Ryan Villopoto rounded the first turn leading the rest of the pack and might as well have waved goodbye as he dropped into gravity cavity just a few turns later. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider had Ryan Dungey right on his heels during the first lap, but Villopoto proved to be in a league of his own and quickly pulled away. Surprisingly enough, Andrew Short was the only rider to separate Dungey and fourth place Bobby Kiniry off the start. The fans were able to cheer on the New York native as he rode inside the top ten for a few laps before he had to pull into the mechanics area.
Trey Canard was the last rider inside of the top five off of the start, but James Stewart picked off the three riders in timely fashion to pull in behind Dungey. Once Stewart moved into third, Short began to drop, letting by Honda Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard and Justin Barcia. The New York fans once again had a top five rider to cheer for. Monroe, New York’s Justin Barcia inherited fourth place after Canard struggled with bike problems for a full lap. Something was keeping Canard far from full speed and was forced to pull into the mechanics area, which ultimately led to an unfortunate DNF.
Villopoto continued to pull away from the rest of the field and ended up finishing 20 seconds in front of second-place finisher Ryan Dungey. Stewart was able to close in on Dungey from time to time, but was unable to give the Red Bull KTM rider any real challenge for second. Barcia held on for fourth and JGR Yamaha’s Josh Grant moved up to fifth by the end of the race. Phil Nicoletti—another New York native—was floating around the top ten for the majority of the race before falling back a few positions to finish 13th.
450 Moto 1
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Ryan Dungey
3. James Stewart
4. Justin Barcia
5. Josh Grant
6. Andrew Short
7. Justin Brayton
8. Broc Tickle
9. Jake Weimer
10. Brett Metcalfe
11. Tyla Rattray
12. Mike Alessi
13. Phil Nicoletti
14. Matt Goerke
15. Zack Freeberg
16. Akira Narita
17. Chad Reed
18. Derek Anderson
19. Jeremy Medaglia
20. Joey Peters
Click HERE for full 450 Moto 1 results.
