Race Report - Thunder Valley
Chris
- June 28 2009
- 18,008 views
- 29 comments
words - Bayo/Lutes
photos - Kinman
The Thunder Valley National jumped off for its second night race in AMA Motocross history, and with the weather’s cooperation and an impressive track prep, the crowd in attendance and the live TV audience were treated to exciting racing. Better yet, we were treated to first-time class winners in both the 450 and 250 classes. Miss it on the tele? Read on…
250 MOTO ONE
Christophe Pourcel rocketed to the first moto holeshot aboard his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki, but after only a few turns, he nearly flew off the track on a big drop off. Behind the Frenchman were two riders having some excellent performances; Pourcel’s teammate, Jake Weimer, and Division 7/Star
Racing/Yamaha’s Broc Tickle. Following the top three were Geico Powersports Honda teammates Blake Wharton and Brett Metcalfe in fourth and fifth, with Boost Mobile/ampm/Monster/KTM rider, Max Anstie.
Buried way back in the pack was Pourcel’s series rival, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey. Also far back in the pack was rookie sensation Justin Barcia on his Geico Powersports/Honda, who paired up with Dungey as the duo pushed their way through the pack, picking up rider after rider on their way towards the front.
Running in fifth and sixth place, Metcalfe and Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM rider, Tommy Searle had an excellent battle going with Monster Energy/Pro Cicuit/Kawasaki’s Tyla Rattray not far behind. Out front Pourcel continued to ride mistake free as he continued to increase his lead, with, Weimer and Tickle only a few seconds off the pace.
As the laps began to wind down, Dungey, having worked his way far up the pack, had closed on Rattray in seventh. After hounding the South African for about two laps, he finally made the pass and looked like a man on a mission to regain precious championship points. With two laps remaining, Dungey had caught up to and passed Brett Metcalfe and immediately went to work on Searle, but simply ran out of time.
Pourcel took another commanding first moto win ahead of Weimer and Tickle, with a unofficial career best moto finish.
1. Christophe Pourcel
2. Jake Weimer
3. Broc Tickle
4. Blake Wharton
5. Tommy Searle
6. Ryan Dungey
7. Brett Metcalfe
8. Tyla Rattray
9. Justin Barcia
10. Darryn Durham
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Matt Lemoine
250 MOTO TWO
The start of the second moto saw Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM’s Martin Davalos take the holeshot followed closely by Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawsaki’s Jake Weimer. Meanwhile, Weimer’s teammate Christophe Pourcel got stuck in the gate while Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey suffered a bad start and was buried back in roughly 10th position. Before the first lap was completed, first moto runner-up Weimer took over the top spot, while Justin Barcia moved into second, pushing Davalos back to third. Behind the front-ruinners, Pourcel and Dungey were working hard to catch up, and by the end of the opening laps, both were closing quickly on the top-10 with Pourcel making the biggest advancement after starting back in dead last. With three laps in the books, Barcia managed to take over the top position from Weimer. From there, Barcia began to open up a slight lead with Weimer holding down second while Davalos dropped back a couple positions, allowing his teammate Tommy Searle to take over third while Geico Powersports/Honda’s Brett Metcalfe moved into fourth.
As the laps clicked away, Weimer began to close on Barcia out front until finally making a pass on the young Honda rider down one of Lakewood’s numerous hills. With that, Weimer opened up a slight gap over second. Meanwhile Dungey and Pourcel—who had been following each other through the pack—had worked their way up to fifth and seventh respectively. After that, a fierce battle began between Dungey, Metcalfe, Searle, and Pourcel for third, and by the end of the race, Dungey had taken over fourth with Pourcel in sixth. When the checkers flew, Weimer took the win and overall followed by Barcia in second, Searle in third, and Dungey fourth.
1. Jake Weimer
2. Justin Barcia
3. Tommy Searle
4. Ryan Dungey
5. Brett Metcalfe
6. Christophe Pourcel
7. Matt Lemoine
8. Broc Tickle
9. Tyla Rattray
10. Martin Davalos
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June 28th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Sick
June 28th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Poor Mike ,just trying to get some points and Josh Grant just cleans him out,what a dumb a$$.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:38 am
you might wanna take a refresher course on takeouts mate! cause that wasn't one.. but ya right they all should've taken it easy on him he was just trying to make points in the same championship they are all going for… if mike wants to ride injured he has to take the consequences
June 28th, 2009 at 11:49 am
and while i'm on it how about the pile up he caused when he couldn't get off the track? fair enough if he couldn't get off the track because he got hurt in the crash but that was ridiculous and then apparently it was ok to do some more laps… love drama much?
June 28th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
give the kid a break, that pileup was his fault, but he had to try, now he did, now he can let it recover. Josh grant was simply at a faster pace, he was in front of allessi, mike shoulda let off and let him by, he wasnt at race speed
June 28th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
How do the points look now? Short must be close
June 28th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Short is still 14 points back. He had some bad finishes at the begining of the season.
