Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium will once again host the final round of Amp'd
Mobile Supercross this Saturday, May 5, featuring another exciting weekend of
AMA Supercross class racing and the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West AMA Supercross
Lites Shootout. SPEED will broadcast the race live, starting at 7:00 p.m.
PST/10:00 p.m. EST.
A pre-race press conference will be held at Sam Boyd Stadium Friday, May 4
from 10:00-Noon, featuring Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA
Supercross Series champion James Stewart, Yamaha's Chad Reed, Kawasaki's Tim
Ferry, Amp'd Mobile Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites champion Ben Townley
and Amp'd Mobile Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites champion Ryan Villopoto.
The pre-race press conference will be webcast live Friday, at 10:00 a.m.
PST/1:00 p.m. EST. Fans and media can access the live webcast by logging on to
www.SupercrossOnline.com. The riders will be available for interviews and
photographs before they ride the track for the media.
In Seattle last weekend, Stewart clinched his first-ever Amp'd Mobile AMA
Supercross Series championship en route to picking up his 12th win of the
season. In addition, he added his second Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP title
to an already impressive resume at Qwest Field in front of 47,445 fans.
Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto, of Poulsbo, Wash., closed out the Amp'd Mobile AMA
Supercross Lites series with his seventh win last Saturday in Seattle.
Suzuki's Ivan Tedesco earned the $1,500 Progressive Direct Holeshot Award in
Seattle's AMA Supercross main event. The lead was short lived as he went down
and collected Yamaha's Reed, of Dade City, Fla., in the crash. Reed restarted in
last place, and the lead went to Kawasaki's Jeff Gibson, of Blacklick, Ohio,
before Stewart passed him.
Tim Ferry, of Dade City, Fla., stalled his Kawasaki, which allowed Honda's
Kevin Windham, of Centerville, Miss., and Honda's Davi Millsap, of Cairo, Ga.,
to move past him. Millsaps passed Windham and rode to his first second place
finish of the season. Windham finished third.
"It has been a long season," said Stewart. "To have this championship is a
dream come true. I have waited for this my entire life. I was nervous all day. I
want to thank my team and family for all of their support this year."
Kawasaki's Chris Gosselaar, of Victorville, Calif., won the $1,000
Progressive Direct Holeshot Award in the AMA Supercross Lites class main event
last Saturday with Yamaha's Jason Lawrence on his back wheel through turn one.
Josh Hill, of Yoncalla, Ore., who started in third place, pushed his Yamaha into
the lead on lap two. Villopoto started in fifth place and made his way into
second on lap three.
On lap six Villopoto moved past Hill after the whoop-de-doo section and rode
to victory in front of his hometown crowd. Lawrence, who was riding in fourth
place, moved past Honda's Josh Grant, of Riverside, Calif., and Hill, to secure
second place. Lawrence held onto second and Hill finished third.
"It was great to ride in front of this great crowd," said Villopoto. "I have
a lot of family and friends in the stands tonight, and I want to thank them and
everyone that has been behind me this year. I am looking forward to Las Vegas
next weekend for the East/West Shootout."
Last year in Las Vegas, in what was dubbed the most anticipated race ever,
Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael, of Tallahassee, Fla., won his fifth Amp'd Mobile AMA
Supercross Series race in front of 39,506 fans at Sam Boyd Stadium. Since 1974
the championship race for the AMA Supercross title had never been tied heading
into the final race of the season. Yamaha's Chad Reed, of Dade City, Fla., and
Carmichael were tied with 316 points.
"I kept saying to myself there is no way Chad (Reed) is beating me tonight,"
said Carmichael last year. "He beat me last weekend in Seattle heads up, and I
was not going to let it happen. This has been a team effort; we had a lot of
adversity this season and we over came it. I had a heck of a career, and I
wanted to go on top."
Kawasaki's James Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., went on to win the race and
his first-ever Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP title.
"We went through a tough year, and I was down in the dumps, but I came on
strong at the end of the season and learned a lot," said Stewart standing atop
the podium last year. "Winning this World Supercross GP championship is awesome,
and I take my hat off to Ricky for winning his championship."
Heading into its 11th year, the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout is tied at
five wins apiece for each region. Last year Honda's Andrew Short earned the
victory for the Western Regional Supercross Lites, knotting the score at five
apiece. The win marked Short's second Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout.
"My first win in 2003 was pretty good but this one was even better," said
Short after winning the title in 2006. "Maybe some of us west coast riders had a
little advantage (racing in the outdoor-like stadiums). It was good to race
against the riders on the east coast. I was looking forward to racing with my
teammate Davi Millsaps but he had some bad luck."
The first race held at Sam Boyd Stadium was March 17, 1990. Jeff Matiasevich
won the AMA Supercross class on a Kawasaki and Jeremy McGrath won on a Honda.
McGrath holds the all-time win record in Las Vegas for both classes with three
wins in the AMA Supercross Lites class and four wins in the AMA Supercross
class. McGrath, Stewart, Kevin Windham and Carmichael have won races in both
classes at Sam Boyd Stadium. In 1997, Yamaha's Doug Henry gave the revolutionary
four-stroke motorcycle its first AMA Supercross victory.
Tickets are available at www.SupercrossOnline.com, www.UNLVTickets.com,
participating Yamaha dealers, the Thomas and Mack Stadium Box Office, or charge
by phone at 866-8-Finals. Jackpot seats are $60 for adults and children and Gold
Circle Seats are $40 for adults, $20 for children. Practice and qualifying
begins at 12:30 and racing begins at 7:00 p.m.
For more information about the Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile
AMA Supercross Series, please log on to www.supercrossonline.com.
