The Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship is heading east to Mount Morris, Pennsylvania for round three of their twelve round war of attrition. The picturesque High Point Raceway is a pure motocross track carved out of the Southwestern Pennsylvania, grassy countryside and is a track that at first glance oozes old school moto. Over the last couple of decades, a nice amount of man-made obstacles have been added to bring the venue into the twenty-first century of MX, but the essence of MX is still the dominating force of one of the oldest Nationals tracks on the circuit. 1977 was the first year a MX National was held at High Point, and thirty-five years after local boy Tony DiStefano rode his RM 250 to victory, the rich tradition that is High Point is still alive and well.
When the first moto of the 450’s stage for moto number one at High Point this weekend, the Two-Two Motosports/Bel Ray/Factory Honda will have the famous number twenty-two set on top of the shiny red background. Chad Reed, after his 1-1 performance at Freestone, sits comfortably on top of the points standing with a twenty-one point lead over Ryan Villopoto. After completely dominating the race, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey ran out of gas in Moto 2, and the 2010 champ moved back from a tie atop the points to fourth–twenty-eight points behind CR22. Watching RD1 pushing his lifeless Suzuki from where it died on the track was disheartening, but at the same time, it was clear he was not going to let this effect him. Dungey has shown over the last couple years that he is a finely tuned outdoor machine, so don’t think for a minute that a twenty-eight point gap is enough to bring him down just yet.
RD1’s complications in Moto 2 allowed the Monster Energy/Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto to jump up from third to second in the points. With a quickly growing twenty-one point deficit, it is time for RV2 to stop the bleeding. Ryan has not been off speed-wise–he recorded the fastest single lap in three of the first four motos–but from lap ten on, he seems to run into fitness trouble. At Freestone, Ryan also struggled with bad starts. With the two-week break to catch up on much needed testing and Aldon Baker in his corner, don’t be surprised if RV2 shows up at High Point ready to fight for thirty minutes with the number one and number twenty-two.
While the top three riders are gradually separating themselves in speed–and CR22 is separating himself in the points–another group of riders have thrown their hats in for the top five and possible podium finishes in all the bench racing discussions after Freestone. JGR/Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps finished an unexpected second overall last week in Texas and showed everyone that forgot that he can go fast when he wants to. Other notables were Valli-Motosports Ricky Dietrich, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe and Troy Lee Designs/Honda’s Christian Craig. All of these riders are serious dark horse contenders and can, at any time, break through to that next level.
Two riders that have serious question marks looming over their heads for round three are the Motoconcepts/Yamaha acquisition Christophe Pourcel and the Red Bull/KTM rider Mike Alessi. Rumors were flying all week that CP377 may be heading back home to France to ride a CLS/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki in the MX1 class in the GP’s, but just as they were laid to rest, this interview popped up over at LeBigUSA.com. We’ll hold back on speculation, let the interview stand alone and just read between the lines with you. One thing is for sure: we are fans, and I hope to see him back up to speed wherever he races. Update: Since we first made this post live Motoconcepts/Yamaha team manger David Vuillemin has told his side to LeBigUSA.com as well. Both interviews are originally in French so forgive us if some of it is lost in translation.
As far as MA800 goes, by now most know he sustained a vicious concussion at Hangtown. Here’s a video from RacerXOnline.com from Thursday with Mike about whether or not we’ll see him at High Point.
Mike, concussion or no concussion, could be a wild card pick for top three in any moto he races.
With only four motos complete and twenty motos still to come, no lead is safe. Outdoor MX is one of the most physically demanding sports on the planet and that environment is prime for bringing out the unexpected. With riders like Trey Canard and Josh Grant still sidelined and slated to return, the drama the is “The Great Outdoors” is just getting started.
450 Top 20 In points
1 22 Chad Reed 97 2 2 Ryan Villopoto 76 3 18 David Millsaps 72 4 1 Ryan Dungey 69 5 24 Brett Metcalfe 64 6 539 Ricky Dietrich 53 7 144 Christian Craig 47 8 14 Kevin Windham 45 9 32 Jacob Weimer 44 10 12 Tommy Hahn 40 11 26 Michael Byrne 36 12 27 Nicholas Wey 35 13 29 Andrew Short 33 14 942 Tye Simmonds 31 15 377 Christophe Pourcel 24 16 11 Kyle Chisholm 20 17 44 Les Smith 17 18 45 Vince Friese 19 3 Mike Brown 14 20 526 Ben LaMay 13
