What a day here at High Point Raceway located outside the town of Mt Morris, PA. It was round four of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships and the weather was just about perfect. A slight breeze with sunny skies greeted the teams and racers and there was no doubt that this was a welcome relief to most.
The area was deluged by rains the past few days before the race and therefore the first set of practices were pretty sloppy. Most riders got their quickest time in the second sessions and the track just kept coming around after that. The second set of motos saw a perfect track that provided great traction in some spots and a very healthy crowd saw some new and some old faces on the podiums.
This just in- Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto is looking good. Villopoto won his sixth and seventh motos out of eight held to have a perfect day and extend his points lead. Villopoto moved quickly by Justin Barcia in the first moto and checked out fast for the win. In the second moto he didn’t get the start he needed but once again he was clearly the fastest rider as he moved by Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey and was in the process of moving by Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart when Stewart developed a broken front disc rotor. Villopoto had to catch and pass Dungey and Stewart in the second moto to put a stamp on his day. It was a tremendous ride, one that his mechanic Mike Williamson said was his best one of the year.
Dungey rode superb as well in going 2-2. He’s clearly better than the rest of the field but is a tick off of Villopoto. A good day for Ryan, he’s going to use this one-week break to try and get better.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Tyla Rattray finally broke through for a podium in the 450 Class with his 4-4 scores. It was a long needed podium for the Pro Circuit team who lost their other 450 rider Dean Wilson right before last week’s race.
As far as Stewart, it was a miserable day for the #7 as he ran out of tearoffs in the first moto and had to remove his goggles. After that he dropped out of the race on the last lap. And of course he led a few laps and looked great before his mechanical in moto 2.
MotoConcepts’ Mike Alessi got his first podium of the year in the second moto with a strong third place ride to give him fifth overall on the day.
In the 250 Class it was a 1-2 day for Red Bull KTM as Marvin Musquin and Ken Roczen split the moto wins with Marvin taking the overall via his 2-1 scores. It was the first moto win for Musquin here in America and also his second straight national win. Both riders were very dominant on the day and couldn’t be touched in either moto although GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac did make a run at Marvin in the first moto. Tomac didn’t gate well in the second moto and crashed at one point. He eventually finishes fourth in the moto and third overall on the day.
Tomac’s teammate Zach Osborne went 10-3 for fourth overall- Osborne was up front in the first moto for a bit but then faded back. It was so bad he apologized to the crowd upon receiving his holeshot award on the podium! His second moto ride more than made up for it. Defending champion Blake Baggett didn’t have a great day for the second week in a row and went 4-8 for fifth overall behind Osborne.
After four straight weeks, the series has its first week off this coming weekend and then we’re back at it for round five at Budds Creek, Maryland.
