With a new sweeping lefthander in place to give the riders on the outside a better shot at good starts, the holeshots at
Steel City proved to be as wild as they were interesting. First came the Lites moto, and rookie
Austin Stroupe was sent to the line with one piece of advice in his mind from his new Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team: Do not shut off! Well, the kid didn't, even if he had the 18th pick and a spot on the outside side of the gate. #981 timed the gate perfectly, got back off the seat and aimed for the inside marker. He got there just as teammates
Ryan Villopoto and Ben Townley--the two title contenders--and a bunch of others were getting there. Stroupe kept it WFO and got the Racer X $250 Holeshot, becoming the second debutante in as many races to do that (
Trey Canard did it at
Millville). His teammates hit the deck, but they all dusted themselves and got back up in the mix.
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Stroupe's holeshot came at the expense of 10 guys just out of this picture and on the ground. | | |
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Lites pile-up | | |
In the second moto,
Villopoto decided to line up on the outside where Stroupe was, and proceeded to pull the holeshot himself, only this time everyone on the inside backed off just enough for him to get past cleanly. Villopoto went on to win the moto, Townley was second,
Brett Metcalfe third--another Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki sweep. What's cool is that Stroupe managed to fight back to 12th after a terrible start from the inside, but that was good enough for a superb fourth overall in his first pro race. This kid--and fifth-place
Nico Izzi and the impressive Canard--are all going to be great to watch!
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Lites - Moto 2 | | |
In the first AMA Motocross moto, Red Bull KTM's
Mike Alessi took the Mototees Holeshot Award from
Kevin Windham and then battled with K-Dub, as well as Team Yamaha's
Grant Langston, before putting himself in the record books as the first rider ever to win an AMA Motocross (or 250 or 500 class) moto on a KTM.
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AMA Motocross - Moto 1 | | |
For awhile there, it looked like Alessi would do it again in the second moto, even after losing the Mototees Holeshot Award to the red-hot
Gavin Gracyk, plus the rejuvenated
Kevin Windham. But it was not to be, as Langston would come through and emerge victorious after a thrilling three-man duel that went down to the last corner. Now Langston is the points leader, Alessi is within 10, and
Andrew Short and
Tim Ferry must be working on their starts right now!
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AMA Motocross - Moto 2 | | |
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Ferry's second moto didn't start out as planned | | |
