450 Class
Moto 1
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 |
2:01.767 |
4 |
2:04.861 |
Ryan Villopoto |
2 | 2 |
2:03.878 |
7 |
2:06.105 |
Ryan Dungey |
3 | 36 |
2:04.711 |
4 |
2:05.955 |
James Stewart |
4 | 4 |
2:04.968 |
9 |
2:07.560 |
Tyla Rattray |
5 | 3 |
2:05.256 |
3 |
2:07.360 |
Trey Canard |
6 | 5 |
2:05.401 |
8 |
2:08.320 |
Weston Peick |
7 | 7 |
2:05.829 |
3 |
2:08.750 |
Ryan Sipes |
8 |
8 |
2:06.058 |
8 |
2:09.038 |
Jake Weimer |
9 | 9 |
2:06.214 |
6 |
2:09.604 |
Matt Goerke |
10 | 10 |
2:06.249 |
7 |
2:09.612 |
Malcolm Stewart |
The facts from Utah were clear: Ryan Villopoto again proved to be the alpha dog of the 450 class. Not only was his 2:01.767 two seconds clear of Ryan Dungey’s 2:03.878, he was also the only rider to have two sub 2:02 laps. Obviously RV was a step above the rest, but how much did his lap times differ from those of Dungey’s? Take a peek at the chart below for more details.
Lap | Ryan Villopoto | Ryan Dungey |
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
2:03.401 2:02.590 2:01.767 2:02.128 2:01.999 2:03.728 2:03.648 2:03.723 2:04.664 2:06.380 2:06.626 2:07.567 2:07.029 2:06.497 2:07.424 2:08.609 |
2:05.896 2:04.719 2:05.778 2:04.425 2:04.204 2:03.878 2:04.855 2:06.344 2:06.842 2:04.970 2:07.994 2:06.474 2:05.955 2:08.672 2:08.851 2:07.830 |
As you can see, laps 2-10 is where Villopoto really put distance on Dungey. At almost two seconds a lap faster, on every lap, RV was able to gain a big lead early. Dungey leveled the playing field after lap 10, but the damage had been done.
Tyla Rattray was back in fine form in moto 1, setting the fourth fastest lap of the moto in his best ride since High Point. Laps 4-11 were crucial for Rattray. After starting outside the top ten he clicked off eight straight laps (4-11) under 2:07—in the process moving from eleventh after lap one to fifth after lap eleven.
On paper, Jake Canada’s twenty-second in the first moto doesn’t sound like much. But consider that Canada was in dead last after lap one. Canada made real strides in the first seven laps (2-8) laying down two laps under 2:10 and two in the 2:10 range, while moving through a heap of traffic.
450 Moto 2
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 |
2:02.783 |
4 |
2:05.897 |
Ryan Villopoto |
2 | 2 |
2:03.970 |
4 |
2:06.488 |
Ryan Dungey |
3 | 4 |
2:06.322 |
5 |
2:10.642 |
Justin Barcia |
4 | 25 |
2:06.536 |
5 |
2:07.777 |
Tyla Rattray |
5 | 3 |
2:06.776 |
3 |
2:09.887 |
Trey Canard |
6 | 26 |
2:07.753 |
4 |
2:11.243 |
Ryan Sipes |
7 | 5 |
2:07.968 |
7 |
2:10.728 |
Weston Peick |
8 |
9 |
2:08.176 |
3 |
2:13.066 |
Andrew Short |
9 | 7 |
2:08.563 |
2 |
2:11.828 |
Justin Brayton |
10 | 27 |
2:09.278 |
6 |
2:11.315 |
Zach Freeberg |
Ryan Villopoto again reined as King of the Charts, although the discrepancy over Ryan Dungey was not as blatant. Villopto’s fastest lap of 2:02.783 was only a second better than Dungey’s 2:03.907—down from more than two seconds in moto 1. Again, let’s take a side-by-side look at how RV and RD matched up.
Lap | Ryan Villopoto |
Ryan Dungey |
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
2:03.491 2:03.057 2:02.783 2:03.394 2:03.141 2:04.566 2:05.003 2:04.966 2:04.707 2:06.821 2:06.027 2:07.263 2:07.451 2:08.311 2:09.685 2:13.688 |
2:04.044 2:04.759 2:03.970 2:04.870 2:04.577 2:06.217 2:04.813 2:05.580 2:06.439 2:06.104 2:07.846 2:07.938 2:08.308 2:08.719 2:09.515 2:10.112 |
RV was on the prowl again early in the moto—although the gap wasn’t nearly as staggering as the first moto. After taking eight of the first nine laps, RV then traded blows with Dungey down the stretch with RD losing out in a close fight—three laps to four.
