Race Report - Glen Helen
bayodome
- May 24 2009
- 47,470 views
- 74 comments
The outdoor season finally got underway today, with a much anticipated race that has set the tone for the rest of the series. Surprises were commonplace on the very demanding Glen Helen circuit that all riders agreed, was rough to say the least. Please check out the race report from each moto of the 450, 250, and WMA classes below. Just click on the separate pages below. One thing is for certain this season in both classes: this season will be anything but predictable.
450 Class: First Moto
Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Mike Alessi, as could be expected, grabbed the first holeshot of the year, followed by Toyota/JGR/Yamaha’s Josh Grant and Red Bull Honda rider Andrew Short. Although Monster Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto had started in fifth place, he quickly moved into third and then second as Alessi made a bobble allowing Grant and Villopoto to slip by.
Further back, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Chad Reed had a less than desirable start around the 12th spot but was quickly making his way toward the front and by the end of lap three was in about seventh place. Meanwhile Grant was running very strong up front and was maintaining a one second lead over Villopoto and two seconds over Alessi as the lead pack began to distance themselves. Reed was a still on the move and was up to sixth place as the race neared the halfway mark. Short and his teammate, Davi Millsaps, held down fourth and fifth respectively.
Other notable rides were Canidae/Motosport/Kawasaki’s Tommy Hahn in seventh in his first 450 outing and Mike Brown in eighth after coming off of the WORCS series. Another notable ride was ricky dietrich who passed many notable names including josh hill on his way up to ninth place.
Villopoto authoritatively began closing the gap on Grant and by the mid-way point was hot on the JGR rider’s heel. The battle did not last long though as Villopoto made short work of Grant and immediately had a one second gap. Reed continued to move forward in the closing laps as he began putting serious pressure on Andrew Short, trying to make passes on several occasions and trying various line choices and was eventually able to get around the Honda rider for fourth position.
At the finish, it was Villopoto taking his first ever 450 win, followed by Grant, Alessi, Reed, Short, and Millsaps.
258X0296.JPG
(Photo: Lutes)
450 Class Second Moto
Mike Alessi took his customary holeshot, again followed by Josh Grant and Andrew Short; a near carbon copy of the first moto start. However, this time around Alessi made a point of opening up some space between himself and Grant.
With a much better start this time around. Chad Reed was in fourth heading into the second lap and seemed determined to make a better finish. Not surprisingly, first moto winner Ryan Villopoto began putting pressure on Reed as the Suzuki star went to work on short. Alessi continued to open up his lead and was about seven seconds ahead, as Villopoto had already worked his way around reed. Reed must have made a mistake somewhere in the back section as he lost some ground.
Nearing the half way mark, Alessi was doing exactly what he needed to do, putting fast consistent laps in while the Villopoto, Grant, and Reed fought over second. The result was a 15 second gap from first. However, once Villopoto was able to get around Grant he put in a hard charge and within one lap had closed the gap significantly.
Heading up the tricky rutted up hill on Mt. St. Helen, Alessi had a very close call swapping out over all three singles before righting himself at the top of the hill. Mere laps later Villopoto had closed within a few bike lengths of Alessi but the Suzuki rider became aware of his presence, getting a great drive heading up Mt St Helen and opened up the gap.
One lap later however, Villopoto fought his way back, as Alessi made a small bobble in a soft berm, not getting the drive he needed for a trickly uphill triple. Villopoto did get the drive and literally jumped over Alessi to claim first and evetually take the win two laps later.
Overall Results Moto Scores
1) Ryan Villopoto 1-1
2) Michael Alessi 3-2
3) Josh Grant 2-4
4) Chad Reed 4-3
5) Davi Millsaps 6-5
6) Thomas Hahn 7-6
7) Mike Brown 8-7
8) Cody Cooper 11-12
9) Weston Peick 13-11
10) Andrew Short 5-21
Points Standings
1) Ryan Villopoto 50pts.
2) Mike Alessi 42
3) Josh Grant 40
4) Chad Reed 38
5) Davi Millsaps 31
6) Tommy Hahn 29
7) Mike Brown 27
8 ) Cody Cooper 19
9) Weston Peick 18
10) Andrew Short 16
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May 24th, 2009 at 7:31 am
GO Villopoto!!
