Villopoto, Sipes Quickest at Washougal

Kit Palmer | July 23, 2011

It’s been all Ryan’s so far at Washougal for round eight of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Washougal MX Park in Washington. Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Sipes clicked off quickest times following the two morning practice and qualifying sessions.

Villopoto, on the Monster Energy Kawasaki, got it done in the 450 class with a two minute, 7.019 second time, which was a second faster than the next-best time logged by Honda’s Trey Canard. Third quickest with a 2:08.186 was defending champ Ryan Dungey on the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki, followed by Mike Alessi on the Red Bull KTM and Chad Reed on the TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Honda.

In the 250 class, Sipes, on the DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha, was quickest with a 2:10.273, followed by Martin Davalos (2:10.895) on the Rockstar Energy Suzuki, and Sipes’ teammate Kyle Cunningham (2:11.107).Rounding out the top five in the 250 class was last week’s winner Tyla Rattray on the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki and returning factory KTM rider Marvin Musquin.Reed says he’s still a little sore and banged up from last week’s crash at Millville and said he’s looking forward to the two-week break in the series following the Washougal race. But he says he’s not going to hold anything back today.All of the top riders seemed to get through qualifying unscathed, except for GEICO Powersport/Honda’s Justin Barcia who suffered a hard get-off in the first 250 session. He was slow to his feet and went straight back to the pits. He returned in the second outing and was eighth quickest, 10th overall.

Although its sunny and warm were in the Pacific Northwest, the riders are enjoying the break from the heat and humidity of some of the previous races. Track conditions are ideal.