WORTHAM, TX, JUNE 5 – While plenty of riders had a day they’d rather forget at the Freestone Ranch in Wortham, Texas today, Ryan Dungey had a perfect performance, effectively hitting the “reset” button on his outdoor season. After a lack-luster performance at Hangtown and not even seeding in the top five in Texas, no one expected to see fireworks from the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider, but the rookie gained valuable ground at the second round of the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship.
Kawasaki’s defending champ Chad Reed finished the day in second and still has a firm grasp on the championship lead. In a surprising upset, Kyle Regal of the Merge Racing Yamaha team landed the final podium position after finishing second in Moto 2.
In the 250 class, a wild second moto with plenty of twists and turns right up until the last three feet of the race had everyone doing math in their heads to figure out who ended the day on top. The second moto win went to Tyla Rattray followed by Broc Tickle and Dean Wilson (who held the lead all the way until the last few turns). The outcome rendered Frenchman Christophe Pourcel the overall winner with a 1-5 score. He was joined on the overall podium by his teammates Rattray and Wilson.
450 Moto 2
There was a big spill in the first turn which included Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Ben Townley, who was run over in the process, and Canidae Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn. But once again, Brett Metcalfe got away clean and took the holeshot. Mike Alessi, Reed, Andrew Short and Dungey followed in close pursuit.
Alessi moved into the lead on the second lap and was looking to stretch his lead out. He didn’t have much time to do so, however, as he hit the ground after washing out in a flat sweeping turn (similar to his first moto crash). Alessi’s blunder was about to hand the lead back to Metcalfe, but Dungey capitalized on the move and got into the lead. From there, Dungey ran off with the lead and never looked back.
The battle for the podium raged on between Short, Reed and by this point, Kyle Regal. Reed got around Regal and was looking for a way around Short, but Regal said, “Not so fast,” and got right back on Reed. Ultimately Regal got the factory Kawasaki rider back, and then managed to pick off Short to move into second.
Reed also made his way around Short, who was struggling to hold on for a top-five finish. Short would also yield to Metcalfe and Alessi before the finish to take sixth in the moto. Short’s DNS in the first moto (due to a rumored electrical problem with his CRF450R) only allowed him to collect 13th on the day.
250 Moto 2
In a repeat of the first moto, Eli Tomac of the GEICO Powersports Honda team grabbed the holeshot in the second moto and began running away with the lead. Dean Wilson of the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team gave chase followed by Blake Wharton, Wil Hahn and Trey Canard.
Christophe Pourcel was caught up in a first-turn crash and spent the majority of the second moto playing catch up, but he made progress quickly and smoothly.
It wasn’t long before Wilson began to pressure Tomac for the win, and Wilson eventually secured the point after it appeared that the heat had slowed Tomac down. The rookie rider fresh off his victory at Hangtown dropped anchor shortly after Wilson relieved him of the lead, and rider after rider sailed by.
Tomac’s teammate, Trey Canard had picked up second place and was working on fending off a hard-charging Tyla Rattray – who only looked stronger as the moto wore on. Rattray eventually found his way into second and Canard was left to fend off Broc Tickle and Max Anstie for fourth. Like Tomac, however, Canard was unable to withstand the sweltering Texas heat as well as his competitors and lost ground late in the race.
With three laps left in the moto, Pourcel began to charge, and worked his way into fifth, but it’s as far as he would climb. His teammate, Dean Wilson, was looking at his first overall win which would have been his had he held on to first, or even second. On the last lap, however, Wilson misread the pit board, and mistakenly thought he had a much bigger lead than he did. Seeing Rattray just behind him, Wilson slowed to let him by, thinking he was giving Rattray another lap to go. But when the checkers flew and Rattray’s fist was in the air, Wilson realized his mistake and threw his arms up in exasperation as he approached the finish line. Tickle also capitalized on the snafu and slid by in the last few feet to steal second in the moto, ending Wilson’s chance at an overall win.
The resulting outcome still allowed Mitch Payton’s Pro Circuit squad to fill the podium with Christophe taking the spoils followed by Rattray and Wilson. The two were actually tied in points on the day, but the runner-up nod went to Rattray on account of his second moto win.
450 Overall
1. Ryan Dungey (1-1)
2. Chad Reed (2-3)
3. Kyle Regal (6-2)
4. Brett Metcalfe (7-4)
5. Josh Grant (5-10)
6. Tommy Hahn (4-12)
7. Mike Alessi (12-5)
8. Ben Townley (3-16)
9. Kyle Chisholm (9-9)
10. Michael Byrne (8-11)
11. Kyle Cunningham (13-8)
12. Nick Wey (11-13)
13. Andrew Short (39-6)
14. Matt Goerke (38-7)
15. Heath Harrison (15-14)
16. Davi Millsaps (10-19)
17. Terren O’Dell (19-15)
18. Jarred Browne (14-38)
19. Ryan Sipes (16-23)
20. Dan Reardon (31-17)
450 Class Points
1. Chad Reed (87/1 win)
2. Ryan Dungey (76/1 win)
3. Mike Alessi (68)
4. Brett Metcalfe (66)
5. Josh Grant (60)
6. Davi Millsaps (55)
7. Ben Townley (54)
8. Kyle Regal (51)
9. tommy Hahn (43)
10. Andrew Short (37)
250 Overall
1. Christophe Pourcel (1-5)
2. Tyla Rattray (6-1)
3. Dean Wilson (3-3)
4. Broc Tickle (8-2)
5. Trey Canard (4-7)
6. Eli Tomac (2-11)
7. Wil Hahn (9-6)
8. Jake Weimer (5-12)
9. Max Anstie (15-4)
10. Justin Barcia (10-8)
11. Martin Davalos (13-9)
12. Tommy Searle (12-13)
13. Blake Wharton (7-34)
14. Matt Lemoine (14-15)
15. Phil Nicoletti (16-14)
16. Cole Seely (11-19)
17. Blake Baggett (34-10)
18. Killy Rusk (19-16)
19. Hunter Hewitt (17-18)
20. Michael Willard (38-17)
250 Class Points
1. Christophe Pourcel (86/1 win)
2. Eli Tomac (77/1 win)
3. Dean Wilson (69)
4. Trey Canard (68)
5. Broc Tickle (61)
6. Tyla Rattray (58)
7. Jake Weimer (56)
8. Justin Barcia (54)
9. Wil Hahn (50)
10. Max Anstie (40)
