Get with the times with this week's Sign of the Lap Times.
450 Class
Moto 1
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 2:08.330 | 2 | 2:11.303 | Ryan Villopoto |
2 | 2 | 2:09.619 | 3 | 2:11.836 | Ryan Dungey |
3 | 3 | 2:10.269 | 2 | 2:14.092 | Justin Barcia |
4 | 4 | 2:11.482 | 2 | 2:14.343 | Tyla Rattray |
5 | 6 | 2:12.696 | 4 | 2:14.614 | Ryan Sipes |
6 | 7 | 2:12.911 | 14 | 2:15.026 | Trey Canard |
7 | 11 | 2:12.977 | 16 | 2:15.710 | Broc Tickle |
8 |
16 | 2:13.699 | 8 | 2:16.644 | James Stewart |
9 | 8 | 2:14.108 | 10 | 2:15.612 | Jake Weimer |
10 | 10 | 2:14.208 | 5 | 2:15.680 | Mike Alessi |
Ryan Villopoto showed the High Point fans why he's the man this year by immediately taking control of the first moto and checking out right away. He was also very consistent, with nobody besting his lap times for the first seven laps of the race. The chart below shows just how hard RV dropped the hammer in laps two through seven.
Lap | Ryan Villopoto | Justin Barcia | Ryan Dungey |
2 | 2:08.330 | 2:10.269 | 2:13.881 |
3 | 2:09.319 | 2:11.356 | 2:09.619 |
4 | 2:09.381 | 2:11.668 | 2:10.912 |
5 | 2:09.242 | 2:12.578 | 2:10.061 |
6 | 2:09.802 | 2:13.267 | 2:11.884 |
7 | 2:11.034 | 2:15.185 | 2:11.855 |
Perhaps not so coincidentally, Villopoto's streak of fastest laps was broken on lap eight, one lap after Dungey took over second place from Justin Barcia and started finding a groove with clear track in front of him. Dungey really went to work at that point, turning faster laps than RV for the remainder of the race, but Villopoto's lead was so big by then that he'd switched over to management mode. Even so, he was still going incredibly fast, recording an average time that was good enough to be the fourth fastest lap of the race!
James Stewart found himself in a long and heated duel with Broc Tickle and Mike Alessi that saw the trio trade places a couple times. It ended with Tickle and Alessi both getting by Stewart on lap thirteen, who had ditched his goggles after pulling all his tearoffs (Stewart later pulled off after getting hit in the eye with a rock). The chart below shows their times from lap five through thirteen.
Lap | James Stewart | Broc Tickle | Mike Alessi |
5 | 2:14.325 | 2:15.490 | 2:14.208 |
6 | 2:14.217 | 2:16.144 | 2:15.893 |
7 | 2:16.802 | 2:15.957 | 2:15.510 |
8 | 2:13.699 | 2:15.819 | 2:15.186 |
9 | 2:15.540 | 2:16.574 | 2:16.320 |
10 | 2:14.890 | 2:14.955 | 2:17.234 |
11 | 2:14.648 | 2:15.094 | 2:14.389 |
12 | 2:17.165 | 2:14.614 | 2:15.216 |
13 | 2:22.750 | 2:17.559 | 2:15.654 |
Absent from the list of the fastest lap times, yet still worthy of mention, is Phil Nicoletti. With an average lap time of 2:15.742 and a fastest lap of 2:14.327, the N-Fab TiLUBE Yamaha rider put in solid and consistentent laps the whole moto. At one point he was even running as high as seventh place after rounding the first lap in tenth. At moto's end he was inside the top ten with a ninth.
