SAN BERNARDINO, CA, MAY 30 – The excitement in the second MX1 moto definitely made up for the lack of passing in the first. With Ben Townley running away at the front, the rest of the field was left to battle for second – and that battle was for the overall since Townley had failed to finish moto one.
Mike Alessi (right) and Antonio Cairoli battled it out in the early laps of the race while Teka Suzuki’s Clement Desalle moved up to join the battle. The three swapped positions multiple times throughout the moto, but ultimately it was Desalle who ended up taking the point and getting himself onto the overall podium.
Alessi and Cairoli’s factory KTM teammate Max Nagl was in on the battle before he ended up off the track and caught in a fence, ending his bid for the podium. Cairoli finished the moto in third to take the overall win over Alessi, who finished second.
The moto win meant a lot to Townley (right) and to the Red Bull Troy Lee Designs team who worked around the clock between Hangtown and the upcoming Freestone national to be ready for the USGP. But it was a shot of confidence and some valuable practice time for Townley, who now comes in to Hangtown with some momentum.
Townley’s second moto win was enough to garner him eighth on the day, and he was followed by Kyle Chisholm of the Motoconcepts Yamaha team, who collected ninth overall with his consistent 10-12 score. Chisholm and Alessi were the only Americans inside the top-ten.
Ryan Hughes was looking to improve on his 17th place finish, but crashed out of the second MX1 moto in the technical singles section before the finish line jump. Hughes is sore, but escaped any serious injury and was able to walk away from the crash.
Marvin Musquin followed up his dominant first moto performance with another wire to wire win in the second MX2 moto. Actually it was more of a wire-to-bull win since the second MX2 moto was red flagged after the Red Bull arch over the finish line blew over in the wind. The moto was past the halfway mark so race officials decided against a restart and reverted scoring back to the previous lap and called it a day.
It ended up working out well for Musquin, but others, such as Ken Roczen of the Teka Suzuki squad were not as happy. Roczen, who came into Glen Helen second in MX2 points, was off to a poor start, but had begun a hard charge through the pack. he was putting down lap times over two seconds faster than the leader, and may have had time to land an overall podium had the entire moto played out.
Instead, second in the second MX2 moto went to Zach Osborne (right). The American rider put on a brilliant charge to chase down KTM-mounted Shaun Simpson to take the runner up position, which gave him second overall. Osborne tied in points with Kawasaki’s Steven Frossard; with 40 points each, Osborne got the nod with a higher second moto finish.
MX1 Moto 2
1. Ben Townley (Hon)
2. Clement Desalle (Suz)
3. Antonio Cairoli (KTM)
4. Mike Alessi (KTM)
5. Xavier Boog (Kaw)
6. Steve Ramon (Suz)
7. Davide Guarneri (Hon)
8. Anthony Boissiere (TM)
9. Josh Coppins (Apr)
10. Den De Dycker (Yam)
MX2 Moto 2
1. Marvin Musquin (KTM)
2. Zach Osborne (Yam)
3. Shaun Simpson (KTM)
4. Steven Frossard (Kaw)
5. Ken Roczen (Suz)
6. Dennis Verbruggen (KTM)
7. Jake Nicholls (KTM)
8. Jeremy van Horebeek (Kaw)
9. Gautier Paulin (Yam)
10. Harri Kullas (Yam)
MX1 Overall
1. Antonio Cairoli (KTM)
2. Mike Alessi (KTM)
3. Clement Desalle (Suz)
4. Xavier Boog (Kaw)
5. Steve Ramon (Suz)
6. Ken de Dycker (Yam)
7. Davide Guarneri (Hon)
8. Ben Townley (Hon)
9. Kyle Chisholm (Yam)
10. Max Nagl (KTM)
MX2 Overall
1. Marvin Musquin (KTM)
2. Zach Osborne (Yam)
3. Steven Frossard (Kaw)
4. Ken Roczen (Suz)
5. Shaun Simpson (KTM)
6. Jeremy van Horebeek (Kaw)
7. Jake Nicholls (KTM)
8. Arnoud Tonus (Suz)
9. Dennis Vergruggen (KTM)
10. Gautier Paulin (Yam)
