Red Bud Track'n'Trail just north of Buchanan, Michigan, is quite possibly the most popular course on the AMA Motocross National circuit-and that's from both the fan's and rider's perspectives. Set in sandy/clay soil, rolling green hills not far north of South Bend, Indiana, Red Bud continues to improve year after year and has become over the years what many consider to be this country's premier motocross facility. The racing here rarely disappoints, despite the fact that this season has become as predictable as many had feared. Runaway wins characterized the racing in both classes, again, with Kawasaki riders James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto easily winning each of their motos to put even more of a gap on the field in the season points chase. As usual, the story developed in the battles behind these two standouts, and the huge crowd on hand for this annual Independence Day weekend moto-frenzy enjoyed every second of it.
Motocross Class
Let's start with the easy stuff: Mike Alessi nabbed another holeshot, and James Stewart passed him early for the win. Now, onto the details. Alessi's Rockstar/Makita Suzuki teammate Michael Byrne continued to show improvement when he followed Alessi through the first several corners, even beating Stewart down into the new infield area of the track for the first lap. After Stewart made his way around both Byrne and Alessi by the beginning of lap two, Byrne was passed only one other time-by a motivated Red Bull/Honda rider-Andrew Short. Shorty ultimately ended up in the third spot, after feeling the heat early in the race from teammate Davi Millsaps. Unfortunately, Davi took a hard digger in the deep sandy soil and ended up with a DNF-extent of injury unknown-but at the end of moto one it looked unlikely that he'd be back.
Despite another runaway moto by the two front-runners, there were a lot of great battles deeper in the pack; specifically for seventh-ninth positions. Cody Cooper ran down both Josh Summey and Jeff Alessi, only to fall on the final lap. Just on the tail end of this fight was Jimmy Albertson, who finished ahead of Summey to nail eighth for the moto. The moto one ironman award must go to Sean Hamblin, who came from dead last to 20th with a shoulder that had popped out twice during the weekend. Moto two started out much the same, although Stewart was the first to the white line for the holeshot award. Shortly thereafter, though, was the story of the weekend-and perhaps the season. Alessi went down hard a few turns after the start (at the base of the ski jump) and was knocked out cold, laying in the middle of the track which ultimately resulted in a red flag of moto two. After coming to, Alessi was transported back to the Asterisk medical unit on a backboard, the extent of his injuries is currently unknown. The re-start held another Stewart holeshot and runaway win, but the real battle was for second place between Andrew Short and Timmy Ferry. Ferry hounded Short relentlessly for the entire first 2/3rds of the moto, finally making his way around to finish second, but off the overall podium, while Short ended up second overall, just ahead of Motocross class podium newcomer Michael Byrne who ended up third. Michigan native Nick Wey had his best weekend ever in the premier class, going 5-5 for fourth overall.
Results:
Moto One:
James Stewart (Kaw)
Mike Alessi (Suz)
Andrew Short (Hon)
Michael Byrne (Suz)
Nick Wey (KTM)
Josh Hill (Yam)
Jeff Alessi (Hon)
Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
Josh Summey (Yam)
Michael Blose (Hon)
Kevin Rookstool (Hon)
Billy Laninovich (KTM)
Justin Sipes (Suz)
Antonio Balbi (Hon)
Kyle Tobin (Hon)
Cody Cooper (Suz)
Matt Boni (Hon)
Tyler Bright (Hon)
Chad Charbonneau (Hon)
Sean Hamblin (Yam)
Moto Two:
James Stewart (Kaw)
Tim Ferry (Kaw)
Andrew Short (Hon)
Michael Byrne (Suz)
Nick Wey (KTM)
Cody Cooper (Suz)
Josh Summey (Yam)
Antonio Balbi (Hon)
Jeff Alessi (Hon)
Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
Sean Hamblin (Yam)
Matt Boni (Hon)
Michael Blose (Hon)
Ryan Clark (Hon)
Chris Blose (Yam)
Jeff Gibson (Kaw)
Tyson Hadsell (Hon)
Kyle Tobin (Hon)
Justin Sipes (Suz)
Ricky Renner (Kaw)
Overall:
James Stewart (Kaw)
Andrew Short (Hon)
Michael Byrne (Suz)
Nick Wey (KTM)
Josh Summey (Yam)
Jeff Alessi (Hon)
Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
Tim Ferry (Kaw)
Mike Alessi (Suz)
Cody Cooper (Suz)
AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Points Standings (After 6 of 12 rounds):
James Stewart (300/6 wins)
Mike Alessi (221)
Tim Ferry (201)
Davi Millsaps (188)
Andrew Short (181)
Michael Byrne (166)
Nick Wey (135)
Jeff Alessi (120)
Sean Hamblin (113)
Cody Cooper (102)
Motocross Lites Class
It was MDK/KTM's Ryan Sipes who ripped one of the cleanest and biggest holeshots in Red Bud history to start off Lites Moto number one. Right on his rear fender was teammate Martin Davalos, which more or less reflected how well the KTM Lites guys did in qualifying-taking up three of the top five for Sunday's gate picks. It wasn't long though before Ryan Villopoto found his way around the KTM duo, putting his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit KX250F into a commanding lead by the beginning of lap two. Moving up throughout the moto was Trey Canard, who eventually got around Davalos, Nico Izzi and Sipes to maintain a solid second to the checkers. Also moving up from a first lap crash was Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey, who finally made his way back up to eighth, behind resurgent Motoworld/Xtreme Team Green rider Andrew McFarlane. Geico Powersports/Honda's Josh Grant rode a solid and respectable moto to end up fifth, while Dan Reardon and Brett Metcalfe rounded out the first moto top 10.
Moto two was a carbon copy of moto one as far as RV1 was concerned, and despite a Martin Davalos holeshot, the defending champ quickly passed and dropped the Ecuadorian and put a comfortable gap on the field for the duration. Once again, the real story was in the battle for second, and this time it was between Trey Canard and Ryan Dungey. These two battled closely for almost the entire moto, with Dungey taking a variety of creative lines to try and put a wheel in on the blazingly fast rookie, only to be foiled over and over in his attempts. Finally, on the final lap and after Dungey had been jumping LaRocco's Leap for the entire moto, his factory RM-Z250 had an apparent engine failure in the last quarter lap before the checkers. Fueled by adrenaline and aggression, he tried to push his broken steed across the line but failed, throwing his helmet to the crowd in frustration as he stomped back to the pits. Davalos, who'd been a few clicks off their pace all race, had managed to stay in a solid fourth, finishing in third after Dungey's heartbreaking final lap, and was followed across by Josh Grant and a charging Michigan native Nico Izzi, who continues to improve every weekend. The overall was RV (1-1), Canard (2-2) and Davalos (6-3).
Results:
Moto One:
Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
Trey Canard (Hon)
Ryan Sipes (KTM)
Nico Izzi (Suz)
Josh Grant (Hon)
Martin Davalos (KTM)
Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
Ryan Dungey (Suz)
Daniel Reardon (Hon)
Brett Metcalfe (Yam)
Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
Kyle Cuningham (Hon)
Matt Goerke (KTM)
Matt Lemoine (Yam)
Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
Justin Brayton (KTM)
Jake Moss (Yam)
Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
Tucker Hibbert (Yam)
Broc Tickle (Yam)
Moto Two:
Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
Trey Canard (Hon)
Martin Davalos (KTM)
Josh Grant (Hon)
Nico Izzi (Suz)
Jake Weimer (Hon)
Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
Jake Moss (Yam)
Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
Brett Metcalfe (Yam)
Matt Lemoine (Yam)
Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
Broc Tickle (Yam)
Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
Mike Brown (Yam)
Tucker Hibbert (Yam)
Wil Hahn (Yam)
Sean Hackley (Kaw)
Ryan Sipes (KTM)
Overall:
Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
Trey Canard (Hon)
Martin Davalos (KTM)
Josh Grant (Hon)
Nico Izzi (Suz)
Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
Ryan Sipes (KTM)
AMA Toyota Motocross Lites Championships (After 6 of 12 rounds):
Ryan Villopoto (291/5 wins)
Ryan Dungey (196)
Jake Weimer (167)
Bret Metcalfe (164)
Austin Stroupe (152/1 win)
Trey Canard (127)
Nico Izzi (126)
Jason Lawrence (120)
Dan Reardon (116)
Ryan Sipes (101)
Courtesy of Motocross.com
