Grant, Pourcel Get It Started In Colorado

Kit Palmer | June 26, 2010

Josh Grant and Christophe Pourcel fired the first shot at round five of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Thunder Valley MX Park in Lakewood, Colorado, today. Grant, on the Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGR Yamaha, and Pourcel, on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, scored dominate wins in the first round of motos.Under cloudy skies with a hint of rain, local hero Andrew Short got the day started with the holeshot in the 450cc class and looked strong for the first few laps before tipping over and dropping about 10 positions.Ryan Dungey, on the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki, took over but had Grant breathing down his back and was only able to hold him back for a couple of laps before the Yamaha blitzed his way passed the series points leader.From that point on, the moto was all Grant’s, as he steadily pulled away from Dungey to take the win 6.9 seconds ahead of Dungey.Third place went to Rockstar/Canidae Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn who had a very impressive ride. Hahn rounded the first lap in 11th and steadily worked his way up through the pack, passing GEICO Powersports Honda’s Brett Metcalfe late in the race to take the third position.Fourth went to Metcalfe who ran third for most of the moto.Kyle Cunningham, on the Vali Motosports Yamaha, rounded out the top five overall.Honda’s Ben Townley finished sixth after crashing early in the race, and Kyle Chisholm, on the MotoConcepts Yamaha finished seventh.Short salvaged eighth, while Kyle Regal, on the Merge Racing Honda, out-dueled Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Chad Reed for ninth.Reed gated poorly and was deep in the field after the first lap and struggled getting through the pack.Pourcel took a wire-to-wire win in the 250cc class, but his teammate Dean Wilson gave him a challenge early in the race before Wilson lost a few bikelenths to the class points leader and could never close back in.Pourcel finished with breathing room over Wilson, while GEICO Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard held down third the whole race. However, Canard could never relax completely, as he had Star Racing Yamaha’s Martin Davalos to worry about, until Davalos suddenly dropped back.Fourth went to another Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider, Tyla Rattray.Broc Tickle, on the Star Racing Yamaha, finished fifth, ahead of Blake Wharton, Eli Tomac, Davalos, Cole Seeley and Jake Weimer, who fell on the first lap.