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Stewart And Villopoto Take Texas AMA Motocross

James Stewart won the Motocross Class, and Ryan Villopoto won the Motocross Lites class at the Freestone Texas AMA National June 8th. Swealtering 103 degree heat and 25 mph winds greeted the Nations best racers in Texas. Nearly half the riders failed to finish the 2nd set of motos due to the heat.

Washington’s Ryan Villopoto won both motos of the Motocross Lite’s division, but it wasn’t easy. He started both races on the far inside gate, which meant he had to have a big jump off the gate or he would get pinched off by the track banners. He did indeed get the jump in moto 1, and won the BTOSports.com holeshot award. Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey rode nearly the entire race in 2nd place, with Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe close behind. Stroupe never really got close enough to Dungey to make a move, so the finishing order was Villopoto, Dungey and Stroupe.

The second moto Villopoto again chose the inside gate, but this time he was pinched off and started the first moto just inside the top ten. MDK KTM’s Ryan Sipes grabbed the holeshot and led the first lap. Dungey and Stroupe both got past Sipes early on, and hoped to pull away before Villopoto could get through traffic. The plan worked for about 10 minutes, then Villopoto came through all of the front runners putting up lap times nearly 3 seconds faster than anyone else. His lap times were comparable to those of James Stewart! After Villopoto was in the lead, the leaders were the same as in moto #1, Dungey was a distant second with Stroupe a little out of striking distance. They would finish in that order, with Villopoto winning his 4th and 5th straight motos to take firm control of the points standings.

The first moto of the Motocross class saw James Stewart take the same gate Villopoto used, but the results were not quite as good. Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi nailed the start from the 10th gate. Alessi led the first several laps, the first laps of the season that Stewart didn’t lead. Stewart eventually got close to Alessi and took the lead after a brief battle. Stewart then spun out, losing the back end “They over-watered the track, and I had hard pack tires on”. It wasn’t long before he had the lead back and cruised to victory. Andrew Short, Copy Cooper, Davi Millsaps and Ivan Tedesco all battled for 3rd place with Short coming out on top, then the freight train of Cooper, Millsaps and Tedesco.

In moto #2, Stewart stuck to his inside gate, and Alessi again took the holeshot. Stewart got to the front much quicker this time – the big surprise was Jeff Alessi was running a strong 3rd. Eventually Tedesco and Millsaps got by the #801 of Alessi, but then Tedesco crashed out after a landing from a jump. Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry, who started way back in moto #1, was running a strong 3rd. Millsaps ended up 4th a full 34 seconds behind Ferry, and 59 seconds behind Stewart. Short would finish 6th in the moto, but 3rd overall. In the press conference Short was visibly drained. Stewart and Alessi looked like they were ready to race again.

For full results please visit www.AMAMotocross.com

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