Sign of the (Lap) Times: Hangtown
Two races in and we’re already starting to see a common trend in the AMA Motocross class: It’s green! Monster Energy Kawasaki’s James Stewart has led every lap (62) thus far, as well as logged the fastest lap time in all four motos.
The Hangtown facility is one that James has struggled with in the past, but not this year. In the first moto on the Dirt Diggers’ course, which ran backwards (or clockwise), Honda Red Bull Racing’s Davi Millsaps was second quickest, but even his best time (2:01.921) was over three seconds off of Stewart’s best race time (1:58.504).
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The second moto it was Stewart again out front, as he was the only rider in his class who was able to dip below the two-minute mark. His teammate Ferry was second fastest, followed by Alessi, Millsaps, and Tedesco. Check out the fastest lap times of the top 20 in both motos below:
|
Pos.
|
Moto 1
|
Moto 2
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
|
1
|
01:58.504
|
01:59.877
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
2
|
02:02.357
|
02:02.843
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
3
|
02:03.152
|
02:03.634
|
Honda
|
|
|
4
|
02:01.921
|
02:03.301
|
Honda
|
|
|
5
|
02:02.654
|
02:03.993
|
Honda
|
|
|
6
|
02:05.042
|
02:04.629
|
Ben Townley
|
Honda
|
|
7
|
02:03.572
|
02:03.008
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
8
|
02:06.160
|
02:06.268
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
9
|
02:06.311
|
02:06.501
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
10
|
02:05.686
|
02:05.642
|
Honda
|
|
|
11
|
02:06.180
|
02:06.110
|
Honda
|
|
|
12
|
02:07.228
|
02:06.982
|
KTM
|
|
|
13
|
02:02.546
|
02:06.494
|
Cody Cooper
|
Suzuki
|
|
14
|
02:03.786
|
02:08.857
|
Sean Collier
|
Kawasaki
|
|
15
|
02:14.627
|
02:07.777
|
Honda
|
|
|
16
|
02:07.225
|
02:09.030
|
Honda
|
|
|
17
|
02:04.516
|
02:08.630
|
Sean Hamblin
|
Yamaha
|
|
18
|
02:04.727
|
02:05.468
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
19
|
N/A
|
02:07.031
|
Juss Laansoo
|
Honda
|
|
20
|
02:07.681
|
02:10.063
|
Michael Blose
|
Honda
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Biggest surprise? It’s a toss up between the aforementioned Cody Cooper, Steve Boniface, and Sean Collier, as all three of these riders really surprised a lot of people at Hangtown.
Both Steve Boniface (141) and Sean Collier (207) were impressive at Hangtown photo: Simon Cudby
Lites
Ryan Villopoto found his groove in Sacramento, as he was the quickest Lites rider both times out, leading all 34 laps en route to his first two-moto sweep of an AMA National since Freestone in September 2007. In fact, his fastest first moto lap time was only .2 seconds off of Stewart’s fastest lap time in the first moto!
As for the rest of the top five, we saw the usual suspects (Dungey, Stroupe, Metcalfe, Lawrence) swapping positions each moto, but they were all well off the pace of RV. Check out the top 20 lap times below:
|
Pos.
|
Moto 1
|
Moto 2
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
|
1
|
01:58.783
|
02:00.892
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
2
|
02:00.351
|
02:02.201
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
3
|
02:02.145
|
02:02.603
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
4
|
02:00.390
|
02:02.874
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
5
|
02:01.428
|
02:01.916
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
6
|
02:02.298
|
02:03.800
|
Honda
|
|
|
7
|
02:02.509
|
02:05.062
|
Honda
|
|
|
8
|
02:03.080
|
02:05.561
|
Branden Jesseman
|
Kawasaki
|
|
9
|
02:04.227
|
02:04.984
|
KTM
|
|
|
10
|
02:04.456
|
02:05.307
|
Honda
|
|
|
11
|
02:04.644
|
02:05.845
|
KTM
|
|
|
12
|
02:02.625
|
02:06.032
|
Honda
|
|
|
13
|
02:03.300
|
02:06.954
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
14
|
02:05.013
|
02:05.887
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
15
|
02:01.730
|
02:04.731
|
Suzuki
|
|
|
16
|
02:03.798
|
02:08.744
|
KTM
|
|
|
17
|
02:04.181
|
02:06.078
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
18
|
02:03.726
|
02:06.281
|
Kawasaki
|
|
|
19
|
02:04.872
|
02:07.628
|
Yamaha
|
|
|
20
|
02:07.569
|
02:08.076
|
Honda
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Biggest surprise? Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Brett Metcalfe had the fourth fastest lap time in the first moto and followed it up by being the second fastest in Moto 2, yet he could only muster 4-5 moto scores for another fifth overall. I’d love to see Metty pull the BTOSports.com Holeshot in Texas…
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