Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto went through the first corner of the 450SX main event side by side. Villopoto held onto first as Stewart quickly dropped to fourth. Villopoto had the lead, but wasn’t able to hold onto it for long. Veteran and A2 winner Chad Reed made a charge through the whoops and got past Villopoto on the first lap. Ken Roczen was also right there was able to get by Villopoto in the same spot on lap three.
Stewart was the first of the front-runners to bust out the quad and fifth-place Ryan Dungey soon followed suit. It might have been a slight advantage, but it didn’t separate the riders by a lot. At the halfway point of the race, the top-six riders were all close: Reed, Roczen, Villopoto, Stewart, Dungey and Justin Barcia. Dungey ran it in on Stewart in a 90-degree right-hander and took Stewart down and out of the mix. Dungey then crashed all by himself exiting the large whoop section the next lap. The crash resulted in a broken clutch lever—and possibly more—and gave Dungey a fit as he tried starting the bike.
Villopoto fell off of Reed and Roczen’s mark with three laps to go. Roczen closed in on Reed after every minor mistake, but Reed also capitalized on any flaws from Roczen. Reed almost had an issue getting by lapper Jimmy Albertson (who obviously had no idea what was going on behind him) through the last few corners, but it didn’t affect the outcome of the race. Reed took his second win of the season with Roczen and Villopoto rounding out the podium.
Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Cole Seely kicked off the 250SX main event with the lead, but Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson—the fastest rider in the class all day—pulled in behind Seely for second. Points leader Jason Anderson started in sixth and began working his way through the pack, but Malcolm Stewart attempted a pass that ultimately sent both riders to the ground.
Jake Canada held onto third for some time before succumbing to pressure from Cooper Webb. Webb was too far back from Seely and Wilson to give any immediate challenge once he passed Canada. Wilson was slowly catching Seely, and the race looked like it could come down to the last lap, but Seely low-sided in the right-hander after the whoops and gave up the lead to Wilson. Wilson, who also got caught up in the ruckus a little bit, went on to take his and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s first win of the season. Seely remounted for second and Webb took third. Anderson was able to salvage a fifth for his championship hopes.
