The 250 Lucas Oil Motocross Championship trekked to the foothills of America’s Rocky Mountains in Lakewood, Colorado for the Toyota Trucks Thunder Valley National and round five. Leading the way up the mountain was the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team with Tyla Rattray, Dean Wilson and Blake Baggett 1-2-3 in the points. On top of having the top three contenders in the points for 2011, in their semi-truck they also carried along a six-race Thunder Valley National win streak. With the 6,182 feet of altitude and the thin air comes a horsepower obstacle, and it surely helps to have Mr. Horsepower himself, Mitch Payton, supervising the tuning of your bikes.

Dean Wilson - Eli Tomac - Blake Baggett- Thunder Valley National - 2011
Barcia would leave Lakewood, Colorado with two more holeshots on his resume and two more huge mistakes as well. Photo by Hoppenworld

When the gate fell for Moto 1, it was a red blur with the number seventeen leading the way. GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Justin Barcia would grab the holeshot and the early lead. Behind the 2011 East Region SX Champ early on was Dean Wilson, Eleven-10 Mods-backed privateer Darryn Durham and the man on the number fifty-seven Pro Circuit machine, Blake Baggett. For the first couple of laps, Barcia would sprint and get away from Wilson, but by lap four, Wilson had closed the gap, and Baggett–after getting by Durham–had latched onto Wilson’s back tire and was coming with him. From there a battle would ensue.

For the next two laps, a three-way war for the lead went down between the three sophomore professionals until both Wilson and Baggett found a way around Barcia. Barcia, while trying to stay with the Pro Circuit boys, would go down, remount in fourth and, from there, fade to finish an uninspiring ninth in Moto 1. Up front, though, the battle intensified for the next lap until Baggett was finally able to secure the lead and quickly put some distance between himself and teammate Wilson. The “one race on, one race off” streak was looked to be continuing for Blake Baggett, and Wilson had no answer.

Blake Baggett - Thunder Valley National - 2011
The untouchable version of the 2011 Blake Baggett would be on hand at Thunder Valley this weekend. Photo by Hoppenworld

Back in the pack, the 250 points-leader coming in, Tyla Rattray, would get off to a bad start. Checking in after lap one in thirteenth, the South African did what he does best and clicked off consistent laps for thirty plus two. The number twenty-eight, while he could not find the speed to get to the front, never appeared to be phased and by the checkered flag  had salvaged sixteen points with a fifth. Another rider with a bad start and forced to work his way through the pack the whole moto was GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Colorado native Eli Tomac. The number nineteen checked in tenth after lap one and, by lap eight, had worked his way with the hometown fans at his back all the way up to third. Once by Durham for third, he was a good ten seconds behind Wilson and was never able to get the number fifteen on his radar. Tomac had to settle in for the last spot on the podium. Durham, after being passed by Tomac, was  left in a lonely fourth and would bring it home matching his best moto finish of the year in fourth.

Up front, though, it was all Baggett. Baggett was in his blistering-fast, every-other-race form and, by the end of Moto 1, would come through with a twelve-second win. It is incredible how the number fifty-seven can seem untouchable one week and vulnerable the next, but that’s exactly how it’s been. Behind Blake, Dean Wilson would finish with another solid performance in second. With that second place–and with his teammate Rattray finishing fifth–Dean would carry a two-point lead in the Championship with him into Moto 2.

Dean Wilson - Thunder Valley National - 2011
Dean Wilson would continue to show his consistency in Lakewood, but once again would lack the raw speed of his number fifty-seven teammate.

So far in 2011, Baggett has shown unbelievable speed, but his inconsistency has been the second-year professional’s Achille’s heel. Would the number fifty-seven once again lack consistency, or would Lakewood turn into another Blake Baggett route? It would quickly appear to be the latter. After a second Justin Barcia holeshot–and a second Justin Barcia crash–on the day, Baggett would take the lead and take off for an out-of-the-norm, early-race lead. So far, Baggett has won all of his races with late-race sprints, so the field had to hate seeing the speedy Baggett up front so early. The man that most hated seeing that development was Dean Wilson.

