Easily the most picturesque course on the AMA Toyota Motocross National circuit, Washougal MX Park just north of Portland, Oregon hosted Round 10 of the series this past weekend. It proved to be quite an eventful Sunday, despite the fact that the two series leaders - James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto - had all but wrapped up their series titles before the racing even began. But at least in the Lites class this time around, a surprise moto and overall winner - Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey - helped to breathe some life into that series, just before a two-week long break that will give him time to think about what he'd just accomplished.

Motocross Class

Suzuki City/OTSFF's New Zealand import Cody Cooper continued to impress as he nailed the holeshot in both motos, briefly leading both Motocross motos before James Stewart, Andrew Short and Michael Byrne made their way around. That's exactly what happened in both motos, in fact, as the moto scores for the top 5 overall finishers were 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 for Stewart, Short, Byrne, Cooper and Yamaha's local hero Josh Hill. Probably the most interesting racing happened between Byrne and Cooper in moto one, as the factory-backed Aussie Byrne had his hands full getting around Cooper for almost the entire moto before finally stuffing him in a turn just a few laps from the finish. Short had no such problems, getting by quickly and cleanly both motos and setting off into the no-man's land between Stewart and "the rest of the field". Stewart stretched out to a 20+ second lead both motos before setting it on cruise control. This in stark contrast to what happened last year to Stewart at Washougal, where an errant dab of his left foot popped his weakened knee out of joint, causing a season-ending injury and a major surgery to correct. Despite that, this year Stewart had a mathematical chance of wrapping up the title (3 rounds early) if his teammate Timmy Ferry (currently 2nd in points) scored less than 23 points on the day (he went 11-6 for 25 points). As "luck" would have it, Ferry was feeling ill at the beginning of the weekend and sat out practice on Saturday, but was able to muster good enough finishes on Sunday to keep Stewart's title-run at bay for another round. In other interesting racing, privateers Jimmy Albertson and Jeff Alessi continued their battle from Unadilla to try and gain a rumored Red Bull Honda Racing factory ride for the remainder of the season. Albertson won this round, finishing a career-best 6-7 for 7th overall while Alessi went 7-9 for 7th overall. Look for Stewart to wrap up his first-ever Motocross class title in two weeks when the series resumes for Round 10 at Spring Creek MX in Millville, MN.

Results:

Moto 1:

1) James Stewart (Kaw)
2) Andrew Short (Hon)
3) Michael Byrne (Suz)
4) Cody Cooper (Suz)
5) Josh Hill (Yam)
6) Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
7) Jeff Alessi (Hon)
8) Sean Hamblin (Yam)
9) Chris Blose (Hon)
10) Billy Laninovich (KTM)
11) Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
12) Justin Sipes (Suz)
13) Antonio Balbi (Hon)
14) Nick Wey (KTM)
15) Kevin Rookstool (Hon)
16) Bobby Bonds (Kaw)
17) Kyle Partridge (Hon)
18) Kyle Summers (KTM)
19) Jack Carpenter (Hon)
20) Gray Davenport (Kaw)

Moto 2:

1) James Stewart (Kaw)
2) Andrew Short (Hon)
3) Michael Byrne (Suz)
4) Cody Cooper (Suz)
5) Josh Hill (Yam)
6) Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
7) Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
8) Sean Collier (Yam)
9) Jeff Alessi (Hon)
10) Antonio Balbi (Hon)
11) Nick Wey (KTM)
12) Josh Summey (Yam)
13) Paul Carpenter (Hon)
14) Billy Laninovich (KTM)
15) Ryan Clark (Hon)
16) Cole Siebler (Hon)
17) Tyler Bright (Hon)
18) Bobby Bonds (Kaw)
19) Ryan Fitch (Hon)
20) Adam Metzler (Hon)

Overall:

1) James Stewart (Kaw)
2) Andrew Short (Hon)
3) Michael Byrne (Suz)
4) Cody Cooper (Suz)
5) Josh Hill (Yam)
6) Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
7) Jeff Alessi (Hon)
8) Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
9) Antonio Balbi (Hon)
10) Billy Laninovich (KTM)

