 Kawasaki 323
2 Honda 279
3 Yamaha 260
4 KTM 239
5 Suzuki 201