450 Moto 2
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 2:03.671 | 8 | 2:07.108 | Ryan Villopoto |
2 | 2 | 2:04.686 | 7 | 2:07.752 | Ryan Dungey |
3 | 36 | 2:05.463 | 4 | 2:07.131 (6 laps) | James Stewart |
4 | 8 | 2:07.649 | 2 | 2:12.728 | Josh Grant |
5 | 5 | 2:08.427 | 5 | 2:10.848 | Trey Canard |
6 | 3 | 2:08.705 | 5 | 2:10.826 | Mike Alessi |
7 | 12 | 2:08.722 | 7 | 2:13.152 | Malcolm Stewart |
8 |
4 | 2:08.954 | 3 | 2:10.860 | Tyla Rattray |
9 | 6 | 2:09.069 | 6 | 2:11.634 | Ryan Sipes |
10 | 7 | 2:09.162 | 3 | 2:12.300 | Justin Barcia |
No big shockers here, as the Ryans were fastest yet again. What is shocking is the blistering average 2:07.108 lap time set by Villopoto. That could stand alone as the fourth fastest lap of the race!
James Stewart started the second moto out much better than the first, and was definitely on the gas early before DNF'ing with front brake problems. Take a look at his lap times versus the Ryans through lap six.
Lap | Ryan Villopoto | Ryan Dungey | James Stewart |
2 | 2:08.346 | 2:07.920 | 2:06.415 |
3 | 2:08.717 | 2:06.454 | 2:07.196 |
4 | 2:04.379 | 2:05.542 | 2:05.463 |
5 | 2:05.109 | 2:06.788 | 2:08.017 |
6 | 2:06.049 | 2:07.275 | 2:08.565 |
As fast as Stewart was early on, the lap times above suggest that Villopoto was coming through no matter what (although after the race Stewart mentioned that he was trying a few different lines while he was out front, which slowed him up slightly), which he did when Stewart pulled off. That left Dungey, who'd been passed by Villopoto on lap six, as the only rider left in the battle for the lead. Dungey tried to respond, dropping his times into the 2:04 range for two laps, but Villopoto had a little left in the can too, which he made use of after Stewart exited the race. The chart below tells the story.
Lap | Ryan Villopoto | Ryan Dungey |
7 | 2:04.139 | 2:04.686 |
8 | 2:03.671 | 2:04.784 |
9 | 2:06.980 | 2:07.172 |
10 | 2:05.699 | 2:06.878 |
11 | 2:06.688 | 2:07.404 |
12 | 2:07.644 | 2:07.864 |
13 | 2:06.905 | 2:08.649 |
14 | 2:07.706 | 2:08.834 |
Great day for Josh Grant, who was in the mix early on in the second moto. His lap times were low at first, besting both Ryans on the second lap with a 2:07.649. Unfortunately he'd have some problems later on, turning a 2:15.386 on lap five and a 2:27.863 on lap eight, but other than that his times were fairly consistent and only a tick off the pace of Trey Canard, who finished the moto in fifth. Grant went 5-8 or eighth overall.
Dungey set the second fastest lap in both 450 motos.
Simon Cudby photo
250 Class
Moto 1
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 2:08.492 | 4 | 2:10.728 | Ken Roczen |
2 | 3 | 2:08.613 | 13 | 2:10.828 | Eli Tomac |
3 | 2 | 2:08.635 | 15 | 2:10.795 | Marvin Musquin |
4 |
4 | 2:10.599 | 9 | 2:12.798 | Blake Baggett |
5 | 34 | 2:10.945 | 3 | 2:14.751 (11 laps) | Cole Seely |
6 |
5 | 2:11.446 | 8 | 2:13.391 | Justin Bogle |
7 | 6 | 2:11.507 | 9 | 2:13.160 | Cooper Webb |
8 | 12 | 2:12.216 | 3 | 2:13.670 | Jason Anderson |
9 | 7 | 2:12.314 | 5 | 2:14.024 | Kyle Cunningham |
10 | 10 | 2:12.353 | 5 | 2:15.276 | Zach Osborne |
Ken Roczen may not have gotten the holeshot in the first moto, but it didn't matter, because he was on another level once the first 250 gate dropped at High Point. On laps two through seven he was faster than everyone, even dropping into the 2:08 range on laps three, four and five. He slowed his pace ever so slightly in the second half, but not by much. He maintained a pace fast enough to record an average time of 2:10.728, which is fast enough to be the fifth fastest lap of the moto.
