As this being the last year at Southwick (at least for the foreseeable future), the first 450 moto sure gave the fans a memorable experience. The action started in the first turn with James Stewart edging out a holeshot over Andrew Short and Phil Nicoletti, while championship contender Ryan Dungey sat back around tenth. 450 points leader Ryan Villopoto went down in the first turn with Justin Brayton, Bobby Kiniry and a few others. Villopoto wasn’t the last rider to exit the first turn, but starting the race 38th out of 40 riders doesn’t exactly help one’s odds. He went down again halfway into the first lap after being caught up in a collision between Ryan Sipes and Evgeny Mikhaylov. Since Villopoto wasn’t at the core of the crash, he was able to remount and continue his charge much quicker than Sipes and Mikhaylov.
As the riders came back around for the second lap, the top three riders held their position, but two Aussies swapped for fourth and fifth positions. Chad Reed held onto fourth until Brett Metcalfe—who is racing this round due to a break in the Canadian motocross schedule—passed him to claim the position. It didn’t take long for Metcalfe to move up on Nicoletti to challenge him for third, nor did it take long for Villopoto to move inside the top fifteen. It took eight and a half minutes into the race before the cream started rising to the top. Not only were Metcalfe and Villopoto making moves, but Trey Canard and Dungey were also pushing each other forward while battling for fifth. Metcalfe and Dungey were able to advance while Villopoto continued his rampage and progressed up to 10th place.
One lap later, Trey Canard swapped on the face of an extremely rutted jump and was ejected off the bike and over the bars. He pulled into the mechanics area with extremely mangled bars and picked up a fresh pair of goggles before heading back out onto the track. Canard rode one full lap before pulling back in and calling it quits. Just as he pulled off the track, race leader James Stewart swapped on the same jump and went down hard. He too would DNF the race and Andrew Short inherited the lead. Metcalfe moved into second after Stewart’s crash, but Dungey caught and eventually passed him for the position. In other news, Villopoto had made his way up to fifth… fifth!
Barcia was the rider to separate Villopoto from Metcalfe’s podium position, and he looked fully prepared to challenge Metcalfe before Villopoto could close in. Dungey had also begun to challenge Andrew Short for the lead. It was a toss-up who would make the first move, but Dungey was the one to strike first. Fortunately for Short, he had a nice cushion between himself and the three-way battle that had erupted for third with just two laps to go. Barcia cut to the inside of a left-hander to pass Metcalfe. Villopoto also passed him just a few corners later, but was unable to get Barcia for the podium position before the checkered flag.
Dungey, Short and Barcia rounded out the podium, with Villopoto and Metcalfe rounding out the top five for a very exciting first moto at The ‘Wick.
450 Moto 1 Results
1. Ryan Dungey
2. Andrew Short
3. Justin Barcia
4. Ryan Villopoto
5. Brett Metcalfe
6. Phil Nicoletti
7. Chad Reed
8. Mike Alessi
9. Jake Weimer
10. Tyla Rattray
11. Broc Tickle
12. Les Smith
13. Josh Grant
14. Derek Anderson
15. Michael Byrne
16. Robby Marshall
17. AJ Catanzaro
18. Frederik Noren
19. Nick Wey
20. Malcolm Stewart
