Toronto

Justin Barcia won his first championship supercross race at Toronto! Barcia led the entire race from start to finish, grabbing the holeshot too!

Main Event..fromTransworldmotocross
With three-race winner Christophe Pourcel having the ninth gate pick and forced a little inside, it was a guessing game as to who would get the Spike TV holeshot award. When the 30 second board went sideways and the gate dropped, it was Geico Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia with the lead. Right away the four contenders (Barcia, Stroupe, Wilson and Pourcel) were all bunched together on the opening lap. It was a furious charge by Barcia that allowed him to pull away from the lead group. Pourcel put a slick pass on his teammate Wilson and charged towards the front. Meanwhile, Barcia picked up a banner in his footpeg and for a couple of laps, the banner dangled dangerously around his rear sprocket/disc area before it fell off.

Pourcel was inching up on the top two riders when he too got a banner caught. Christophe chose to stop and remove it from the danger area which was smart but yet cost him valuable seconds that he was not able to make up. In the back, Matt Lemoine went down while in eighth and was forced to DNF. Ryan Sipes and Wilson went back and forth a few times before Wilson eventually grabbed the fourth spot.

After a few close calls with lappers, it was Justin Barcia coming away with the win and his first ever career Supercross win. Barcia used his raw speed plus a few creative lines out there to come away with the victory. Austin Stroupe continued his strong season with a second place and his season tally is now 2-2-2-2. Pourcel settled for third and is still in the points lead. It was a good night of racing in the 250 class and set things up for a great 450 main event.

From RacerX......

The East Region Lites class may end up being wide open after all, as Justin Barcia romped to the win many had been predicting from him all along, with Austin Stroupe and Christophe Pourcel second and third. Barcia’s win was, of course, not without some excitement. The GEICO Powersports Honda rider grabbed the holeshot and dealt with pressure from Stroupe early. Then he tagged a tuff block in a sandy turn and dragged the cover around for a lap before it came loose. Then Barcia really started putting his laps together, pulling away from Stroupe and closing in on a victory. It couldn’t be that easy, though. With two laps left Barcia made a mistake while running through traffic, and he bounced off of the track. Stroupe, on a Rockstar Makita Suzuki, caught him to set up a late-race battle for the win, but then a lapped rider held up Stroupe and prevented him from jumping the finish line jump. Barcia pulled back away and rolled to the win.

And what of Pourcel, winner of the first three races? He passed both Barcia and Stroupe in the first two laps of the heat race and looked ready to take off, until he crashed on a table-to-single jump. He nearly crashed again trying to get up, and Barcia and Stroupe got around him. Pourcel was never the same, unable to find his normal speed in the main. Afterwards, he said he just didn’t ride well.