Sign of the (Lap) Times: Freestone

Lites

With both Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart absent from AMA Toyota Motocross, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto has presented an argument for himself as the fastest rider in America right now. Aboard a Mitch Payton-tuned KX250F, for the past several races we’ve seen RV set the fastest lap time of the day out of both classes, and it’s not just by a few hundredths of a second—he’s gapping riders by a couple seconds a lap.

Martin Davalos has been on a hot streak.

It was the same story this past weekend in Texas, and as Davey Coombs wrote in 250 Words yesterday, RV may have cracked Ben Townley in Texas. Both motos RV was the fastest Lites rider, and his fastest lap time each moto was in the 2:14 range. No other rider was close to Ryan the first moto, but Ben’s fastest lap in the second moto was within a half second of Ryan’s. Nonetheless, RV was still able to come out with a 1-1, and carries a 19-point lead into the final round of the series at Glen Helen.

And in only his second pro national, Austin Stroupe was very impressive again, as he not only passed Broc Hepler on the last lap of the first moto but also recorded the second fastest lap time—2:16.276—in only his third moto as a professional! 

Another trend we’ve been seeing in the Lites class is consistent rides from Red Bull KTM’s Martin Davalos, who recorded another sixth overall in Texas. Davalos’ outdoor season got off to a rocky start as his first four results of 2007 was a 9th, 38th, 41st and 17th. Since the Thunder Valley National, Davalos’ scorecard reads like this: 6th, 6th, 4th, 7th, 6th. Those are solid performances by the Ecuadorian.
 

Pos.	Moto 1	Moto 2	Rider	Bike
1	02:14.337	02:14.558	Ryan Villopoto	Kawasaki
2	02:17.246	02:18.926	Broc Hepler	Yamaha
3	02:17.101	02:14.609	Ben Townley	Kawasaki
4	02:17.723	02:20.239	Brett Metcalfe	Kawasaki
5	02:17.604	02:19.998	Trey Canard	Honda
6	02:18.525	02:19.973	Martin Davalos	KTM
7	02:19.814	02:23.077	Tommy Hahn	Honda
8	02:20.224	02:23.252	Broc Tickle	Yamaha
9	02:20.801	02:23.601	Kyle Chisholm	Kawasaki
10	02:16.276	02:18.072	Austin Stroupe	Kawasaki
11	02:21.631	02:25.478	Joaquim Rodrigues	KTM
12	02:19.631	02:24.415	Jake Weimer	Honda
13	02:19.641	02:25.064	Matt Goerke	Yamaha
14	02:22.839	02:23.937	Jake Moss	Yamaha
15	02:24.046	02:26.282	Wil Hahn	Yamaha
16	02:23.530	02:28.327	Andrew McFarlane	Suzuki
17	02:25.458	02:28.504	Steve Boniface	Kawasaki
18	02:25.167	02:28.034	Ricky Renner	Honda
19	02:22.450	02:23.440	Kyle Cunningham	Yamaha
20	02:20.040	02:24.979	Matt Lemoine	Yamaha

How is Villopoto doing it? The tracks are slightly smoother for the Lites in the first and second moto, as intermissions come beforehand. But like Tony Cairoli in Europe, he is riding at such a frantic yet controlled pace that he’s just hanging it out (and hanging on) more than anyone else.

AMA Motocross
For the second consecutive week, the rider with the fastest lap time in each moto in the AMA Motocross class was not able to take the overall win. In Texas, Honda’s Andrew Short was a man on a mission, decimating the field in the first moto to take the win and the points lead. Short’s lap time in the first moto—a 2:15.320—was a full two seconds faster than that of Grant Langston’s.

Shorty was on fire in Texas.

Short looked like he was going to repeat his first moto performance the second time out, but unfortunately he crashed while leading and was only able to maintain a fifth-place finish, giving him third overall. He was still able to record the fastest lap time in the second moto, too, with a 2:18.416.

And in his maiden voyage in the AMA Motocross class, Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill was impressive on the YZ450F, as he had the fifth-fastest lap time in the second moto. His fourth-place finish ahead of Short also helped his teammate, Langston, in the championship hunt.

Pos.	Moto 1	Moto 2	Rider	Bike
1	02:17.330	02:18.519	Grant Langston	Yamaha
2	02:17.794	02:19.778	Mike Alessi	KTM
3	02:15.320	02:18.416	Andrew Short	Honda
4	02:18.307	02:19.899	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
5	02:19.966	02:22.803	Cody Cooper	Honda
6	02:19.254	02:23.622	Ivan Tedesco	Suzuki
7	02:20.288	02:21.176	Kevin Windham	Honda
8	02:22.504	02:25.171	Michael Byrne	Suzuki
9	02:20.476	02:20.241	Josh Hill	Yamaha
10	02:22.964	02:25.403	Gavin Gracyk	Honda
11	02:24.671	02:27.238	Kyle Lewis	Honda
12	02:25.816	02:24.253	Ryan Clark	Honda
13	02:21.926	02:28.458	Josh Summey	Honda
14	02:23.040	02:24.599	Kyle Keylon	Honda
15	02:22.561	02:26.239	Troy Adams	Suzuki
16	02:22.968	02:31.372	Jeff Alessi	KTM
17	02:25.113	N/A	Jason Thomas	Honda
18	02:24.236	02:25.825	Shaun Skinner	Honda
19	02:26.617	02:27.754	Chris Blose	Honda
20	02:24.229	02:31.152	Ryan Mills	Kawasaki