Once again, Ryan Villopoto took the holeshot and led every lap until the checkered flag. Villopoto’s early lead cleared him of of the carnage that consumed a handful of riders in the first turn. Malcolm Stewart, Justin Brayton, Zack Freeberg, Joey Peters and a few others went down in the pileup, but Trey Canard suffered the most from the predicament. Canard’s bike flipped end over end, tossing the Honda Muscle Milk rider to the ground. Canard immediately pulled into the mechanics area after remounting his mangled bike. The team replaced various parts on the bike and Canard was finally able to reenter the track as the field came back around for the second lap.
James Stewart wasn’t involved in the first-turn pileup, but the Yoshimura Suzuki rider went down later in the first lap and DNF’d the moto. Mike Alessi was yet another rider to DNF early on.
Aside from the chaos in the first lap, New York’s own Justin Barcia clung onto Villopoto’s pace for quite a few laps while running in second. Fellow New York rider “Filthy” Phil Nicoletti was just two spots behind Barcia in fourth, separated only by Villopoto’s teammate Jake Weimer. Brett Metcalfe followed Nicoletti in fifth, but Josh Grant and Ryan Dungey overtook both of them in time. Dungey was all over Grant’s back wheel for a few laps before passing him and going after Weimer. However, Dungey’s multi-lap battle with Grant didn’t leave him enough time to overtake Weimer, who he had caught up with rather quickly. The second moto marked Weimer’s first podium of the season.
Though Canard ended up finishing 26th in the moto, his result on paper doesn’t even begin to indicate the impressive ride he put in. Canard was passing top-ten riders despite his violent crash and being a lap down, all while riding without a visor.
Moto 2 Results
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Justin Barcia
3. Jake Weimer
4. Ryan Dungey
5. Josh Grant
6. Brett Metcalfe
7. Andrew Short
8. Broc Tickle
9. Phil Nicoletti
10. Jake Canada
11. Malcolm Stewart
12. Chad Reed
13. Justin Brayton
14. Matt Goerke
15. Akira Narita
16. Ben LaMay
17. Bobby Kiniry
18. Jeremy Medaglia
19. Broc Schmelyun
20. Tyla Rattray
Click HERE for full 450 Moto 2 results.
