2014 Houston Supercross | Pre-Race Stats2014 Monster Energy Supercross PreviewOnly four rounds remain in the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross Championship, the action returning west this weekend to NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
As the series approaches its end, the race for the title is tightening. And though Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto holds the lead with 268 points, its the man in third that is on a complete tear – Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart.The Floridan won the past three rounds, and earned his 50th career victory last weekend at St. Louis Supercross. This places him 36 points behind Villopoto. In second, 35 points behind Villopoto is Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey.This Houston Supercross weekend will be tough for Stewart, considering the statistics. Why? Villopoto has won at NRG Stadium the past three seasons.Below are some pre-race stats ahead of this evening’s race in Houston. Don’t forget to catch all the action live beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.450SX Class Stats: Houston
The first race was held on March 15, 1974, and Pierre Karsmakers won on a Yamaha
This will be the 48th time the gate will drop for a 450SX Class race in Houston
Houston and Daytona are the only two original venues from the 1974 championship and have never missed a year of racing
Houston was the site of the second ever venue to host a double-header race in 1977
In 1978-1979, Bob Hannah swept both double-headers in consecutive seasons
In 1981-1982 Mark Barnett became the second rider to sweep the double headers in consecutive seasons
Jeff Ward won four consecutive races in Houston from ‘85-‘88
KTM has never won in Houston, can Ryan Dungey or Ken Roczen change this?
In the previous 47 races, the winner of this race has gone on to win the title 23 times
450SX Class: Wins by Brand at NRG Stadium
Yamaha: 15
Kawasaki: 13
Honda: 11
Suzuki: 6
Can-Am: 2
450SX Class: First-Time Winners in Houston
Broc Glover: 1980
Jimmy Weinert: 1976
Trey Canard :2011
450SX Class: St. Louis Recap
James Stewart earned his 50th career win, his fifth of the season and third consecutive race win
Stewart is the only rider to win three consecutive races in 2014
Stewart used 114 starts to earn 50 450SX Class wins; Jeremy McGrath used 84 450SX Class starts to earn 50 wins
Stewart now has 97 career AMA victories
Stewart tied Kevin Windham for fifth on the all-time 450SX Class podium list with 75
For the fifth time in his career, Stewart has won five 450SX Class races in a season; McGrath accomplished this feat seven times; Ricky Carmichael five; Rick Johnson and Bob Hannah four
Ryan Villopoto earned his eighth podium of the season; it was his 59th-career 450SX Class podium
Villopoto now has six consecutive seasons with five or more podium finishes
Justin Barcia earned his seventh top-five finish and third podium of the season
Roczen earned his seventh top-five finish with a fourth place
In his first race of the season, Trey Canard earned his first top-five finish since Salt Lake City of last season
In his sixth race of the season, Eli Tomac earned his third top-10 finish
With a seventh place finish in St. Louis, Josh Hill has now earned three straight top-10 finishes for the first time since races 11-13 of 2010
Andrew Short earned his 12th top-10 finish of the season with an eighth place
For only the third time this season, and after six straight podiums, Dungey finished outside of the top five with a ninth place
Justin Brayton kept his top-10 streak alive with a 10-place finish; Villopoto and Brayton are the only riders to have a top-10 finish in each race this season
Brayton has 18 consecutive top-10 finishes and is the current consecutive starts leader at 44
Nick Wey earned his best finish of the season with an eleventh place; it was his 169th-career 450SX Class start
Wey can tie Chad Reed at fifth on the all-time 450SX Class start list
250SX Class: Houston Stats
The first race was held on April 20, 1985, and Eddie Warren won on a Kawasaki
This will be the 30th time the gate will drop for a 250SX Class race in Houston
In 2001, Travis Preston gave Husqvarna its one and only 250SX Class win
Windham and Christophe Pourcel are the only two 250SX Class riders to win Houston back-to-back
Last season Blake Wharton broke a 17-season drought for Suzuki in the 250SX Class in Houston
Roczen gave KTM their first 250SX Class win in Houston last season
In the previous 29 races in Houston, the winner of this race has gone on to win the title 15 times
250SX Class: Wins by Brand in Houston
Kawasaki: 12
Suzuki: 6
Yamaha: 5
Honda: 4
Husqvarna: 1
KTM: 1
250SX Class: First-Time Winners in Houston
Willie Surate: 1986
Jeff Emig: 1990
Jimmy Gaddis: 1993
Shae Bentley: 2000
Travis Preston: 2001
Matt Walker: 2002
Austin Stroupe: 2008
250SX Class: St. Louis Recap
After a seven-week hiatus, the Western Regional resumes this weekend
Justin Hill earned the first 250SX Class win of his career in San Diego; it was his second podium finish
Hill started a string of first time winners with Cianciarulo, who won in Arlington, and Davalos, who won in Atlanta
In four consecutive races in the Western Region, there have been has been four different winners: Hill in San Diego; Dean Wilson in Anaheim 3; Jason Anderson in Oakland; Cole Seely in Anaheim 2
Anderson earned his fourth podium of the season with a second place; he has a four-point lead over Seely with three races remaining
Malcolm Stewart earned his second podium of the season with a third-place finish, and his brother James won the 450SX Class
Seely earned his sixth top-five finish with a fourth place
Shane McElrath and Jessy Nelson both earned their best finishes of the season with fifth and sixth place finishes respectively
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This week, in the first segment Editor Don Williams talks to us about the new Kawasaki Versys 650 LT. It’s the middleweight ADV style machine that uses the same 650 parallel twin motor as the Ninja 650, so it’s an excellent performer in a user-friendly, good looking package.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my dearest industry friends—now retired Honda PR executive, Jon Seidel. Jon’s fascinating career spans some 30 years with Big Red, and gave him some great experiences with some incredible machines. I was fortunate enough to be invited on many of the press launches that he organized. His new project is documenting and saving many of the old archives from years gone by—and incidentally, if you have anything that may be of value to the project, please contact us by email at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll pass it all on to Jon.
So on that note, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