Justin Barcia set the third fastest lap of the moto, but was an astounding three seconds back of Villopoto and two back of Dungey. With that said, Barcia was still lighting up the charts. He had zero laps over 2:10 during the first eleven laps (2-12).
Makers/Witts End Racing’s Zach Freeberg has turned in his best results of the season down the stretch since jumping to the 450 class at Washougal. Although he didn’t finish the moto, Freeberg still set the tenth fastest lap in the moto, and completed four of his nine laps under the 2:11 mark.
Ryan Villopoto set the fastest lap of the day with a 2:01.767 in 450 moto 1.
Simon Cudby photo
250 Class
Moto 1
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 2:04.717 | 4 | 2:06.334 | Eli Tomac |
2 | 2 | 2:04.728 | 9 | 2:06.879 | Blake Bagggett |
3 | 3 | 2:05.503 | 5 | 2:07.911 | Adam Cianciarulo |
4 |
4 | 2:05.610 | 5 | 2:07.879 | Ken Roczen |
5 | 5 | 2:06.183 | 5 | 2:08.562 | Marvin Musquin |
6 |
6 | 2:06.646 | 7 | 2:09.236 | Zach Osborne |
7 | 11 | 2:06.850 | 5 | 2:11.142 | Martin Davalos |
8 | 9 | 2:06.968 | 5 | 2:10.397 | Justin Bogle |
9 | 7 | 2:07.442 | 11 | 2:08.956 | Cooper Webb |
10 | 10 | 2:07.496 | 7 | 2:10.277 | Justin Hill |
Nothing new to report here, as far as who the fastest man on the track was. Once again, Eli Tomac was faster than everyone, despite saying that he felt "flat" in his post-moto television interview. You know you're on the gas when you didn't feel great and still beat second place by over thirteen seconds!
Adam Cianciarulo had the best moto of his pro career in the first moto at Miller Motorsports Park. After getting a pretty good start, the rookie dug in and started picking dudes off. By the end of the first lap he was in fourth, and was able to get into second on lap five. From there he kept his lap times remarkbly consistent and free of spikes. He even set five consecutive laps (ten through fourteen) in the 2:07 range. Blake Baggett got Cianciarulo for second on lap thirteen, and after chasing Baggett in earnest for another lap, Cianciarulo's final three lap times finally increased by a few seconds. Judging by this moto, it appears as though AC292 is starting to get the hang of things.
Speaking of Blake Baggett, the 2012 250 National Champ had one of his better days of the season. After starting outside the top ten, Baggett went to work, moving inside the top five on lap six. But, in typical El Chupacabra fashion, BB didn't find all of his speed until the second half of the race, setting his fastest time on lap nine. In the closing stages of the race, when most everyone's laps start to get a little longer, Baggett was setting laps in the 2:05 and 2:07 range after starting out in the 2:08's. You'll note his best lap time wasn't actually far off of Tomac, although he was way behind him when the checkers came out.
Last week we saw the debuts of recent Loretta Lynn's graduates Shane McElrath and Matt Bisceglia. In this moto McElrath finished seventeenth, while Bisceglia took twentieth. Let's see how their lap times compared one week after getting their first pro races out of the way.
Lap | Shane McElrath | Matt Bisceglia |
2 | 2:12.361 | 2:11.683 |
3 | 2:10.406 | 2:12.610 |
4 | 2:11.808 | 2:14.029 |
5 | 2:10.851 | 2:13.719 |
6 | 2:14.301 | 2:15.102 |
7 | 2:12.916 | 2:14.672 |
8 | 2:13.113 | 2:16.062 |
9 | 2:12.299 | 2:12.239 |
10 | 2:12.259 | 2:14.568 |
11 | 2:12.827 | 2:14.628 |
12 | 2:12.963 | 2:13.804 |
13 | 2:14.907 | 2:13.305 |
14 | 2:13.965 | 2:15.990 |
15 | 2:15.868 | 2:14.636 |
16 | 2:16.868 | 2:16.638 |
17 | 2:17.068 | 2:17.482 |
Not surprisingly, you can see an increase in lap times around lap thirteen, which is roughly about when both riders would be pulling off the track in amateur competition.
Eli Tomac was the fastest in both 250 motos.