Points (after 10 of 13 Rounds)

1) James Stewart (450 10 wins)
2) Tim ferry (305)
3) Andrew Short (290)
4) Michael Byrne (280)
5) Mike Alessi (221)
6) Cody Cooper (208)
7) Davi Millsaps (203)
8) Nick Wey (199)
9) Jeff Alessi (177)
10) Josh Hill (170)

Motocross Lites:

Ryan Villopoto has never won an overall at Washougal. In fact, he's never finished both motos here during his pro career until this time around. Moto one gave a hint that this may be an exciting day of Lites racing, when Geico Honda's Josh Grant set fastest laptime in practice and then, appropriately, snagged the holeshot to set his torrid pace out front. Despite barely getting his bike started in time for the 30 second board to go sideways, Grant put out a great effort for the first several laps before dropping anchor - presumably due to an ankle injury sustained at Budds Creek and aggravated in the morning's practice session. Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey was able to match Grant's pace before being passed himself by Villopoto, who'd already moved his way up from nearly mid-pack in the first few laps to find his way into 2nd behind Grant - and closing fast. Long story short RV got by Grant, as did Dungey, who kept Villopoto somewhat honest by staying within 6 seconds by the time the checkers flew. Moto two was more of a barn-burner, as again Villopoto suffered a non-holeshot and was forced to work a bit to get to the front. In the lead was Grant's teammate Trey Canard, who set a fast enough pace that himself, Dungey and Villopoto were able to gap the rest of the field before the two Ryans made their way past and Canard settled into a very comfortable 3rd in their wake. Unfortunately, Canard would end up tangling with a lapper on the final lap and going down in a pile - which resulted in a broken femur and the end of his season. Meanwhile, Villopoto pushed and pushed on an inspired Dungey who was setting a relentless pace out front. Thanks to a rock smashing into RV's goggles that obscured his vision with sweat on the inside of the lens which lead to a brief off-track excursion, RD stretched out enough of a lead to take the checkers and his first moto and overall victory in Motocross Lites competition. RV leaves Washougal having never won an overall in the Lites class on what's considered his home track.

Results:

Moto 1:

1) Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2) Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3) Josh Grant (Hon)
4) Ryan Sipes (KTM)
5) Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
6) Jake Weimer (Hon)
7) Nico Izzi (Suz)
8) Martin Davalos (KTM)
9) Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
10) Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
11) Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
12) Matt Goerke (KTM)
13) Jake Moss (Yam)
14) Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
15) Wil Hahn (Yam)
16) Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
17) Phil Nicoletti (Kaw)
18) Tucker Hibbert (Yam)
19) Mike Brown (Yam)
20) Sean Borkenhagen (Hon)

Moto 2:

1) Ryan Dungey (Suz)
2) Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
3) Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
4) Josh Grant (Hon)
5) Ryan Sipes (KTM)
6) Jake Weimer (Hon)
7) Nico Izzi (Suz)
8) Matt Goerke (KTM)
9) Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
10) Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
11) Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
12) Phil Nicoletti (Kaw)
13) Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
14) Jake Moss (Yam)
15) Martin Davalos (KTM)
16) Mike Brown (Yam)
17) Wil Hahn (Yam)
18) Broc Tickle (Yam)
19) Tucker Hibbert (Yam)
20) Sean Borkenhagen (Hon)

Overall:

1) Ryan Dungey (Suz)
2) Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
3) Josh Grant (Hon)
4) Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
5) Ryan Sipes (KTM)
6) Jake Weimer (Hon)
7) Nico Izzi (Suz)
8) Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
9) Matt Goerke (KTM)
10) Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)

Points Standings (after 10 of 13 Rounds)

1) Ryan Villopoto (438, 8 wins)
2) Ryan Dungey (329, 1 win)
3) Brett Metcalfe (267)
4) Jake Weimer (229)
5) Nico Izzi (211)
6) Ryan Sipes (187)
7) Trey Canard (173)
8) Josh Grant (153)
9) Austin Stroupe (152, 1 win)
10) Kyle Cunningham (148)

 Courtesy of MotoCross.com