I feel bad for alessi too. They guy just wants to go out and compete. I tore my acl 2 weekends ago and it kills me not to race.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Alessi didn`t cause the pileup ,that corner was a mess it had two lines that ran together over an off camber. Hell Mike tried to go wide but Grant came across and took has front end out. Also Grant could have easly passed him later in the race ,so why does he have to be a dick.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
yep
June 28th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Karma, that guy has been the dirtiest rider in the industry. We all clap when it comes back to roost. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, and on top of all that Tedesco got the win. Do we remember Glen Helen when Mike stood on Ivan's bike to try and make him loose the championship. Props to Ivan
June 28th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Josh Grant is my new HERO! Not only is he cool as all get out, but when he took a$$ munch out, I laughed so hard out loud - yes LOL! Go 33!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
hell yeah, I'd love to see tedesco keep this up..
June 28th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
yea team honda!!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Maybe you as watchin somethin different. Mike's front end came out of the rut and he made the contact with grant. Josh didnt do anything, he was holdin his line and Mike hit him. And also, Mike should really keep his dad off the camera, he makes the whole Alessi family look like shi*. He shulda got his facts together before making such a bold statement
June 28th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
ok you just contradicted yourself in the same post, confusing much? You said the lines came together but Grant still tried to take him out? The truth is it wasnt either of them that is at fault, that corner had an inside (which grant used) that shades to the outside and is on the outside by the end of the corner. The outside (which alessi was in) sahdes to the inside and is on the inside by end of the corner, two lines that cross have a comtact point in the middle just to take us back to geometry real quick. so what more is ther to say about this situation? GO TEDESCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
good to see the honda riders up front, its about time, where the hell is josh hill at did he even race?
June 28th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
That was the stupidest move by Josh Grant! Why would he cut clear across the corner to take alessi out that early in the race when he could've easily passed him probably down that next straight. Also "The Truth," Mike has no control of whether his dad is on camera during the race.
June 28th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Fu$%in please. If you go back and watch it, Josh cleary did not go wide to take Alessi out. Alessi popped out of his line and it just happened to happen where both lines ran together. So technically it was neither of there fault. Maybe you people should watch it again and get your shi$ straight, and stop tryin to find somethin to bitch about. From the sound of it the majority of you have never even been in a MX race (D class does not count). Shi$ happens, people get hit, people go down, its part of the game.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:41 am
hell yea for my honda boys
June 29th, 2009 at 3:22 am
A dick? Dude, do you watch many races? The first laps are carnage, a scramble for everyone to pass as far up as they can while the pack is tight. Alessi was clearly off the pace and most passes at that track were pretty close - the track was tight. He put himself in danger by getting in front of a bunch of faster riders, and that particular turn was a mess as far as the lines go - Grant just dove to the inside to make a pass, he didn't brake check him or anything. Totally a racing incident and more so Alessi's fault than anyone's.
And it would suck to always have to be embarrassed by a dumb ass father.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:28 am
Wow! Drama. The Alessi's are not very good at losing but did anyone notice the interview with Reedy after the first moto? Erin asked him about his thoughts on Alessi's return and boy did she get a quote! You really want to like these guys but sometimes their mouths make it so hard. On the upside Tedesco and Short make nice guys look good on the podium. Tedesco looked great, he starting to look like Carmichael out there! Here's looking for a great finish to the series!
June 29th, 2009 at 8:01 am
I agree whach the moto 1 highlites slowly and you will see
June 29th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Ooops thats not Tyla. its Searl
July 1st, 2009 at 7:48 am
its funny when people argue on this forum swap, hahah thanks for making it into twmx.com, some of this stuff can actually be mildly enertaining (btw ur boy mike sleeter was killing it at starwest 2day)
July 1st, 2009 at 5:30 pm
to all you wanna be bench racers, shut up, and to THE TRUTH Grant did take Alessi out because mike wouldnt have flipped like that just by popping out of the rut, and GRant almost went off the track, so get your facts right before you criticize others. 2nd to all alessi haters, he is not as much of a dirty rider as you think, he may have had a mishap back in 2005 at glen helen with standing on tedescos bike, but he also crashed later in that moto and got landed on which fractured his wrist and if you go back to 2007 at glen helen, instead of him taking langston out, langston let him by and he waved to him. Also grant has no room to talk because he has taking people out before not only at lakewood with alessi but back in the 2008 supercross season when he hit villopoto, which caused villopoto to dnf the race and screw up his title run. And i didnt see anyone else racing lakewood with a knee broken in 3 places like alessi was doing
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 am
I hate to wish ill will on a rider but I hope Josh Grant gets a taste of his own medicine real real soon.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:43 am
I enjoy not knowing whos going to win the race before it starts as much as the next guy, but let's have a little reality check here. If Stewart were out there it would be another easy 24-0 that's a fact. The best chance we had at a real top level battle for the title would have been Villopoto vs the only guy to stay on the same lap as Stewart last year Mike Alessi ( Who consistenly beat all these other guys by 30+ seconds last year and early this year). With all due respect to Ivan and Shorty and Reed we are watching Busch not Nascar right now.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
What? I couldnt hear youwith Mike's co@k in mouth. And noone else raced with broken kneecap bc they arent dumba$$e$ like mike. And if Grant was to take mike out, it woulda bee a hell of alot wore than him fallin over.