Bench Racing Ammo: The Other Three

June 28, 2007, 12:03pm

As we all gear up for round five of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championships presented by FMF at Red Bud this weekend, we’ve decided to do a “what if?” piece regarding the season thus far: What if you take the top two riders out of each class? If so, we’d be having an insanely close battle for the lead in the series in both classes. How close?

Take out RV and BT, and RD62 would be in the driver's seat in the Lites class

In the Lites class, Makita Suzuki’s young gun Ryan Dungey has a slim four-point advantage over Grant and Lawrence, and in the AMA Motocross class there would actually be a tie for the lead between Short and Langston, with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry lurking two points behind. That’s close! Here are the stats on the "other three" in each class so far:

Name - Brand - Motos - Points

Ryan Dungey (SUZ) 3-3, 4-4, 3-3, 5-4 (150)
Josh Grant (HON) 4-6, 1-3, 4-5, 4-5 (146)
Jason Lawrence (YAM) 5-5, 3-6, 5-4, 3-3 (141)

Other riders to make top five in a moto: Brett Metcalfe (1), Jake Weimer (1), Tommy Hahn (1)

Name - Brand - Motos - Points

Andrew Short (HON) 8-6, 5-6, 4-5, 5-3 (129)
Grant Langston (YAM) 6-5, 7-5, 3-3, 7-7 (129)
Tim Ferry (KAW) 3-3, 3-4, 37-4, 4-8 (127)

Other riders to make top five: Davi Millsaps (3 times), Chad Reed (2), Kevin Windham (1), Mike Alessi (1)

Andy is tied with Grant for third

Also, this weekend marks Round 2 of the 2007 Monster Energy/Kawasaki Triple Crown of Motocross. It’s the third year for this event, which stepped up the purse money from $72 to $100K this year! The past two seasons Ricky Carmichael was able to sweep all three events, taking home the Triple Crown bonus, but this year it looks like it’s not going to happen, as RC has said he’s not racing Steel City, which is the third and final stop. But in the official press release, RC says, ““We’ll see how things go. At this point I hadn’t planned on racing Steel City, but one never knows – and that’s provided I’d be able to win both High Point and Red Bud.” He’s already won High Point, Red Bud’s next.

The only other rider capable of sweeping is Josh Grant, who took the win in the Lites class at round one at High Point, but he’ll have to win this weekend, and at Steel City. Can he do it? No Lites class racer has ever swept all three rounds, so it’ll be a first.

In addition, to pump up the crowd even more, Monster Energy and Kawasaki will be giving away three Pro Circuit-tuned Kawasaki KLX110 pit bike to three lucky fans – totaling $10,000. Fans can enter to win at the Monster Energy motor coach on Saturday and Sunday.