While Roczen had checked out and disappeared like an X-rated book at an all-boys boarding school, a battle for second was playing out in the closing stages of the race behind him. Eli Tomac, who rounded lap one in eighth, moved into third on lap six. From there he went to work, slowly closing on Marvin Musquin. Tomac isn't the kind of guy you want closing on you, but the Frenchman kept his cool, and when things started getting hot in the final laps of the race, he responded by dropping his times significantly. The chart below shows Musquin's response.
Lap | Eli Tomac | Marvin Musquin |
10 | 2:10.546 | 2:11.524 |
11 | 2:10.117 | 2:10.068 |
12 | 2:09.772 | 2:10.806 |
13 | 2:08.613 | 2:10.647 |
14 | 2:09.696 | 2:10.882 |
15 | 2:09.230 | 2:08.635 |
16 | 2:10.075 | 2:09.229 |
Kyle Cunningham wasn't anywhere near the battle for a podium, but considering that he started in sixteenth place, his seventh seems pretty good. His average time was 2:14.024, which by itself isn't remarkable, but when you compare it to his best time, a 2:12.314, and his worst time, a 2:16.648, you can see that his times were consistent all moto without any spikes as he fought through traffic.
250 Moto 2
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 2 | 2:07.033 | 3 | 2:08.553 | Ken Roczen |
2 | 1 | 2:07.579 | 6 | 2:08.594 | Marvin Musquin |
3 | 3 | 2:07.755 | 3 | 2:10.733 | Zach Osborne |
4 | 5 | 2:08.091 | 4 | 2:11.116 | Joey Savatgy |
5 | 4 | 2:08.238 | 9 | 2:10.744 | Eli Tomac |
6 | 6 | 2:08.251 | 4 | 2:11.172 | Jeremy Martin |
7 | 8 | 2:08.313 | 4 | 2:11.009 | Blake Baggett |
8 | 7 | 2:09.191 | 8 | 2:11.166 | Jason Anderson |
9 | 9 | 2:09.522 | 9 | 2:11.426 | Justin Bogle |
10 | 10 | 2:09.551 | 4 | 2:12.161 | Martin Davalos |
There's no way we can talk about anything until we point out that rookie Joey Savatgy posted the fourth-fastest lap of the moto. Even more impressive is that it was in the 2:08 range, the same range that contained fast laps from Tomac and Blake Baggett. That's pretty impressive, especially for a rookie!
If we're going to say what we just said about Savatgy, we need to do the same with rookie Jeremy Martin. Okay, seeing as how he raced three Nationals last year he's technically not a rookie, but this is still his first full season. So, everything we just wrote about Savatgy, ditto for Martin, who posted the sixth-fastest lap of the race with a 2:08.251.
Marvin Musquin set the second fastest lap in the second 250 moto.
Simon Cudby photo
This wasn't one of Tomac's better motos. He got yet another bad start, finishing the first lap in ninth place. From there it took him a while to start making moves, and he wasn't able to make a single pass until lap five! At about the halfway point he finally started getting it together and lowering his times, but it was too little too late. His average lap time was roughly two seconds a lap slower than Musquin and Roczen's.
Speaking of Musquin and Roczen, the two rode blazingly fast and largely mistake-free in this moto. Check out how close their average lap times are to each other! It looked like Roczen might put a move on Musquin in the second half of the moto, but just like he did in the first moto, Musquin responded and stretched it back out. Check out the data below. It starts on lap six, the same lap that Roczen took over second and went after Musquin.
Lap | Ken Roczen | Marvin Musquin |
6 | 2:07.321 | 2:07.579 |
7 | 2:07.541 | 2:07.726 |
8 | 2:08.296 | 2:08.111 |
9 | 2:07.719 | 2:08.107 |
10 | 2:07.562 | 2:07.777 |
11 | 2:09.183 | 2:08.767 |
12 | 2:08.031 | 2:09.149 |
13 | 2:10.496 | 2:10.214 |
14 | 2:09.241 | 2:09.094 |
15 | 2:08.218 | 2:07.693 |
16 | 2:10.162 | 2:09.175 |
17 | 2:09.501 | 2:09.244 |