Feld Motor Sports press release:

Clear skies greeted the 50,016 fans that filled Qwest Field for the 15th race of the 2009 Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, season in Seattle. Hometown rider Ryan Villopoto, of Poulsbo, Wash., was able to take advantage of a good start and capture his first career AMA Supercross class victory for Monster Energy Kawasaki. In the penultimate round of the AMA Supercross Lites Western Regional Championship, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, of Belle Plaine, Minn., took advantage of a stellar start to gap the field and extend his points lead heading into the class’ final round next weekend in Salt Lake City.

The most exciting championship fight in decades became even more intriguing as neither Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed nor Team San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart finished the night on top.

As the AMA Supercross main event blasted out of the gates, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi, of Victorville, Calif., sped to yet another holeshot with U.S. Air Force Honda’s Heath Voss, of Mico, Texas, and Villopoto in tow. Reed, of Tampa, Fla., crashed coming out of the gate and found himself in 19th place while Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., was mired in 11th by the end of lap one. Throughout the early portion of the race, Alessi and Villopoto battled for the top spot before Alessi washed out just before halfway to give up the lead. Villopoto, in his first race back since New Orleans on March 14, put his head down and rode to an impressive and surprising victory.

“It’s awesome,” boasted Villopoto, who missed the last three races with a virus. “I can’t thank my team enough and everybody that put effort into it. It hasn’t been the year we wanted but they never gave up. I could see James and Chad out of the corner of my eye sometimes. I just focused on Mike (Alessi) and he made that mistake. The track was super tricky tonite and there were some slick spots so you really had to ride smart.”

Stewart worked his way through the field to bring home a hard-earned runner-up finish while Reed found difficulty passing his competitors and could only muster a seventh-place finish, his first outside of the top three this season. Stewart now sits in the points lead, three ahead of Reed with two races remaining.

“I don’t know what happened. We all almost went down and we got the short end of the stick,” said Stewart. “I was so far in the back and saw Ryan and Mike out front and realized how far back I was. It’s all about the championship though and tonight was good for that. The way Chad has been riding all year, it was definitely surprising to see how things played out.

GEICO Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard, of Elk City, Okla., grabbed the holeshot in the 15-lap AMA Supercross Lites main event but was quickly overcome by Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Jake Moss, of Temecula, Calif., Dungey, and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Morais, of Murrieta, Calif. Dungey moved into the lead by the end of the first lap and never looked back.

“I’m super pumped,” exclaimed Dungey. “Just pumped on the whole day. I had 100-percent effort from my team. The track was falling apart out there but they just kept working hard. I was able to get a good start and just took it from there. I do have a (bigger) points lead but we still got a race left so it’s not over. I’m just really happy, the fans were great and now I have some momentum going into next weekend.”

Dungey’s closest challenger in the championship, Jake Weimer, of Rupert, Idaho, suffered from a bad start on his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki and completed the first lap in eighth place. As Dungey continued to pull away, Morais asserted himself in second while Canard moved into third to complete the final podium. Weimer rebounded for a fourth place finish, but now trails Dungey by nine points heading into the AMA Supercross Lites Western Regional Championship finale next weekend.

The AMA Supercross class race will air on CBS Sports Sunday, April 19 at Noon EST and the AMA Supercross Lites class will air on SPEED Sunday, April 19 at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Monster Energy® Supercross resumes racing next Saturday, April, 25 at Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.

AMA Supercross Class Results, Seattle

Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash. Kawasaki
James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha
Davi Millsaps, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda
Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., Suzuki
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda
Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha
Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Suzuki
Paul Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y., Kawasaki
Ivan Tedesco, Tallahassee,, Fla., Honda
Kevin Windham, Centreville, Miss., Honda

AMA Supercross Class Season Standings

James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha, 332
Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Suzuki, 329
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda, 241
Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha, 208
Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda, 204
Mike Alessi, Apple Valley, Calif., Suzuki, 203
Ivan Tedesco, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda, 199
Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 190
Davi Millsaps, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda, 188
Josh Hill, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha, 146

Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites Class Results, Seattle

Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki
Ryan Morais, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki
Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda
Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki
Jake Moss, Temecula, Calif., Honda
Jimmy Albertson, Ozark, Mo., Honda
Kyle Cunningham, Fort Worth, Texas, Kawasaki
Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Honda
Michael Hall, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha
Jeff Alessi, Victorville, Calif., Honda

Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites Class Season Standings

1.     Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki, 160
2.     Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki, 151
3.     Ryan Morais, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki, 146
4.     Justin Brayton, Murrieta, Calif., KTM, 103
5.     Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Honda, 95
6.     Ryan Sipes, Vine Grove, Ky., KTM, 89
7.     Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda, 74
8.     Dan Reardon, Menifee, Calif., Honda, 67
9.     Jeff Alessi, Victorville, Calif., Honda, 62
10.  P.J. Larsen, Stanley, N.C., Kawasaki, 61

For more information on the Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, please log on to www.SupercrossOnline.com. For all media requests, please contact Denny Hartwig [email protected] or 630-566-6305.

Fluid PR press release:

Chad Reed’s AMA/World Supercross title aspirations were dealt a blow this weekend with the Aussie scrambling to a seventh place finish at Seattle’s Qwest Field.

Needing to maintain his consistent run of top two finishes in order to take the title, Reed was on the pace early, cementing a solid second in his qualifying race.

He lined up at the start gates as the only rider to finish on the podium at every round of the Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship, to date.

Maintaining this impressive run and indeed his points lead looked like a tough ask just moments after the gates dropped; Reed crashed in a chaotic start pileup and saw much of the field ride away from him before remounting.

The Australian, no stranger to adversity, quickly set about chasing back the leaders’ advantage.

Uncharacteristically, Reed was unable to make the passes required to keep him in the championship lead, and crossed the line in seventh.

“Tonight was very disappointing, it all fell apart at the start for me and I wasn’t able to recover, I just ran out of laps to do anything about the guys in front,” said Reed.

“This is not what we needed and will have to bounce back very strongly next week to mount a challenge for the title.

“In saying that, the advantage that James has is only 3 points. It’s a margin we can make back and we’ll be doing everything possible to get the job done.”

Reed is now placed second on the standings with 329 points.

The penultimate round of the championship will be held at Salt Lake City next weekend, followed by the all-important final showdown at Las Vegas.