While Baggett took off at the front, Wilson was stuck dealing with the GEICO Powersports/Honda of Lance Vincent and the DNA/Shred Stix/Yamaha of Ryan Sipes–in his first race back following a string of injuries in 2011. Vincent, running second, and Sipes in third would put on an incredible battle for the Lakewood, Colorado fans for a couple of laps while Wilson waited patiently for his moment to strike. On lap three, that moment came. Wilson would take full advantage of the back-and-forth duel in front of him and get around both Sipes and Vincent to take over second spot. Unfortunately for Deano, his teammate was already all but gone. The number fifteen was faced with a long, seven-second gap between himself and Blake, and it would prove to be too much. In the end, Blake would run away for a 1-1 finish on the day while Dean would once again come up just short with a 2-2 for second overall.

Eli Tomac  - Thunder Valley National - 2011
Eli Tomac displayed blazing speed all day long in front of his home state fans, but bad starts would be his nemisis on this day. Photo by Hoppenworld

Just as in moto number one, hometown favorite Eli Tomac was back in the pack after the first turn and left to fight through slower traffic for much of the race. It would have been great to see if Eli had anything for Blake at the front, but his day was a uphill fight for the Honda rider. In the end Eli showed amazing speed and resiliency coming through the pack and would finish with his second podium of the year with a 3-3 score. Finishing just behind Tomac in Moto 2 with the “weight off the shoulders” ride of the day was Ryan Sipes. In the previous three nationals raced in the 2011, the pre-season favorite Sipes had finished a grand total of zero motos on two wheels, so a fourth place finish in Moto 2 was huge. The number twenty-five has spent more time at the medic rig than he has at the DNA/Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha truck thus far, and the 15-4 score on the day for sixth overall had to feel like a win for the Kentucky kid.

Another great ride, and a breakthrough in the consistency department, was the sixth place finisher in Moto 2 to go along with a fourth in Moto 1 for the Eleven-10 Mods rider Darryn Durham. Darryn has been flirting with top five overalls all year, but Lakewood was the first time the privateer was able to put two motos together. The net outcome would be a confidence-building fourth overall. Durham has been the feel-good story of the summer in the 250 class, and this ride for fourth overall moves him one step closer to his ultimate goal of finishing on the podium.

Tyla Rattray  - Thunder Valley National - 2011
Rattray after two races with the red plate would have it taken away by his teammate Dean Wilson in Lakewood. Photo by Hoppenword

Finishing fifth in Moto 2 with two fifths on the day was Tyla Rattray. Tyla never seemed to get the flow of the Thunder Valley circuit, and when combined with two bad starts, 5-5 was all the man with the red plate could manage. The South African came to Colorado as your championship points-leader, but would leave handing the red background to his teammate Wilson. With a four-point lead coming in and surrendering twelve, he now heads to Red Bud in an eight-point hole. You know Tyla’s not happy, but at the same time, you know he’s probably far from discouraged. You can expect Tyla to be back swinging at Red Bud.

This day would once again belong to Baggett. The only problem for the Californian is, even with three very big overall wins, he still sits third in the points due to a lack of consistency. Now heading into round six, the man looks untouchable again, but his twenty-point deficit to the man that has not won a single overall in 2011, Wilson, says something different.

BlaKE Baggett  - Thunder Valley National - 2011
Blake Baggett crossed the finish line in moto two with his fifth moto win and third overall win for 2011. Photo by Hoppenworld

250 Overall Results Top 10 Thunder Valley Click here for full results.

1. Blake Baggett: 1-1
2. Dean Wilson: 2-2
3. Eli Tomac: 3-3
4. Darryn Durham: 4-6
5. Tyla Rattray: 5-5
6. Ryan Sipes: 15-4
7. Malcolm Stewart: 13-7
8. Travis Baker: 10-10
9. Justin Barcia: 9-12
10. Alex Martin: 11-13
Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.