James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto completed a Kawasaki sweep of round three of the 2008 AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Series at Freestone County Raceway in Wortham, Texas, today.
After winning the opening moto, Stewart made short work of holeshotter Mike Alessi in moto two, moving to the front on lap three where he quickly establish command of the race.
Alessi, who is the only person other than Stewart to lead a race this year, ran a solid race to the second place spot, some 13 seconds behind Stewart, earning him his second runner-up finish of the year.
Meanwhile, Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short completed his best weekend of the season with third and fourth place moto finishes for third overall.
In the Lites division, Villopoto had a much tougher time in the second moto. MDK KTM’s Ryan Sipes grabbed the holeshot ahead Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe and Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, while Villopoto found himself mired back around 10th. However, the Washington-native put in a stellar ride to march into first, passing Dungey for the lead about a third of the way into the moto to take the win.
Dungey finished second in the moto and second overall, while Stroupe held onto third, despite suffering from the heat, giving him third overall.
“I wouldn’t call it a season yet,” said Villopoto. “It’s still really early, but it’s nice to get some wins and get a points lead. Ryan (Dungey) is riding good, so I’m going to have to ride hard every weekend. It was definitely hot. This has been the first weekend like that (this season). It puts a toll on everyone and I really just had to keep my eye on Ryan and keep turning laps.”
Stewart currently holds a 36-point lead over teammate Ferry in the AMA Motocross standings while Villopoto has a 15-point advantage over Dungey in AMA Motocross Lites.
Today’s race marked the first really hot race of the year as temperatures reached the 103 degree mark.
