Race Report - Red Bud

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• July 04 2009
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Words by Michael Antonovich

Photos by Bayo Olukotun

The Lucas Oil/AMA Outdoor National Series made its annual pilgrimage to the Red Bud Track-N- Trail over the July holiday weekend, and was welcomed with over cast skies and spring like weather to “America’s MX Track.” Practice kicked off the day with JGR Racing/Yamaha’s Josh Grant and Muscle Milk/KTM rider Tommy Searle finding the fastest lines around the Michigan hills, but the excitement wouldn’t end there. The action kept the fans on their feet through the day, but if you happened to miss the live coverage or just feel like reliving the moment, keep scrolling for all the race details. The tour takes a week off, and then travels over to Minnesota to take on the scenic Spring Creek circuit and its new date. Be sure to check back all this week and next for news and updates, as the ever changing sport regroups and readies for the final weeks of the Outdoor National.

450 Moto One

The gate slammed down and the 450 class barreled into the left hand sweeper with Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki rider and point leader Chad Reed at the front. Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short made a move on Reed to claim the top spot and proceeded to build a gap on the Aussie, Monster Kawasaki replacement Ricky Dietrich, Short’s teammate Ivan Tedesco, and Canidae/Motosport/Kawasaki’s Tommy Hahn. Early in the moto and further back behind the leaders, Josh Grant was starting an impressive charge of his own on his Joe Gibbs/Toyota Yamaha, tracking down IT9 and Dietrich in his move from tenth to third in the opening laps. Hahn would also make a pass on Dietrich, but his effort would be in vain after a hard get off in the remaining two laps would park him for the moto and the rest if the day.

Short and Reed built a tremendous lead over the other 38 riders, hitting obstacles within just bike lengths of each other, and especially close over the massive Larocco’s Leap. Near the halfway mark, Reed shaved off 1.6 seconds of Short’s lead in just a single lap, and brought the crowd into frenzy. Josh Grant still had his warrior spirit in effect, and at twenty three minutes in had the once far gone leaders in his sights. Grant seemed to have found a few more inches of throttle cable and had his Yamaha showing it’s Alex Ewing tuned capabilities in his move around Andrew Short for second. The red plated Suzuki and its pilot of Reed was the only thing stopping him from first place, but it didn’t seem to dieter Grant. The white flag flew with Reed and Grant just feet apart, and up until the last possible inch Grant pressured CR22. As they flew up the face of the finish line tabletop, it was Chad Reed claiming the checkered flag for his own.

1.    Chad Reed
2.    Josh Grant
3.    Andrew Short
4.    Ivan Tedesco
5.    Ricky Dietrich
6.    Cody Cooper
7.    Michael Byrne
8.    Tyler Bowers
9.    Jimmy Albertson
10.    Nick Wey

450 Moto Two
The second moto was broadcast live on NBC, and the race would have earned even the most diehard stick and ball sport fan’s attention. Last week’s overall winner, Ivan Tedesco, tried to make this performance a duplicate with the holeshot, and his teammate, Short, was rubbing elbows with Chad Reed, until the “Double Deuce” got going wide into the turns and around Shorty. Josh Grant and Reed’s fellow countryman and teammate, Michael Byrne, made pass after pass on each other, which concluded with Grant getting the upper hand and blazed away in pursuit of the top two. Reed dropped to fourth after being passed by Short and Grant, but then found his marks in his move around Short for third. Josh Grant only had one person standing between him and victory once like moto one, but had more than enough time to reel in Tedesco and steal away first.

CR22 must have been inspired by Grant’s desire in moto one, because he chipped away the distance the number nine put between the two and finished just half a wheel length behind Tedesco, or in a more technical term .050 seconds after Ivan crossed the stripe. Byrne had a rider of his finish ahead of, but he was unable to counter Ricky Dietrich position robbing pass, which came just after JGR/Yamaha rider Cody Cooper did the same to Byrne. Cooper and his teammate finished four spots apart, which was sure to please the Gibb’s family and team manager Jeremy Albrecht.

1.    Josh Grant
2.    Ivan Tedesco
3.    Chad Reed
4.    Andrew Short
5.    Cody Cooper
6.    Ricky Dietrich
7.    Michael Byrne
8.    Nick Wey
9.    Tyler Bowers
10.    Jason Lawrence

450 Overall
1.    Josh Grant
2.    Chad Reed
3.    Ivan Tedesco
4.    Andrew Short
5.    Cody Cooper
6.    Ricky Dietrich
7.    Michael Byrne
8.    Tyler Bowers
9.    Nick Wey
10.    Justin Brayton

Series Points Standings
1)    Chad Reed        240
2)    Andrew Short        219
3)    Ivan Tedesco        200
4)    Josh Grant        198
5)    Michael Byrne    145
6)    Mike Alessi        142
7)    Cody Cooper        135
8)    Thomas Hahn        123
9)    Ricky Dietrich    119
10)    Nick Wey        101

450 Class = Page 1

250 Class = Page 2