The series could NOT have started better 
May 24th, 2009 at 7:54 am
um……….. where is #7
May 24th, 2009 at 8:08 am
hes not racing nationals. san manuel is a sx team only…
May 24th, 2009 at 8:40 am
come one reed! but aswell go Villopoto. It would be good to see bubba racing to see how far they are off him.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:56 am
he's not riding the nationals this year, he's on a supercross only contract with 'L&M Yamaha'
May 24th, 2009 at 9:09 am
James would have crashed and taken out half the field by now. Ferry and Byrne are still recovering from his frozen front brake fingers in Daytona. What an idiot!
May 24th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Thats the stupidest thing ive ever heard… so the worlds best outdoor rider isnt supported so doesnt get to ride… he should be a privater then haha
May 24th, 2009 at 9:35 am
dude, the euros ran a fast pace. thank god dungey didn't mess up his starts or this could have been kinda weird
May 24th, 2009 at 11:24 am
So Reed thinks with Stewie out he can get a red plate. Wrong. Go 2, 33 and 800.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Gr8 race!
May 24th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Right on Ash, if he loves the sport like he says, he'd be racing. It's all about the money! Sell one of the Lambos and go racing! Support the privateers.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle are just warming up next race it will be 1 off the euros that takes the win you cee
May 24th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Pic 5 of ashley looking around on the start is great lol.. This series is gonna suck, I feel like i wanna see alessi win, now that i dont now who to root for lol. I miss James
seriously though, he has an outdoor bike im sure, he was testing, and im sure he could pay someone to drive his stuff around? keep the san manuel stickers on if you dont want to piss off larry. Its really absurd, The series needs James, i feel bad saying it, but its just like an amatuer race without the fastest of all time
May 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
youre retarded…thats why he went 24-0 last year…
ferry crashed during the race at Daytona not on the start
May 24th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
YEAAAAAAA VILLOPOTO'S THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
GO VILLOPOTO , YOU DESERVE IT !!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Love that the field this year is wide open!!! Mr. Stewart if you read this, to be the greatest of all time you have to decide if it's about the money or about loving the sport and supporting it. Ricky would never have sat by idlely and let some one else grab his number one plate because it was about the money……the sport is changing and I hope Mr. Stewart understands the impact to the sport. Ryan great ride ….wish I could have been there.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
You internet racers need to understand that stewi cant just buy a bike and go racin if his team says were not racing then he cant race he is under contract.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
theyve been waming up for 3 months now! both skipped sx and everyone else didnt, if anything i think they start dropping back in the pack more.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
sounds like he just wants to have fun racing mx. remember he's been on L&M for the last few years with an sx-only contract.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
what about the lites? i wanna know how barcia did. i think he could take it from dungey
May 24th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I don't believe that Stewart's contract with San Manuel / L&M for the supercross season has anything that would prohibit him from racing the outdoors. I was at Glen Helen yesterday, and guess what, Villapoto would have beaten Stewart. I think Stewart feels he is not prepared to face Villopoto and would rather give excuses than show up and get beaten. Factory Yamaha would give him a bike to ride if he wanted to race, Hepler's bike is not being ridden.
The race report makes it sound like it was a race for the win in the 450 class, but Villopoto was alone in his speed around the rough track, and this was his first 450 national race. Villopoto is likely to win every race this year unless Reed regroups and let's it "hang out" a little more, or if Alessi can get a whole moto together without getting tired.
In the 250's Barcia was very impressive. Where and how did he get so fast?
May 24th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
haha who cares about james, at least now we can see some battles and not a blowout
May 24th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
not so much 800…
May 24th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Bubba had a bullshit perfect season. He had no one to challange him at at all. RC has 2 perfect seasons and battled for both of them every step of the way.
May 24th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Barcia got 6th overal (9-3)
May 24th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
barcia has been at MTF my friend.. i knew hed have some speed this summer.
May 24th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I don't believe that Stewart's contract with San Manuel / L&M for the supercross season has anything that would prohibit him from racing the outdoors. I was at Glen Helen yesterday, and guess what, Villapoto would have beaten Stewart. I think Stewart feels he is not prepared to face Villopoto and would rather give excuses than show up and get beaten. Factory Yamaha would give him a bike to ride if he wanted to race, Hepler's bike is not being ridden.
