Hangtown National Moto 1 concludes with Ryan Dungey taking the win
The first round of the 2011 Lucas Oil American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Pro Motocross Championship kicked off with the Rockstar Energy Hangtown National this Saturday, May 21st, at Rancho Cordova, California.
The first race of the event turned out to be an intense battle between the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey and the TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Racing’s Chad Reed. Once the dust settled, Dungey walked away with the win, while Reed had to settle for a
runner-up finish. Monster Energy Kawasaki rider, Ryan Villopoto finished in third place.
As the race kicked off, America Honda’s Kevin Windham took the holeshot but was unable to hold on to his excellent start and ended up falling behind to land at sixth place as the race progressed.
The defending champion of the series, Dungey, picked up right where he left off in 2010. He had dominated the field in the previous season and the way he rode in the first race on Saturday, his intention of repeating last year’s performance was quite evident.
Once he snatched the lead from Windham, he kept on building on it and increasing the gap between him and the rest of the pack.
Reed, who was making his way to Rancho Cordova straight from a win at the final stop of the 2011 Monster Energy Supercross Championship and finished the season in second place, put up a determined fight. However, Dungey’s consistency deprived him of any
opportunity to capitalise on, leaving him to finish in second place.
The winner of the recently wrapped up AMA Supercross season, Villopoto rode impressively throughout the race. He kept pushing himself but was unable to move higher than third place due to some extraordinary riding by Reed and Dungey. He ended up finishing
the race in third place.
Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGR rider, Davi Millsaps, and Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe finished in fourth and fifth place respectively to round off the podium.
Dungey finds himself with an advantage after the first race, though Reed and Villopoto are still very much in contention for victory at the first stop of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
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