Chad bang wallop!
By TMX Archives on 22nd Jul 11
After a week off, the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship returned to Spring Creek, Millville in Minnesota with double the action, thrills and spills for the seventh round of the series.
Whilst Ryan Dungey took the overall after a 2-1 moto run, all the talk was focused on TwoTwo Motosport's Chad Reed, who suffered a horrendous crash, only to astound fans when he re-mounted to take fifth overall!
Reed's crash has tightened everything up in the 450s, with just seven points separating the top three! Meanwhile in the 250 class, things ran a lot smoother as Tyla Rattray went 2-1 to grab victory and hold onto his series lead.
In the opening 450cc moto, Chad Reed looked to be the strongest on the slick Spring Creek track. Despite racing most of the moto without goggles, Reed held off the charges from Dungey to secure the win. Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto was just off the pace in third.
Moto two was where all the action was. Whilst out in the lead, Reed lost control on the face of a jump, and got thrown off the side of the bike. Flying a good 30 feet in the air, Reed looked to be heading for a season if not career ending crash.
However, to the amazement of fans Reed landed on the side slope of the jump and moments later was back up and kicking his slightly bent Honda back into action.
"I started swaying back and forth coming up to the jump and suddenly the handlebars weren't there,” said a beat-up Reed. "That was the scariest crash I've ever experienced.”
Once back in the race, Reed charged his way through to a deserved 14th and fifth overall. In doing so keeping hold of his series lead.
Out in front it was the battle of the Ryan's, with Villopoto holding the lead for the first half of the race and by a considerable margin, however as the Kawasaki rider approached lapped riders, Dungey was able to reel him in, and as he made the pass Villopoto washed out, leaving Dungey to sail to the chequered flag.
Villopoto was happy to remain second to the flag ahead of Trey Canard who took third overall.
"It feels great to win here in front of all the people I grew up racing with,” Dungey said. "It was one of those races where you really had to tough it out. With the heat, the rutted up track and a great battle with Ryan (Villopoto), nothing came easy.”
In the 250 class, Mr Consistent, Dean Willson still leads the championship, however is yet to take an overall. The Kawasaki pilot lead from gate to flag in the opening moto, but as moto two kicked off Tyla Rattray put on a fight right from the start.
After finding a way round Kyle Cuningham on lap two he pulled away to take the win, and due to a better second race, the overall.
"It was a good day for me,” Rattray said. "We're getting it down to a 15-16 points and there are a lot of points to be had yet this season. I enjoyed racing in the humidity. It shows who's putting in the work.
LUCAS OILS AMA NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 – Spring Creek MX Park, Millville, Minnesota, USA
OVERALL 450cc CLASS: 1 Ryan Dungey (Suz) 22+25=47, 2 Ryan Villopoto (Kaw) 20+22=42, 3 Trey Canard (Hon) 16+20=36, 4 Mike Alessi (KTM) 18+18=36, 5 Chad Reed (AUS - Hon) 25+7=32, 6 Brett Metcalfe (AUS - Suz) 15+16=31, 7 Jake Weimer (Kaw) 13+15=28, 8 Andrew Short (KTM) 14+12=26, 9 Justin Brayton (Yam) 9+14=23, 10 Kevin Windham (Hon) 10+11=21, 11 Jimmy Albertson (Hon) 11+10=21, 12 Tye Simmonds (KTM) 12+9=21,...
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 12) rounds: 1 Reed 300 points, 2 Villopoto 294, 3 Dungey 293, 4 Metcalfe 209, 5 Windham 193, 6 Millsaps 173, 7 Short 156, 8 Alessi 151, 9 Weimer 140, 10 Craig 119, 11 Dietrich 115, 12 Hahn 113,...
OVERALL 250cc CLASS: 1 Tyla Rattray (ZA - Kaw) 22+25=47, 2 Dean WILSON (GB - Kaw) 25+22=47, 3 Blake Baggett (Kaw) 20+20=40, 4 Kyle Cunningham (Yam) 18+18=36, 5 Alex Martin (Hon) 14+16=30, 6 Broc Tickle (Kaw) 15+12=27, 7 William Hahn (Hon) 12+13=25, 8 Gareth Swanepoel (ZA - Yam) 16+9=25, 9 Gannon Audette (Yam) 6+11=17, 10 Jason Anderson (Suz) 7+10=17, 11 Martin Davalos (Suz) 11+6=17, 12 Justin Barcia (Hon) 0+15=15,...
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 12) rounds: 1 WILSON 305 points, 2 Rattray 289, 3 Baggett 284, 4 Cunningham 199, 5 Tomac 190, 6 Tickle 170, 7 Barcia 152, 8 Swanepoel 145, 9 Davalos 128, 10 Darryn Durham 122, 11 Seely 119, 12 Martin 102,... 36 CLARKE 3,...
NEXT ROUND: July 23 – Washougal MX Park, Washougal, Washington, USA.
