It’s fourth of July weekend and time for the Rockstar Energy Red Bud National. The Lucas Oil AMA 250 Motocross Championship heads to Buchanan, Michigan for round six, and we still have a Pro Circuit monopoly at the top of the standings. In the first five weeks of the Lucas Oil AMA 250 Motocross Championship, the coveted red plate has changed hands four different times, to three different riders, but it has remained firmly in the hands of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki squad. In 2011, Mitch Payton’s hired assassins have produced a clean sweep of the top two spots on the podium at every round. Strangely enough, though, the man with the Championship points-lead has not won a single National.
Despite not winning an overall yet, Dean Wilson heads into Red Bud with an eight-point lead over Tyla Rattray—who has two overall wins—and a twenty-point lead over Blake Baggett—who has three overall wins. Dean may not have an overall win yet, but with three moto wins and nine moto podiums, he has been by far the most consistent man in the class. On the other side of that coin is his teammate Blake Baggett who, with three overall wins—including a dominating 1-1 last weekend—is twenty points behind Wilson. Blake has five moto wins on the year and, in those wins, has looked untouchable, but when he doesn’t win, the mistakes come and he gives away points in bunches. So far in this series, Blake’s overall score card reads first, ninth, first, seventh, first. If this trend continues, it may be a long Saturday at Red Bud for the extremely fast Californian.
In between Dean and Blake in the points sits another Pro Circuit teammate, South Africa’s Tyla Rattray. Tyla—up until his 5-5 performance at Thunder Valley—was the man with the red background on his machine. Before last week, he had been the only man on the podium in every round, but he never seemed to catch a break up in the Rockies of Colorado. The number twenty-eight has been a well-oiled machine all year, and we expect Tyla to come to Red Bud ready to take the red plate back from Wilson. Tyla is the veteran of the class and understands better than anyone that you win your Championships on the bad days, not the good ones.
If you’re at Red Bud this weekend, be on the lookout for the man that goes by the name of Eli Tomac. The number nineteen GEICO Powersports/Honda was blistering fast at Thunder Valley last weekend and took two horrendous starts to a 3-3 score and his second podium of 2011. Eli is thirty-eight points back but showed us in Supercross that he can catch fire and be hard to stop. With fourteen motos yet to run and handful of guys that can win on any given day, thirty-eight points is not enough to wave the white flag.
One more rider on the gate this weekend to keep your eyes on is the “Kentucky kid” Ryan Sipes. Last weekend, the DNA Shred/Stix/Yamaha rider scored his first points of the series, but the pre-season favorite now has a decent day out of the way and may be out to battle for podiums and wins beginning at Red Bud. Don’t forget that before Ryan went out with two gnarly crashes, he was battling at the front of the pack.
Another man that has been on the top of everyone’s bench racing lists this week is Darryn Durham. The Eleven-10 Mods privateer has been a breath of fresh air in a class dominated by the big budget teams, and he continued to impress at Thunder Valley last week. The Butler, Pennsylvania native threw up a consistent 4-6 score and finished with a career best fourth overall. Now with the podium in sight for Darryn, you can be sure he will leave it all on the track this weekend trying to get it done. Here’s to hoping Darryn gets that bike on the box sooner than later.
2011 has been an incredible year of racing and what better way to celebrate the birth of our nation than watching the Lucas Oil Motocross Championship from Red Bud. More important than who’s going to win the 250 class is which 250 riders are going to get over the 100+ foot monster called Larocco’s leap. Does it get any better than watching the best racers on the planet negotiate the best tack on the planet? We don’t think so. So grab your fire works, hang your flag and get ready for one hell of a race from Buchanan, Michigan.
250 Motocross Points After Five Rounds 1 15 Dean Wilson 214 2 28 Tyla Rattray 206 3 57 Blake Baggett 194 4 19 Eli Tomac 176 5 17 Justin Barcia 137 6 35 Kyle Cunningham 127 7 20 Broc Tickle 113 8 387 Gareth Swanepoel 106 9 37 Darryn Durham 94 10 36 Cole Seely 89
