Running up north of the boarder for the 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series’ lone international round, Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto made it two wins in a row – and five total wins this year – in the premier SX class at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, closing the gap between himself and SX points leader Ryan Dungey to 17 points after ten (of 17) rounds of supercross racing action.

In the support SX Lites class main event Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel suffered his first loss of the 2010 ESX season, though he still put his KX250F up on the podium (3rd) to keep his overall ESX points lead over former Monster-backed rider Austin Stroupe at seven points (95-88). Fourth place in the Toronto ESX Lites main went to Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson.

Qualifying first in the opening heat race with a 1.5 second win over Davi Millsaps, Villopoto carried the momentum of his big win at Daytona’s (Fla.) Bike Week two weekends ago into Toronto, putting up top lap times in practice and parlaying that confidence – coupled with his heat win - into a top gate pick for the main event.

In the SX main Villopoto got out in 2nd place behind Trey Canard, then disposed of Canard on the second lap and led the rest of the 20-lap main through the checkers.

“I really wouldn’t be in this position without all of my team and everyone involved,” said Villopoto. “The last couple weeks we’ve been on it and it’s what we need to do. (The racing is) close and it’s been tough. I need to make up ground and I got to make those passes quick. I (also) need to keep getting good starts.”

Noteworthy: Part-time Monster Energy/Kawasaki racer Nick Wey, who moved back from the factory Monster/Kawi team to the TiLube/Babbitt’s/MSR/Foremost team, placed 7th in the Toronto SX main on his KX450F. Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Chad Reed, who was rumored to be racing at Toronto, opted out of the event.

In the Toronto ESX Lites qualifying, Wilson picked up his first heat race win of the season with a 4.2-second statement over the 2nd place racer, Martin Davalos. The Canadian SX rookie then put in another strong effort in the main, placing 4th. Pourcel, who placed an uncharacteristic 5th in the second heat race after hitting the ground after a rhythm section miscalculation, ran into a couple issues in the main when he picked up a banner on his foot peg and appeared to suffer an issue with his race pants, which he continually had to pull up – midair - to keep from falling down during the race.

Next up for the Monster Energy Supercross Series is this weekend’s Dallas round at the new 1.3 billion dollar Cowboys Stadium.