May 24th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Not to take anything away from Mike Alessi , who rode great, but he hadn't been jumping the triple that Vilopoto passed him on, the only ones to jump it all day long were Grant Short and Villopoto. Vilopoto didn't jump it until after he followed grant over it in the first moto. In my opinion if Stewart would have shown up i think Villopto would have given him a serious challenge. I think Villopoto is at a different level than everyone else on the track the only other person at that level would be Stewart. Hope he shows up!
May 24th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I think rv would've beat stewart. anyways, stewarts is not here so, we need to quit dwelling on that and give the guys who are racing the credit they deserve, not comparing everybody to james with what ifs or so and so would have one if so and so was here. Thats like saying rc would have beat everyone including james, but they are not here, get over it. RV is the winner straight up!!
May 24th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
yeah… um… kinda like stewart when rc left.
May 24th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Great pictures from the TWMX crew!
May 24th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
TimP you gotta be crazy and nobody cares if you were there yesterday. How come u didint say that when Reed was on L&M. Bubba needs a break too u damb a$$. Reed rode good and so did Alessi. The only mistake Alessi did was backing it down when he had 15 sec lead.
May 24th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
[polldaddy 1647885 http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1647885/ polldaddy]
May 24th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
why did canard get red flagged?
May 24th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
canard didnt get red flagged, the whole race did because of michael hall crashing and having to be carted off the track. does anyone know if he is ok?
May 24th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
i highly doubt rv would beat stewart, although I DO think he would make him honest. Quite frankly it's sad that we the fans don't get to see that, however, and I must admit regardless of the situation, I lost a lot of respect for James Stewart this year. Probably the fastest person ever to race a MX bike (Ricky C.'s words), and he's sitting at home. So sad…
May 24th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
ii think that barcia is gonna be crazy fast in the years to come. he needs to work on his endurance but he ran first in both motos up until the very end. once his endurance gets better im sure he could give everyone a run for their money.
May 24th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
you guys are hilarious hahahaha….How can you even speculate to say how James would have compared to RV yesterday? RV is fast as hell and totally in the mix but James is still wayyyy more experienced and proven. There's just no way he would be the clear winner some of you are making him out to be. Seriously, it's cool to be a fan of a certain rider but c'mon… All the haters claiming James doesn't care about the sport etc. He has busted his ass and dedicated his whole life to MX. James wants to ride outdoors you guys…things just didn't line up for him to be at GH this year. He will be back soon though so don't worry too much…
May 24th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
what happened to the big "stewart glen helen" announcement? fool.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
stewart knew who he was signing with… if he really wanted to i believe he could ride. im sure factory yamaha would be glad to have a great chance at another title, besides heplers hurt (AGAIN) hes just a liar. wondering if part of the reason reed came back is cause he knew stewart wasnt gonna be there. think about it, hes got a better shot at winning or atleast the podium. or maybe because he knew stew would look really bad then by him showing up and stewart not. thats motivation enough for reed. o and GREAT job to villopoto and dungey!
May 24th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
i didnt think villopoto was gonna be so fast on a 450. maybe he is going to be the next great one but not like stewart. stewart is the chosen one.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
but its only round one so we will see
May 24th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
This is what should be a typical scenerio for all the out doors.Alessi holeshot,Reed getting regulated to fourth or worse.And Villipoto taking the title.I think Stewart is just sitting in the wings and waiting for his chance to strike.I look for a great Stewart/ Villopoto battle with James taking most of the battles.I'd like to see all of team Honda keeping Reed behind them.And I ride a Kawasaki…
May 24th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Dude since when was South africa in europe!!! just playin, i know what you mean!!!
May 25th, 2009 at 12:42 am
holly shit if barcia had sum better conditioning he would've won both races…. damn that was a surprise!!!
May 25th, 2009 at 1:37 am
james is the second fastest, ricky is the fastest and best outdoor rider ever hands down rc has two perfect seasons and never lost the outdoor title to james. motocross has never been as exciting as when rc was there. I think that james is scared this year of the field knows his rein is soon going to come to an end.
May 25th, 2009 at 5:25 am
are they showing the 250's on speed? whats the deal?
May 25th, 2009 at 5:42 am
so what happened to J-Law? does he have anything for the 450 boys?
