2012 Monster Energy Cup Photos

This was the last major race of 2012 with a million dollars up for grabs. Last year Ryan Villopoto took home a cool million, this year he was not as lucky. However, Muscle Milk Factory Honda rider Justin Barcia lined his pockets with $100K for taking the overall in front of millions of viewers all over the world and a packed house in Las Vegas. Ryan Dungey claimed second place and Eli Tomac rounded out the podium with third.

This race marked the return of Villopoto, Chad Reed, and Kevin Windham after they all three sustained injuries earlier in the year. Villopoto looked the fastest of the day and appeared to have a chance at the million after winning the first of three races. RV went down in moto two and opted to sit the final race of the night. Windham didn’t even make the night show due to a crash during practice so he sat out since he hit his head fairly hard during that mishap. Blake Bagget looked like he broke his arm or hand at MEC and will be out action for A1.

Other calamities involved Ryan Dungey. In two of the three races he had shift lever issues from what looked like contact with other riders or tuff blocks. RD rode those races stuck in second gear.

Chad Reed was happy to get back to racing, but was slightly off his normal pace and has some more training and testing to do before A1 in two months. Eli Tomac impressed the field with his 450 skills and the final race win of the night.

The MEC was a little look into what we have in store for the 2013 Supercross season. There is a lot of talent stacked in the 450 class and we have yet to see James Stewart or Trey Canard on a Supercross track.