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The Lucas Oil 450 AMA MX Nationals pulled into Freestone County Raceway for the Rockstar Energy Freestone National in Wortham, Texas, and with it came every fan’s favorite time of the year: when the puzzle is just a bunch of pieces and no one has a clue where each piece may fit by the end of the day. What made the 2011 SX season so special was we still felt that way come round 15. Is it possible that we could get that lucky twice in one year?
In the first 450 moto of the day, we were treated to a surprise appearance at the front of the pack. Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/Honda rookie Christian Craig grabbed the holeshot and led everyone around the sandy Freestone circuit. Early on, he was chased by another rookie, Christophe Pourcel. Pourcel looked back on form for a brief stink in the early chapter of moto one, but by lap five, looked completely spent. On lap six, a charging Reed and Dungey would go around the fading Frenchman and, a half a lap later, the 377 was heading for the Motoconcepts/Yamaha semi. He would later say he wasn’t comfortable with the bike set-up. Joining Pourcel back in the pits was Factory Honda’s Kevin Windham. K’dub was charging forward from a bad start when his motor would let go on him.
While Pourcel and K’dub headed for the showers, Craig was left to fight off the ever-present red plates of the Two-Two Motorsports/Honda and the Rockstar/Makita /Suzuki that were lurking from behind. As the halfway mark neared, Chad Reed made his move by the #144, and about three quarters of a lap later, Ryan Dungey would follow suit. In that three quarters of a lap while Dungey was negotiating a way by Craig, Reed was able spring out and open a invaluable three-second gap. For the next few laps, the two would match each other almost down to a 100th of a second until Reedy put on an incredible late-race surge. Nearing the 30 min mark—and grasping to his three-second lead—Reed would throw up his two fastest laps of the race on lap twelve and thirteen to put Dungey away. Reed had done to Dungey what Dungey spent all of 2010 doing to everyone else and went on to win Moto 1 by a comfortable eight seconds.
Behind the battle for the lead, Monster Energy/Kawaski’s Ryan Villopoto was trying to salvage points after making life harder on himself than he needed to. After a very uncharacteristic 18th place start, RV2 would put the hammer down and charge to seventh, then crash and charge all the way back to third before the flag. For the third straight moto of the year, RV2 had the fastest lap of the race, and for the third straight race of the year, he finished third.
Finishing fourth, behind RV2 at the end of Moto 1 was Davi Millsaps. It’s hard to say what has gotten into the Joe Gibbs Racing/Yamaha rider so far this summer, but whatever it is, it looks good on a dirt bike. The man they call “Big Bear” is beginning to make Coy Gibbs a happier coach’s son.
The last rider in the top five was the 450 freshman Craig. After leading the first half of the race, he would drop off the leaders pace, but still finished in an awe-inspiring top-five position.
When the gate dropped on the fourth moto of the 2011 season, it was the other Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki with the holeshot—and a short-lived lead. Brett Metcalfe would use all of his number twenty-four power plant and lead his teammate Dungey and the first moto winner Reed through turn one, but by the end of lap one, would find himself in third, watching them sprint away. Behind Metty the off-road specialist Ricky Dietrich was making his first appearance in the top five and looking very at ease with the pace on his new Valli – Motorsports/Yamaha. Ricky may be an off-road specialist, but anyone that remembers 2009 knows he has the MX skills as well.
As Dungey and Reed road off into the sunset to continue their battle over the controversial red plate, the other 2011 favorite would once again find himself buried deep in the pack off the start. Villopoto rounded turn one for the second time on the day outside the top ten, but by lap three, had already found himself on the rear end of the Metcalfe/Millsaps battle for third.
Once the #2 finally got by Brett Metcalfe for fourth, it seemed like his forward motion would come to a screeching halt, and the trip backwards would begin. Ryan would finish the second moto with an uncharacteristic sixth. The benefactors of RV2’s fade were the charging Dietrich and Metty. While RV2 was feeling the effects of the heat—and two motos of passing his way through slower traffic—Metty and Dietrich looked primed for a fight. In the end, Metty would put up the fight of his life and hold off the relentless Ricky Dietrich, gaining the third spot on the Moto 2 podium and fourth overall on the day.
Up at the front, Dungey and Reed were once again the cream of the crop in Texas. Dungey spent the first ten minutes fighting for every tenth of a second over Reed until Reedy went down in a corner and gifted him a comfortable ten-second gap. When Reed got going again, he was still second but, with ten seconds up to Dungey and a ten second lead over Millsaps—who was riding an inspired race in third—Reedy seemed to realize he needed to take the twenty-two points and live to fight another day.
Dungey, on the other hand, has one gear outdoors. He turns it on when the gate drops and off at the checkered flag. This time, though, he wouldn’t make it to the flag. With three laps to go, and a 25-second lead, the Suzuki would expire. Early reports were that the Suzuki ran out of fuel. Whatever it was, he kicked it as the Two-Two rode on by for the win, the 1-1 overall and a big points lead now in the Championship. Davi Millsaps would also move up one spot to second overall on the day with a 4-2 score on what was already a breakthrough ride for the JGR pilot. Davi is one of the most talented riders on the planet, and the confidence that comes with his second overall performance could go a long way.
With Reedy now having gone 1-1 and Dungey going 2-DNF, Reedy will leave Texas and go into the much needed week off with a comfortable points lead and a firm grasp on where he stands. I am not sure what Reed needs to work on during the break, but it would seem that Dungey needs to work on his luck. Other than that, Dungey looks to be right where he was this time last year. RV2, on the other hand, caught a huge break this weekend. With RD1 DNF’ing the second moto, he moves up to second in the points and now has two weeks to get whatever he needs to work on dialed in. With Aldon Baker at his side, you can bet this two-week break will be anything but a vacation.
Next stop: High Point and round three.
Results & Points
