One thing that Mitch Payton and his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad is great at is spotting talent. Last year, Darryn Durham raced a privateer Honda, and he was fast all year long, when he was healthy. The Pro Circuit team needed a fourth rider for 2012, so Payton took a chance on Durham.

With the 450cc title already wrapped up for Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto for this 2012 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series, his focus has moved on to the upcoming AMA National Motocross Championship. However, you wouldn’t know it by the racing inside the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Defending champ Ryan Villopoto, of the Monster Energy Kawasaki team, was already a dominant force in the championship from the get-go, landing the victory at Anaheim 1 and proceeding to lead the championship points chase for all but two rounds of the 2012 championship, but around halfway into the championship, Villopoto’s chief competitors began to drop like flies. First, it was Chad Reed, then it was Ryan Dungey, and most recently it has been James Stewart.