Searle Thunders on
By TMX Archives on 2nd Jul 09
COLORADO'S Thunder Valley Raceway was the venue for the fith round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championships. And Britain's US exile Tommy Searle was in the mix once again in the 250 class, and seems to be improving round on round as he claimed a 5-3 scorecard to finish third overall.
Following last week's podium, this repeat visit sees Searle move into fourth in the overall standings. Meanwhile fellow Brits Max Anstie and Steven Clarke also secured valuable points, as Max rode two consistent motos for an 11th overall with Clarke in 17th overall. In the 450 class Adam Chatfield was also on form as he secured five points.
In front of an animated crowd, it was Honda's Ivan Tedesco who claimed a dominating double win in the 450 class to claim his first overall since 2005. The Honda rider was off the line and claimed the holeshot in both motos, ahead of fellow Honda rider Andrew Short, who pushed hard in both motos.Tedesco was on form though, and was able to break away and win both motos by a comfortable margin. In moto two, Short was in turn pushed hard by Kawasaki's Tommy Hahn. Hahn even led for a brief moment before Short upped the pace and pulled away for second. Hann ended the round in third overall with a 7-3 scorecard. Suzuki's Chad Reed struggled on the Thunder Valley Raceway, quallifying in 11th and only managing a 3-7 on the day.
Following a crash just two weeks ago, Mike Alessi turned out and tried to ride with a broken kneecap but unfortunatley the Alessi fell on the opening lap of moto one, and was unable to continue.
Meanwhile in the 250 class Jake Weimer kept Kawasaki's winning streak at Thunder Valley alive with a 2-1 scorecard, and also giving Weimer his first ever overall. "This was something huge for me,”boasted Weimer. "I didn't know if I was going to ever get an outdoor win. I got two good starts on my Kawasaki and I only made one small mistake in the second moto. I'm really excited because this is my first moto and overall wins.”
In moto one it was Christophe Pourcel that was hot off the line to secure first place. However, in the second race Pourcel was too eager and hit the gate. This left him with a fight from the back of the pack to finish sixth but still secured second overall.
The series now moves on to round six for the Monster Energy Motocross National at Red Bud on July 4.
LUCAS OILS AMA NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 5 – Thunder Valley, Lakewood,
Colorado, USA
OVERALL 450cc CLASS: 1 Ivan Tedesco (Hon) 25+25=50, 2 Andrew Short (Hon) 20+22=42, 3 Thomas Hahn (Kaw) 18+20=38, 4 Chad Reed (Suz) 16+18=34, 5 Michael Byrne (Suz) 15+15=30, 6 Josh Grant (Yam) 13+16=29, 7 Ricky Dietrich (Kaw) 12+13=25, 8 James Albertson (Yam) 14+10=24, 9 Kyle Summers (Hon) 11+11=22, 10 Jake Moss (Hon) 22+0=22, 11 Cody Cooper (Yam) 8+12=20, 12 Chris Blose (Hon) 10+8=18,... 23 Adam CHATFIELD (Kaw) 0+1=1,...
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 12) rounds: 1 Reed 195 points, 2 Short 181, 3 Tedesco 160, 4 Grant 151, 5 Michael Alessi 142, 6 Hahn 123, 7 Byrne 117, 8 Cooper 104, 9 Dietrich 88, 10 Brayton 79, 11 Wey 77, 12 Albertson 70,... 41 CHATFIELD 5,...
OVERALL 250cc CLASS: 1 Jake Weimer (Kaw) 22+25=47, 2 Christophe Pourcel (Kaw) 25+15=40, 3 Tommy SEARLE (KTM) 16+20=36, 4 Justin Barcia (Hon) 12+22=34, 5 Ryan Dungey (Suz) 15+18=33, 6 Broc Tickle (Yam) 20+13=33, 7 Brett Metcalfe (Hon) 14+16=30, 8 Blake Wharton (Hon) 18+10=28, 9 Tyla Rattray (Kaw) 13+12=25, 10 Darryn Durham (Yam) 11+9=20, 11 Max ANSTIE (KTM) 9+8=17, 12 Ben Evans (Hon) 8+7=15,... 17 Steven CLARKE (Suz) 7+1=8,...
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 12) rounds: 1 Pourcel 217 points, 2 Dungey 208, 3 Rattray 160, 4 SEARLE 153, 5 Wharton 144, 6 Metcalfe 141, 7 Canard 139, 8 Tickle 130, 9 Barcia 117, 10 Weimer 113, 11 Lemoine 79, 12 Hahn 70,... 16 ANSTIE 50,... 18 Steven CLARKE 41,...
NEXT ROUND: July 4 – Red Bud Track-n-Trail, Buchanan, Michigan, USA.
Tommy Searle's Stateside adventure continued in Thunder Valley, as the Brit claimed the final podium spot.