Two Podium Finishes for GEICO Powersports Honda

DENVER  -- The GEICO Powersports Honda team placed riders on the podium in both the 450 and 250cc classes on Saturday at the Toyota Trucks Thunder Valley National in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

Trey Canard finished third and second in his two motos to finish second overall in the 250s and Brett Metcalfe rode to a pair of fourth place finishes in 450 motos for a third place overall finish.

Up until Saturday, Canard had been disappointed with his finishes thus far this season. At Thunder Valley, Canard said he felt more like his usual self, particularly in the second moto where he got the hole shot and led a significant portion of the 30-minute race.

"From the past few weekends, it's a big improvement for me," Canard said. "I'm excited, hopefully I can keep the momentum going and try to have fun with it."

With his finish, Canard moves to fourth in the season 250 standings.

Metcalfe, riding in the 450 class for the first time, stayed out of trouble on the starts and used consistency to run to his third place finish.

"The track was really, really rough and super narrow in some of the sections," Metclafe said. "Being consistent is paying off for us. Now we just have to work on being more consistently in the top three.

"The starts helped today. I knew they would at a track like this, where we have less power because of the altitude. Being up front early is beneficial. I put a lot of focus on my starts today."

It's another podium on the year for Metcalfe, who is now second in the season points.

Blake Wharton finished fifth overall by finishing sixth then fifth in his two 250 motos and is now eighth in the season points.

"In the first moto, I felt like I got a good jump but I rode a little tight overall," he said. "I knew I could do better in the second moto. I got a second place start there, and hung in there for a while. A couple spots on the track got me, through."

Justin Barcia got caught up in a first turn melee in the first moto but battled his way to a 16th place finish. In the second, he steered clear of trouble and rode to a seventh place finish -- good for 10th place overall on the day. For his efforts, Barcia won the Muscle Milk Recovery Award.

"The day overall wasn't so hot," Barcia said. "I did get the Recovery Award, so that's at least something for the day. I was working hard all day. I had a few crashes in the first moto that took me out of contention. Second moto I got another bad start. I don't know what's going on with that, but it's something I'm going to focus on this week."

Rookie Eli Tomac said he was also hampered by rough starts. He finished seventh and ninth in his motos, good enough for eighth on the day.

"My biggest problems were my starts," Tomac said. "I still need to get physically stronger. But I'm going to keep on working on it."

All the GEICO Powersports Honda 250 riders are in the Top 10 in points. Canard is fourth, Barcia is sixth, Tomac seventh and Wharton is eighth,

Next up for the GEICO Powersports Honda riders is the July 3 Red Bud National in Buchanan, Mich.