May 25th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
now you will all see what rattray can do on a bike, he will get stronger and stronger as the season goes on! i hope you lot follow the gp,s cos weve got loads of riders like these to throw at your ama series! good ride tommy! maybe we will lend you cairoli, now he can really ride an mx2 bike
May 25th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Barcia is the crap!! but he trains at MTF he used to live there but he bought a house now but still trains there
May 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
pourcel jumped it in the second practice and didn't do it after
May 25th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
J-law? Did he race?
May 26th, 2009 at 4:53 am
never happen villipoto is at home riding outdoors and is alot faster than reed thinks villipoto is just like stewart riding outdoors which is wide open.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:31 am
shut up moron, go back to your video games
May 26th, 2009 at 5:32 am
so true , so true
May 26th, 2009 at 5:33 am
amen , 800 is still lame
May 26th, 2009 at 5:36 am
nice fiolek!!! keep kicking the crap out of that sasquatch moose patterson. love seeing you rip it up.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:40 am
What happened to Ryan Morais?
Why wasn't he racing at Glen Helen???
May 26th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I totally agree; I think James would have fairly easily beaten RV. I think RV is the next Carmichael, though. However, I really miss the Ricky/James battles. Those were the good ol' days. Great for the sport, too.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Villapass stewart just like vegas… thats how the sport goes…. he will be racing nascar in a year or two… its Vllilli's turn now.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Stewart could race if he wanted to, Reed was with them for 2 years, he didnt race the nationals either, but he did race at home in Australia. If Stewart really wanted to race he would. He said he may do a couple of Nationals, that tells me his contract doesnt say he cant race. If he shows up in a month and wins a race it means nothing, these guys have been racing all year, to take a month of and then race and win just means you are well rested. I have a feeling this is what will happen. And people will say how fast Stewie is and he would win them all. No mention that the other racers have been beating themselves up all season. Oh well.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
The fastest of all time??? Your kidding right? Did you forget about Carmicheal ?? the GOAT, who beat Stewart constantly, including his farewell tour when he beat Stewie 5 for 5, including a 30 second whipping at Southwick. And Ricky never sat out a season either, he won 15 titles and raced every season . Stewart isnt close to that.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
why sign the stupid contract then?
May 26th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Stop making excuses for Stewart people, hes not the greatest of all time, and I really think that if he was racing RV still would have won the race. Theres always some excuse with Stewart not racing outdoor, most of the time he crashes and has to sit out the whole season.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
woow i dont know , i think RV will be the man in the outdoors , still JS is the man in SX .
iam so impress with Barcia that kid is going to be a TOP DOG ¡¡¡
iam so gald to see Reed he is just awsome i think he will be really good from now on , remenber he is a bulldog thats very important in the outdoors .
and finally DUNGEY e is te real deal super complete rider good in SX good in MX , he is the future i tink he is a better SX rider than Villapoto and thats a big plus .
lets see the euros they are fast as hell ¡¡¡
May 27th, 2009 at 6:03 am
yeah stewart thinks hes mrs hollywood now. all about the money. grow some balls like jlaw and do your own thing. if you loved the sport as much as you clamn you would be racing regardless. what a puts.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:08 am
reed will get it dont worry.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Why does it need JS? Now we have a series that is "OPEN" to any and all the rest AND is great to follow. No more 30, 60 , 1:30 ahead and "it's a done deal" , now it's a RACE to the flag. Please have a great summer vacation in Florida, James!!!
May 30th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Bubba has decided that he is far too fast to race the outdoor season this year. He told RV2 to take his place as series ass kicker.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
THAT'S HOW WE DO IT WESTERN WASHINGTON!!! GO RY!!!
May 30th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
The series DOES NOT need James "Hollywood" Stewart. Granted, he's extremely talented outdoors, but he has such a shitty attitude now. With him sitting, we might actually get to see some RACING! Both classes are so stacked that it's gonna take a hell of a lot to grab and keep ahold of any kind of points lead. You gotta like Ryan Villopoto for the 450 championship, and god bless Chad Reed for coming back outdoors. Alessi has the starts dialed, but he doesn't have the strength to hold that strength for two motos, I think he will do what he always does…give up the lead in the latter part of the race.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Barcia did well, but missed the podium. The 250 class is so stacked, I really don't think anyone will just run away with it, even Dungey.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
james has an supercross only contract so hes not in the outdoor seres