The second round of the Lucas Oil Outdoor Motocross Series offered, yet again, another unpredictable day of racing to go with the extremely hot in temperatures in Wortham, Texas. In the 250 class, all eyes were on Eli Tomac, who was coming off a huge debut win at Hangtown, as well as Christophe Pourcel, who was the preseason favorite to win the championship. In 450 action, it was anyone’s game, as Chad Reed and Mike Alessi both had good performances in the opening round, and most of us were also wondering how the likes of both Ryan Dungey and Ben Townley would fare. Townley had an impressive showing at the USGP just one week ago at Glen Helen, while Dungey had a rough weekend at Hangtown after winning the Supercross series. So how’d it all go down?
250 CLASS
Moto 1
When the gate dropped at the start of the first 250 class moto, Eli Tomac was fastest off the line and led the other 39 riders through turn one. At the completion of lap one, the order was Tomac, Cole Seeley, Blake Wharton, and Christophe Pourcel. Nizo Izzi, Trey Canard and Darryn Durham came next.
By lap three, Tomac enjoyed a four-second lead over Seeley, while Pourcel appeared to be turning up the heat in third. Pourcel took over second on lap five. Behind the Frenchman, Seeley fought hard to withstand the new pressure being applied by Izzi. Izzi found his way past Seeley at the 15-minute mark, as did Canard a few laps later. Sadly, Izzi went down soon therafter and dropped out of the lead pack.
As the laps wound down, Pourcel closed to within striking distance of Tomac, but an off-track excursion allowed the rookie to pull back away. Canard, meanwhile, took over third place over a hard-charging dean Wilson. Though Pourcel gave up eight seconds with his mistake, he proceeded to put his head down and reel Tomac back in rapidly, taking over the lead at the 22-minute mark. Wilson, meanwhile, was on a tear and found his way past Canard in the brutal finish line whoop section for third.
At the checkered flag, Pourcel enjoyed a comfortable lead over Tomac, while Wilson, Canard, Weimer and Tyla Rattray followed in procession soon after.
Results
1. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw)
2. Eli Tomac (Hon)
3. Dean Wilson (Kaw)
4. Trey Canard (Hon)
5. Jake Weimer (Kaw)
6. Tyla Rattray (Kaw)
7. Blake Wharton (Hon)
8. Broc Tickle (Yam)
9. Wil Hahn (Hon)
10. Justin Barcia (Hon)
Moto 2
When the 30-second board went sideways at the start of the final 250 moto, all eyes were on Pourcel and Tomac. When the gate dropped, Tomac snared his second holeshot of the day ahead of Dean Wilson and Blake Wharton, but Pourcel was mired at the start and completed lap one in 14th. Wilson did his best to stick to Tomac’s rear fender, but the Hangtown winner slowly inched away from the Canadian. While Wilson had control over second and Wharton held down third, a battle for the remainder of the top 10 spots waged between Canard, Rattray, Hahn, Tickle, Anstie Pourcel and Barcia.
Wilson caught fire at the halfway point and closed back in on Tomac, knowing well that a pass could equal the overall win. Wilson made the pass in the far section of the course at the 20-minute mark and immediately began to pull a lead. At the same time, Wharton crashed out and handed control over third to Canard. Shortly after Wilson took over the lead, Rattray caught fire and passed not only Canard, but began to hound Tomac for second.
At the 25-minute mark, Wilson enjoyed a 14 second lead over Rattray, who displaced an over-heated Tomac. The rookie got so hot, that he peeled off his goggles in an effort to let more air into his helmet, then began to drop off the leaders’ pace. Tomac’s slowing allowing a hard-charging Tickle and Anstie to move forward. Canard was next to feel the effects of the scorching Texas heat, and he too began to slow.
Up front, Wilson started to cruise, unaware that Rattray was on a mission and gaining fast. On the last lap, Wilson actually pulled over and let Rattray past, incorrectly assuming that his teammate was a lap down. When Rattray thrust his fist into the air over the next-to-last jump on the track, the grave reality of what had just happened set in on Wilson and he was so devastated that he slowed even further, allowing Tickle to nip him at the line.
Further back, Pourcel had worked up to fifth, and his 1-5 scores were good enough for a surprising overall win. Rattray was second, ahead of a heartbroken Wilson, who completed a 1-2-3 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki sweep.
Results
1. Tyla Rattray (Kaw)
2. Broc Tickle (Yam)
3. Dean Wilson (Kaw)
4. Max Anstie (Yam)
5. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw)
6. Wil Hahn (Hon)
7. Trey Canard (Hon)
8. Justin Barcia (Hon)
9. Martin Davalos (Yam)
10. Blake Baggett (Suz)
250 Class (Overall)
- Christophe Pourcel, France, Kawasaki (1-5)
- Tyla Rattray, South Africa, Kawasaki (6-1)
- Dean Wilson, Canada, Kawasaki (3-3)
- Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Yamaha (8-2)
- Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda (4-7)
- Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda (2-11)
- Wil Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Honda (9-6)
- Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki (5-12)
- Max Anstie, England, Yamaha (15-4)
- Justin Barcia, Ochlocknee, Ga., Honda (10-8)
250 Class Championship Standings
- Christophe Pourcel, France, Kawasaki, 86
- Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda, 77
- Dean Wilson, Canada, Kawasaki, 69
- Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda, 68
- Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Yamaha, 61
- Tyla Rattray, South Africa, Kawasaki, 58
- Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki, 56
- Justin Barcia, Ochlocknee, Ga., Honda, 54
- Wil Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Honda, 50
- Max Anstie, England, Yamaha, 40
450 Class on Page 2
TAGS: 250 class, alli sports, chad reed, Christophe Pourcel, eli tomac, freestone, lucas oil motocross championship, Race Report, ryan dungey, Texas National