Simon Cudby photo
250 Moto 2
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 2:04.677 | 4 | 2:08.181 | Eli Tomac |
2 | 3 | 2:05.380 | 3 | 2:08.647 | Ken Roczen |
3 | 4 | 2:06.254 | 5 | 2:10.508 | Justin Bogle |
4 | 8 | 2:06.439 | 5 | 2:11.932 | Marvin Musquin |
5 | 2 | 2:06.628 | 15 | 2:08.441 | Blake Baggett |
6 | 5 | 2:07.489 | 5 | 2:10.584 | Darryn Durham |
7 | 28 | 2:07.911 | 4 | 2:11.281 (9 laps) | Jason Anderson |
8 | 7 | 2:08.121 | 5 | 2:10.974 | Cooper Webb |
9 | 6 | 2:08.423 | 9 | 2:10.586 | Jeremy Martin |
10 | 9 | 2:09.174 | 4 | 2:11.570 | Adam Cianciarulo |
In an effort to avoid repeating the same thing over and over, let's just get this out of the way and move on: Eli Tomac was yet again silly fast. What was different however is that he didn't win the moto by his usual 762 miles. What happened? Did he slow way down on the final five or six laps to savor the feeling of another 1-1? Nope. The dudes behind him were just doing a better job of matching his pace. Check it out below.
Lap | Eli Tomac | Blake Baggett | Ken Roczen |
2 | 2:10.512 | 2:09.421 | 2:07.971 |
3 | 2:06.539 | 2:08.706 | 2:05.380 |
4 | 2:04.677 | 2:07.973 | 2:05.444 |
5 | 2:05.238 | 2:08.470 | 2:05.407 |
6 | 2:08.666 | 2:08.427 | 2:08.099 |
7 | 2:07.670 | 2:08.643 | 2:07.621 |
8 | 2:07.465 | 2:08.035 | 2:09.296 |
9 | 2:07.139 | 2:09.365 | 2:08.542 |
10 | 2:08.052 | 2:08.864 | 2:09.130 |
11 | 2:09.688 | 2:08.914 | 2:08.706 |
12 | 2:09.362 | 2:07.737 | 2:09.678 |
13 | 2:08.644 | 2:07.454 | 2:08.955 |
14 | 2:08.342 | 2:09.232 | 2:10.161 |
15 | 2:06.800 | 2:06.628 | 2:11.868 |
16 | 2:10.373 | 2:06.887 | 2:11.018 |
17 | 2:11.729 | 2:10.310 | 2:11.086 |
In the chart above you can see that Baggett was actually faster than Tomac for eight of the moto's seventeen laps. Roczen was pretty quick too, but you can see a very noticable increase in his times after Tomac went by him on lap fourteen. Had Roczen, who took third less than a tenth of a second behind Baggett, been able to hang onto a bit more speed for just another lap, he probably could have held off Baggett for second, which would have kept Roczen's title hopes alive for the final race at the Red Bull Lake Elsinore National this weekend.
Earlier in the season Zach Osborne was struggling in the first motos, only to come out and kill it in the second. The opposite was true at Miller Motorsports Park. Despite falling a bit off the pace late in moto one, Osborne was sixth. In the second moto, he took tenth. A quick look at his lap times reveals a lack of consistency in moto two. He turned a 2:13.066 and 2:11.863 early before getting down into the 2:09's, only to see his times flucuate back and forth the entire race. On lap twelve he turned a 2:15.353, lowered it to 2:11.547 on the following lap, then turned a 2:16.308 on lap fifteen!
Let's take another look at McElrath and Bisceglia, the two newest rookies of the 250 Class.
Lap | Shane McElrath | Matt Bisceglia |
2 | 2:15.951 | 2:12.805 |
3 | 2:12.524 | 2:10.948 |
4 | 2:12.047 | 2:12.612 |
5 | 2:10.594 | 2:14.063 |
6 | 2:12.948 | 2:15.796 |
7 | 2:13.618 | 2:17.227 |
8 | 2:13.942 | 2:14.147 |
9 | 2:15.108 | 2:15.863 |
10 | 2:13.947 | 2:17.046 |
11 | 2:14.275 | 2:17.039 |
12 | 2:13.557 | 2:18.096 |
13 | 2:14.134 | 2:19.613 |
14 | 2:14.777 | 2:19.093 |
15 | 2:14.430 | 2:19.712 |
16 | 2:14.185 | 2:20.909 |
17 | 2:16.475 | 2:23.839 |
Check out how consistent McElrath's lap times are. Even in the final five laps of the moto McElrath stayed pretty solid. Bisceglia on the other hand, put up times all over the board. He started faster than McElrath, but wasn't able to maintain his pace. The bright side is that he did manage to finish in seventeenth, which is an improvement from his twentieth in moto one, for twentieth overall. McElrath went 17-16 for seventeenth overall.