PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT PALMER
For the second week in a row the Red Bull KTM team occupied the top two steps of the 450-class podium. But, this time, at the AMA Pro Motocross Hangtown Classic it was Ken Roczen who would claim the overall, quite convincingly in both motos. It was also was also the young German’s first overall 450 win of his career. Finishing second to Roczen was teammate and last week’s overall winner Ryan Dungey. Muscle Milk Honda’s Trey Canard finished third overall, making it the same three riders on the 450 podium as last week at Glen Helen.
Although Dungey took the holeshot in the first moto, it didn’t take Roczen long to take the lead from his teammate and ultimately stretch out a nice healthy gap to take his first moto win of the season. In moto two Roczen had to fight for it a little more, having to get past Canard’s teammate Justin Barcia and the Monster Energy Kawasaki teammates – Jake Weimer and Brett Metcalfe – before taking over the lead. But once he did Roczen was long gone to secure his second win of the day, the overall and the series points lead.
Dungey tried to go after his teammate, but it ended up being a repeat performance in the second moto and he would again have to settle for second. The two-time AMA Motocross Champion goes into the third round at Thunder Valley in Colorado next week five points down on Roczen.
Canard finished a solid third in the first moto but had to work his way up before finishing fourth in moto two. And his hard work almost paid off with a second third-place finish, as he got close to passing third place finisher – Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart – across the line.
Stewart finished fourth overall (5-3) and was still struggling with set-up issues, he said. Behind him was Barcia, who finished fourth in moto one. Despite being in the running for a podium spot for most of moto two, Barcia dropped back to fifth.
RCH Racing’s Weston Peick finished sixth with an 8-6 tally. Behind Peick was the Monster Energy Kawasaki duo of Jake Weimer and Brett Metcalfe. Weimer got a much better start in the second moto with the holeshot but ultimately dropped back to eighth, unable to improve on his seventh-place finish in the first moto. Metcalf had good starts in both motos but fell back to finish sixth and ninth in motos one and two, respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 was Troy Lee Designs Lucas Oil Honda’s Malcolm Stewart and Discount Tire/TwoTwo Motorsport Kawasaki’s Chad Reed.
2014 Hangtown Classic
450 AMA Pro Motocross
Overall Results
1. Ken Roczen (KTM) 1-1
2. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 2-2
3. Trey Canard (Honda) 3-4
4. James Stewart (Suzuki) 5-3
5. Justin Barcia (Honda) 4-5
6. Weston Peick (Suzuki) 8-6
7. Jake Weimer (Kawasaki) 7-8
8. Brett Metcalfe (Kawasaki) 6-9
9. Malcolm Stewart (Honda) 10-7
10. Chad Reed (Kawasaki) 11-12
