After a full season of back-and-forth battling for the 250 and 450 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championships, the title picture is suddenly much more clear.
In fact, it's totally clear in the 250 class, as Dean Wilson went 1-1 at the Steel City National to officially clinch the 2011 250 Championship on his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Wilson ended both motos with big leads, making it clear why he's the man this year in this division.
Meanwhile, after 30 minutes of epic battle, Ryan Villopoto's last lap, last turn pass on Ryan Dungey at the end of the first moto at Steel City completely flipped the momentum Within seconds, Villopoto's pass led to a six-point swing in the series' standings, which is difference between Villopoto finishing second to Dungey, but winning the race instead. It also led toa huge shot of adrenaline for the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider. Because when moto two began, Villopoto made a first-lap pass on Dungey and pulled away, and this time Dungey wasn't able to run with him. Dungey then fell a few laps later and dropped to third behind Chad Reed. He got back around Reed, but wasn't able to mount any sort of an attack on Villopoto.
And Villopoto was running a superb race out front, winning the overall via 1-1 scores. Villopoto quickly stated on the podium that this was his "Salt Lake City" race, mentioning how he won the next-to-last round of the Monster Energy Supercross tour to build a small points cushion heading into the final round. He's done that here, carrying a 14-point edge heading into next week's finale at Pala Raceway in California.
Dungey's teammate Brett Metcalfe took third overall with 3-4 scores, as Reed went 5-3.
Wilson's win came after overcoming an early challenge from a pair of GEICO Honda riders. In the first moto, rookie Justin Bogle challenged Wilson early before eventually losing the pace, and his teammate Eli Tomac took over second. In moto two, Tomac started right behind Wilson and actually took over the lead from him for several laps, but then Wilson came back to make the pass and hold on for the win. Tomac and Red Bull KTM's Marvin Musquin rounded out the podium, with Musquin getting good starts in both motos and going 3-3.
Look for more later with the Racer X Race Report including the WMX race report, as well as results, standings and photos.
