Josh Grant Fastest in Thunder Valley Qualifying

Shan Moore | June 27, 2009

Josh Grant set the fastest time this afternoon at Thunder Valley Raceway in preparation for round five of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championships in Lakewood, Colorado, the JGR/Yamaha rider posting a 2:14.140 on the high altitude course. Just a tick behind at 2:14.210 was Team Honda’s Andrew Short, who will be racing in front of a hometown crowd when the gate drops on moto one later tonight.

Short’s teammate Ivan Tedesco finished qualifying with the third-fastest time, a 2:14.454, while Honda rider Jake Moss surprised a lot of people with a 2:15.195 for the fourth fastest time, over a second ahead of JGR/Yamaha’s Cody Cooper’s 2:16.428.

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed was all the way down in 11th position when the two qualifying sessions were completed, turning a 2:17.265, which was .015 seconds slower than Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Timmy Ferry, who was making his return to the series after suffering a mild concussion at Glen Helen.

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of practice was the return of Mike Alessi, who finished qualifying with the 28th fastest time, posting a 2:20.374 in the second session, and obviously taking it easy on his knee.

Christophe Pourcel was quickest in the 250 division, the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider turning a 2:15.304, beating MDK/KTM’s Martin Davalos’ 2:15.700 by just under .4 of a second.

Star Racing’s Broc Tickle (2:16.486), GEICO Powersports Honda’s Justin Barcia (2:16.629) and KTM’s Wil Hahn (2:16.864) rounded out the top five while Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey finished 11th fastest with a 2:17.817.