Sign of the (Lap) Times: High Point

May 30, 2007, 7:30am

MX Lites

From the first Lites practice at High Point, SoBe No Fear/Samsung Honda’s Josh Grant was poised to win. And in the first moto, Josh could claim that he was the fastest Lites rider in America, laying down the fastest lap time that moto—a 2:02.964. The depth of this class really shows, though, as the next four fastest riders—Jason Lawrence, Ben Townley, Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto—were all within a second of Grant’s fastest lap.

Pos.	Moto 1	Moto 2	Rider	Bike
1	02:02.964	02:01.761	Josh Grant	Honda
2	02:03.849	02:01.569	Ryan Villopoto	Kawasaki
3	02:03.365	02:00.962	Ben Townley	Kawasaki
4	02:03.710	02:01.385	Ryan Dungey	Suzuki
5	02:03.238	02:04.855	Jason Lawrence	Yamaha
6	02:05.629	02:04.045	Tommy Hahn	Honda
7	02:04.921	02:05.775	Jake Weimer	Honda
8	02:07.280	02:04.880	Broc Tickle	Yamaha
9	02:05.782	02:02.614	Josh Hill	Yamaha
10	02:07.224	02:05.356	Matt Goerke	Yamaha
11	02:09.028	02:07.124	Andrew McFarlane	Suzuki
12	02:08.744	02:08.197	Matt Lemoine	Yamaha
13	02:08.957	02:08.309	Kelly Smith	Suzuki
14	02:09.788	02:08.582	Ryan Morais	Yamaha
15	02:07.605	02:05.408	Robert Kiniry	Kawasaki
16	02:11.091	02:07.698	Kyle Chisholm	Kawasaki
17	02:11.348	02:07.774	Billy Laninovich	Honda
18	02:10.335	02:08.068	Dusty Klatt	Yamaha
19	02:07.395	02:08.660	Daniel Sani	Yamaha
20	02:09.732	02:09.737	Joaquim Rodrigues	KTM

Josh Grant

The second moto Grant had the fourth fastest lap time, which was within a second of the fastest moto time recorded by Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ben Townley, who logged a 2:00.962, a full two seconds faster than Grant’s first-moto fast lap. BT101 redeemed his stop-in-the-pits-and-go-still-get 10th in moto one with a very decisive win in the second moto. Again, both Dungey and Villopoto were in the top four, and it’s surprising that Jason Lawrence only had the seventh fastest time of the moto (and finished sixth). Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill had some quick laps, setting the fifth fastest time.

AMA MX Class

There was some uncertainty of whether this year’s race could live up to the first moto battle that we saw in the MX class here in 2006. But it did, as Makita Suzuki’s Carmichael got up from a fall and hunted down the #7 Monster Energy Kawasaki throughout the first moto, giving every fan in attendance their money’s worth. Finally on lap 12, Carmichael pounced, taking the lead from Stewart, and racing off for the moto win. Carmichael’s fastest lap time was a 1:58.488, almost a full two seconds faster than Stewart’s fastest lap. In fact, RC was the only rider throughout the first motos to eclipse the two-minute mark.

Pos.	Moto 1	Moto 2	Rider	Bike
1	01:58.488	01:57.776	Ricky Carmichael	Suzuki
2	02:00.436	01:58.392	James Stewart	Kawasaki
3	02:02.488	02:02.172	Davi Millsaps	Honda
4	02:01.960	02:02.602	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
5	02:02.077	02:02.408	Andrew Short	Honda
6	02:02.339	02:02.917	Grant Langston	Yamaha
7	02:04.607	02:02.263	Kevin Windham	Honda
8	02:05.515	02:06.664	Michael Byrne	Suzuki
9	02:06.981	02:03.872	Mike Alessi	KTM
10	02:06.698	02:06.639	David Vuillemin	Honda
11	02:07.535	02:05.860	Gavin Gracyk	Honda
12	02:09.228	02:09.891	Jason Thomas	Honda
13	02:07.780	02:10.741	Cole Siebler	Kawasaki
14	02:09.841	02:06.833	Nick Wey	Honda
15	02:08.527	02:12.197	Adam Chatfield	Honda
16	02:07.329	02:06.774	Josh Summey	Honda
17	02:07.852	02:10.680	Jeff Alessi	KTM
18	02:11.390	02:13.169	Ryan Clark	Honda
19	02:12.389	02:13.449	Barry Carsten	Suzuki
20	02:11.170	02:13.347	Doug DeHaan	Honda

In moto two it was all Carmichael, who pulled the holeshot and led wire-to-wire. But Stewart did manage to get his lap times under the two-minute mark as well. Similar to the Lites class, the lap times were faster for the second set of motos, and RC was able to best his first moto lap time with a 1:57.776. Stewart had a 1:58.392, and Millsaps was third quickest with a 2:02.172, followed by Andrew Short’s 2:02.408.

Ricky Carmichael