Race Report – Thunder Valley

Story and Photos by Brendan Lutes

The fifth round of the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship rolled into Lakewood, Colorado, at Thunder Valley Raceway. And keeping with the previous rounds, the racing in both the 250 and 450 classes was awesome and action-packed.
In the 450 class, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey broke through to grab his first win of the season, going 2-1 to take the overall win ahead of Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto and TwoTwo Motorsports/Honda’s Chad Reed. In spite of finishing third, Reed still holds the red plate heading into round six at Red Bud next weekend. The 250 class saw Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Blake Baggett dominate both motos going 1-1 for his third win of the season.

450 CLASS

MOTO 1
When the gate hit the dirt for the start of the first moto, Troy Lee Designs/Honda’s Christian Craig jumped out to the early lead with TwoTwo Motosports/Honda’s Chad Reed and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto giving chase close behind. Within two laps, however, Villopoto had worked his way around Reed and began to put pressure on Craig out front. By lap three, Villopoto, Reed, and Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey had all made their way around Craig, pushing the 450 rookie back to fourth. From there, Villopoto began to open up a sizeable lead over Reed who was beginning to get pressure from Dungey.
By the midway point, Villopoto was comfortably out front, however, a small fall allowed Dungey to slightly close the gap before Villopoto was able to remount his bike and remain in the lead. After Villopoto’s tip over, the top running order didn’t change much as the Kawasaki rider rode away with the win followed by Dungey and Reed. As for Craig, he finished an impressive sixth behind Honda’s Kevin Windham in fourth and Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi in fifth.

Results:

1.    Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2.    Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3.    Chad Reed (Hon)
4.    Kevin Windham (Hon)
5.    Mike Alessi (KTM)
6.    Christian Craig (Hon)
7.    Andrew Short (KTM)
8.    Ricky Dietrich (Yam)
9.    Brett Metcalfe (Suz)
10.    Jake Canada (Kaw)

 

MOTO 2
The start of the second moto saw Reed take the holeshot and jump out to the early lead. His lead, though, was short-lived as Dungey and Villopoto both got around the Honda rider by the third lap, and after that, simply checked out with Dungey leading and Villopoto second. With that, things settled down as the top-two riders began to open up a gap over Reed as the Australian settled into a comfortable, yet distant third. Behind him, Windham held down fourth with MotoConcepts/Yamaha’s Tommy Hahn in fifth—a far cry from his hard-charging effort in the first moto where he finished 11th after crashing in the first turn.
When the checkered flag flew, Dungey took the win and overall with Villopoto second and Reed third. Windham finished fourth while Hahn rounded out the top-five.

Results:
1.    Ryan Dungey (Suz)
2.    Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
3.    Chad Reed (Hon)
4.    Kevin Windham (Hon)
5.    Tommy Hahn (Yam)
6.    Davi Millsaps (Yam)
7.    Brett Metcalfe (Suz)
8.    Andrew Short (KTM)
9.    Michael Byrne (Suz)
10.    Justin Brayton (Yam)

RELATED ARTICLES

Tomac And Villopoto Time Quickest In Thunder Valley

Mile High Motocross: Tomac and Villopoto Take Wins at 2013 Thunder Valley National

Race Report: Southwick MX 2012

Rocky Mountain Way: 2013 Thunder Valley MX Kickstart