New course has Monster Energy Cup riders revved up

There’s literally a million reasons the world’s best Supercross riders will show up at Saturday’s Monster Energy Cup at Sam Boyd Stadium, which pays $1 million for a sweep of three 10-lap main events.

Ryan Villopoto, a four-time Supercross champion, rode off with the big prize in the first Supercross all-star race in 2011.

Nobody has done it since.

If there are a million reasons to pursue winning the three segments, there usually are only a couple explaining why nobody other than Villopoto has earned the big jackpot. One is the Joker Lane, a detour of sorts around the man-made circuit that can be more devious than Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger rolled into one.

Riders must navigate the Joker Lane once during each moto, and it has proven the long way around the track. But this year’s Joker Lane might even reduce lap times.

“This year’s Joker Lane design has been modified, creating a shortcut through the track,” said Ricky Carmichael, the former Supercross ace who has helped design every Monster Energy Cup track. “It’s gonna be interesting to see race strategy and see when these riders want to take the lane.”

It’s a change that has top riders such as Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson revved up.

“With the Joker Lane, the whole tactic in the past was getting the holeshot (lead at the start) and take it the last lap,” said Anderson, a factory rider for the Husqvarna team. “But now if you get the holeshot, I feel you’re definitely gonna wanna take it the first lap and try to run away with it.”

But Tomac said even if one gets out to an early lead and puts the newly designed Joker Lane behind, winning the million dollars won’t be easy because one has to do it three times.

“It’s just crazy hard with there being three motos,” said the Kawasaki rider and Monster Energy Cup defending champion who finished second to legendary and recently retired Ryan Dungey in this year’s Supercross championship. “If you’re not up front right away, it’s probably all over for you.”

Another highlight of the temporary circuit is a sweeping turn in the closed end of the stadium that will take riders into the end zone seats for football, and a split starting gate. The starting gate will be elevated 12 feet, allowing for maximum speed — and setting up the possibility of maximum high-speed incidents — heading into the first turn.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.