It goes without saying that heading into the fifth round of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championships the big news was the fact that it was going to be held at night. Just outside of Denver in Lakewood, Colorado, at the picturesque Thunder Valley Raceway, the crew worked tirelessly in the weeks leading up to prepare the track for arguably the most anticipated race of the 2008 season. As for the racing, though, things really didn't change a lot for the front runners, as yet again, Team Monster Energy Kawasaki's James Stewart and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto topped the field in the Motocross and Motocross Lites classes respectively. For more on all the details that went down, though, be sure to check out the Racer X Motocross Show on Motocross.com. For now, we'll give you the highlights along with a photo gallery to see just how it all looked.

MOTOCROSS CLASS

Despite not riding practice on Friday-as well as rumors of being a little banged up after crashing during the week-Stewart flat out dominated both motos in the MX class, easily taking the win with room to spare.

In the first moto, Stewart didn't get the holeshot-that went to holeshot artist Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Mike Alessi-but before the first lap was over, Stewart had taken over first and began to check out. After that, the running order of the top-three didn't change, as Stewart opened up a good-size lead over Alessi, while Colorado native Team Red Bull Honda's Andrew Short tucked into third and remained there until the checkered flag flew.

The second moto began nearly exactly the same as the first with Alessi taking the holeshot and Stewart tucking in behind him. With a few laps in the books, though, Stewart made his move on Alessi at the bottom of the first downhill and moved into first. From there, the Kawasaki rider began to open up yet another commanding lead over Alessi. Behind the top two a battle for third began to materialize as Stewart's teammate Timmy Ferry worked his way up behind Short who was attempting to find a way around fellow Honda rider Davi Millsaps in third. Unfortunately for Short, however, he couldn't make a pass, and once the race reached the mid-way point, the top five remained the same until the end. With that, Stewart took his fifth win in as many tries this season, extending his already growing points lead. The win also moved him into fourth on the all-time combined SX/MX wins list.

Results:

Moto One:

James Stewart (Kaw)
Mike Alessi (Suz)
Andrew Short (Hon)
Davi Millsaps (Hon)
Michael Byrne (Suz)
Sean Collier (Kaw)
Sean Hamblin (Yam)
Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
Jeff Alessi (Hon)
Kyle Summers (KTM)
Michael Blose (Hon)
Travis Sewell (Suz)
Josh Hill (Yam)
Matt Boni (Hon)
Nick Wey (KTM)
Shaun Skinner (Hon)
Antonio Balbi (Hon)
Ryan Grantom (Hon)
Robert Fitch (Hon)
Adam Chatfield (Suz)

Moto Two:

James Stewart (Kaw)
Mike Alessi (Suz)
Davi Millsaps (Hon)
Andrew Short (Hon)
Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
Michael Byrne (Suz)
Josh Hill (Yam)
Sean Hamblin (Yam)
Sean Collier (Kaw)
Nick Wey (KTM)
Antonio Balbi (Hon)
Jeff Alessi (Hon)
Kyle Summers (KTM)
Matt Boni (Hon)
Ryan Clark (Hon)
Michael Blose (Hon)
Travis Sewell (Suz)
Ryan Grantom (Hon)
Shaun Skinner (Hon)
Jason Thomas (Hon)

Overall:

James Stewart (Kaw)
Mike Alessi (Suz)
Davi Millsaps (Hon)
Andrew Short (Hon)
Michael Byrne (Suz)
Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
Sean Hamblin (Yam)
Sean Collier (Kaw)
Josh Hill (Yam)
Jeff Alessi (Hon)

AMA Toyota Motocross Championships Points Standings (After 5 of 12 rounds):

James Stewart (250/5 wins)
Mike Alessi (199)
Davi Millsaps (188)
Timmy Ferry (179)
Andrew Short (141)
Michael Byrne (130)
Nick Wey (103)
Sean Hamblin (102)
Ivan Tedesco (95)
Jeff Alessi (94)

MOTOCROSS LITES CLASS

In the first moto, the race was pretty much over as soon as Villopoto took the holeshot, because after that he simply checked out. Behind him, though, Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Nico Izzi was having one of the best rides of his young career as he sat in second with his more experienced teammate Ryan Dungey in third after early third placer Austin Stroupe went down. By then end of the moto, Dungey caught up to Izzi and the two engaged in an intense battle that after the race caused the two teammates to exchange some heated words with each other. In the end, though, Izzi took second with Dungey third and Villopoto taking yet another moto win.

The second moto was a little more interesting than the first, as Team Geico Powersports/Honda's Josh Grant got out to the early lead and began to pull away slightly while Villopoto was buried back in ninth after a poor start. As the race continued, though, Villopoto made up ground, working his way up through the field, and by the halfway point was into second and looking to make his way past Grant for first. Grant put up a great fight, and the two races battled for the better part of two to four laps until RV finally made a pass stick to take the lead and with it the moto win for a perfect 1-1 moto tally. For Grant, his 4-2 moto scores were good enough for second overall, while first moto third-place finisher Nico Izzi completed the podium. As for Ryan Dungey who finished third in the first moto, he went down hard and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. Word is that he is going to be ok, however, he is very stiff and sore.

Results:

Moto One:

Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
Nico Izzi (Suz)
Ryan Dungey (Suz)
Josh Grant (Hon)
Trey Canard (Hon)
Matt Goerke (KTM)
Dan Reardon (Hon)
Martin Davalos (KTM)
Jake Weimer (Hon)
Matt Lemoine (Yam)
Ryan Sipes (KTM)
Mike Brown (Yam)
Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
Jason Lawrence (Yam)
Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
Wil Hahn (Yam)
Jake Moss (Yam)
Ryan Morais (Yam)
Broc Tickle (Yam)

Moto Two:

Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
Josh Grant (Hon)
Trey Canard (Hon)
Nico Izzi (Suz)
Matt Lemoine (Yam)
Mike Brown (Yam)
Dan Reardon (Hon)
Jake Weimer (Hon)
Ryan Sipes (KTM)
Matt Goerke (KTM)
Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
Justin Brayton (KTM)
Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
Wil Hahn (Yam)
Broc Tickle (Yam)
Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
Jake Moss (Yam)
Adam Miller (KTM)
Phil Nicoletti (Kaw)

Overall:

Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
Josh Grant (Hon)
Nico Izzi (Suz)
Trey Canard (Hon)
Dan Reardon (Hon)
Matt Lemoine (Yam)
Matt Goerke (KTM)
Jake Weimer (Hon)
Mike Brown (Yam)
Ryan Sipes (KTM)

AMA Toyota Motocross Championships (After 5 of 12 rounds):

Ryan Villopoto (241/4 wins)
Ryan Dungey (183)
Austin Stroupe (152/1 win)
Jake Weimer (152)
Brett Metcalfe (143)
Jason Lawrence (120)
Dan Reardon (104)
Nico Izzi (92)
Matt Goerke (89)
Trey Canard (83)

 Courtesy of MotoCross.com