Those wild and crazy Lites riders never fail to put on a show. This year’s West Region Lites tour was really positioned as a showcase for “next big thing” Ryan Villopoto, but even though RV delivered and won all but one race, there were still plenty of memorable moments from the season. Some of them happened on the track, some of them off, so just for one last reminder the West gang gathered up in Seattle for one more show. For the off-track stuff, Martin Davalos stuffed Kyle Partridge in the last turn of the first heat race, sending Partridge to the ground. He got up heated and rammed his bike right into Martin, who then started swinging at him (more comedy added due to the height differential between the two, not to mention of course that they had helmets on).
A few minutes later Michael Willard put his KTM125SX into the main event. By then, Washington State riders had won both heat races (Villopoto and Josh Hill). Then a wild main event broke out where the next fastest riders in the class besides Villopoto—Hill, Jason Lawrence and Josh Grant—started in front of Villopoto. That led to an awesome battle with RV clawing his way to the front on a gnarly track.
Villopoto may have proved he is the next big thing, but the West showed that even when there’s a juggernaut in the class, the racing in the Lites class is pretty good. And the off the stuff track stuff is even better. Bring on Vegas!
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