Story and Photos by Jeff Kardas

This past weekend, the Unadilla Valley Sports Center played host to round 8 of the 2008 Toyota AMA Motocross Nationals. Set in the rolling green hills near the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York, Unadilla has a long and storied history in American and International motocross racing. Not unlike several other races here over the past decade , this year’s event saw a bit of rain fall from the skies, along with wind, lightning and thunder, which when combined with some fairly solid racing throughout both classes, made for an epic event.

Motocross Class

While the end result was the same as usual – James Stewart winning both motos – there were a few bits of interest in the sport’s premier class, not the least of which was Stewart being challenged by a privateer in moto two. The first moto’s story was more about the racing for 2^nd-15^th, with several interesting battles taking place for riders sorting themselves out behind the unstoppable Stewart who’d made quick work of getting out front and putting a very large gap on the field. Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Michael Byrne continues his much-improved performances at the front of the field, and his performances at Unadilla just further brought the point across. Quick to get into 2^nd in the first moto, the Aussie veteran held off a good start for Team Yamaha’s Josh Hill (before he fell in a corner and out of the top 5) several charges by 3^rd place Red Bull Honda Racing’s Andrew Short and Stewart’s teammate Tim Ferry. Short and Ferry battled for nearly the duration of moto one, but when Ferry made his way around, he quickly put a sizable gap on him and headed off toward Byrne. Further back, remarkable rides were put in by Cody Cooper (more on him in a minute), Antonio Balbi and Chris Blose, who each finished inside the Top 10. Unfortunately, the excellent battles for the next few positions resulted in a finish line near-disaster, when Jeff Alessi launched the finish line (which had been placed at the exit of Gravity Cavity) while fighting for position with Jimmy Albertson and landed directly on top of JGR’s Josh Summey, who’d already completed the race and was rolling down the finish straight. As horrific as the incident was at the time, miraculously Summey came out of it relatively unscathed with no broken bones, but Alessi had at the very least popped his left shoulder out of socket.

Moto two went down under quite damp conditions after a significant ‘gully-washer’ hammered the track just after the 2^nd Lites moto, with rain falling steadily for the duration of the Motocross class moto number 2. Stewart still managed to start up front, although Cooper nabbed the holeshot, and the two raced off into the sunset as the rest of the field struggled with the slick surface. Cooper kept within striking distance of Stewart for the entire first half of the moto until Stewart slipped up, losing his front wheel in a corner but keeping the motor alive, getting up in time to remain in front of Cooper, although just barely. The two shared ruts in the same corner for about another lap and a half before James put the hammer down (albeit very carefully) and came home with yet another win to keep his perfect season hopes alive going into round 9 next weekend.

Results:

Moto One:

1. James Stewart (Kaw)
2. Michael Byrne (Suz)
3. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
4. Andrew Short (Hon)
5. Cody Cooper (Suz)
6. Josh Hill (Yam)
7. Sean Hamblin (Yam)
8. Antonio Balbi (Hon)
9. Chris Blose (Hon)
10. Nick Wey (KTM)
11. Josh Summey (Yam)
12. Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
13. Jeff Alessi (Hon)
14. Matt Boni (Hon)
15. Michael Willard (Yam)
16. Paul Carpenter (Hon)
17. Justin Sipes (Suz)
18. Kyle Tobin (Hon)
19. John Dowd (Suz)
20. Billy Laninovich (KTM)

Moto Two:

1. James Stewart (Kaw)
2. Cody Cooper (Suz)
3. Michael Byrne (Suz)
4. Antonio Balbi (Hon)
5. Matt Boni (Hon)
6. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
7. Sean Hamblin (Yam)
8. Jack Carpenter (Hon)
9. Jacob Morrison (Kaw)
10. Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
11. Jacob Marsack (Hon)
12. Nick Wey (KTM)
13. Justin Sipes (Suz)
14. Andrew Short (Hon)
15. Chad Charbonneau (Hon)
16. Billy Ainsworth (Kaw)
17. Dustin Gills (Suz)
18. Ricky Renner (Kaw)
19. Dustin Kendall (Suz)
20. Ryan Clark (Hon)

Overall:

1. James Stewart (Kaw)
2. Michael Byrne (Suz)
3. Cody Cooper (Suz)
4. Tim Ferry (Kaw)
5. Antonio Balbi (Hon)
6. Sean Hamblin (Yam)
7. Andrew Short (Hon)
8. Matt Boni (Hon)
9. Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
10. Nick Wey (KTM)

AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Points Standings (After 8 of 12 rounds):

1. James Stewart (400/8 wins)
2. Tim Ferry (280)
3. Andrew Short (246)
4. Michael Byrne (240)
5. Mike Alessi (221)
6. Davi Millsaps (203)
7. Nick Wey (182)
8. Cody Cooper (172)
9. Jeff Alessi (151)
10. Sean Hamblin (141)

Motocross Lites Class

There was more of the same in the Lites class, with the regular winner eventually making his way to the front in both motos, but not without more of a challenge than usual. Moto one saw MDK/KTM’s Martin Davalos up front with two of the Ryans – Villopoto and Dungey – all in tight formation. It was Dungey who lead the first lap, and after being passed by RV at one point was able to actually pass him back. Ultimately, as the moto shook out, Villopoto got into the lead and put a bit of a gap on Dungey who was holding tough and relatively close in 2^nd place. Davalos’ KTM wasn’t able to make it more than a few laps before failing, handing its rider a DNF after an impressive start. In his place, Josh Grant moved into a distant 3^rd behind the leaders and was pressured for several laps from the battle for 4^th-6^th behind him between Kyle Cunningham, Brett Metcalfe and Trey Canard, who’d moved up from a bad start to tail the trio. Grant eventually shook them off to ride home safely and round out the podium. Cunningham held impressively tough for 4^th, with Canard working past Metcalfe for 5^th. Moto two was much less predictable, for sure. After an uncharacteristic holeshot by Motosport/Xtreme Kawasaki’s Tommy Hahn, the race was red-flagged after nearly 9 minutes had elapsed due to a monsterous impending thunderstorm blanketed the area with lightning strikes. Following about a 20 minute wait, the decision was made to completely re-do the moto (making it another 30 minute + 2 laps) following the re-start. This time it was Dungey with the holeshot and a lead he would be able to hold for almost 3 entire laps over Villopoto, who again would not be denied the lead spot, despite the fact that it was handed to him via Dungey’s sloppy slide-out in front of the mechanic’s area that allowed it. As the track surface deteriorated somewhat and the old ‘slick’ Unadilla was revealed, the racing behind the leaders spread out quite a bit as riders just tried to stay upright. Brett Metcalfe was one who made a nice charge up through the field to end up 4^th at the checkers (and 3^rd overall), while Davalos’ KTM held together to get him to the line in 3^rd. Disappointingly way back were Grant and Canard, who’d suffered poor starts which kept them from factoring into the overall podium

Results:

Moto One:

1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3. Josh Grant (Hon)
4. Kyle Cuningham (Hon)
5. Trey Canard (Hon)
6. Brett Metcalfe (Yam)
7. Matt Goerke (KTM)
8. Nico Izzi (Suz)
9. Jake Weimer (Hon)
10. Jake Moss (Yam)
11. Matt Lemoine (Yam)
12. Bobby Kiniry (Hon)
13. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
14. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
15. Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
16. Phil Nicoletti (Kaw)
17. Justin Brayton (KTM)
18. Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
19. Mike Brown (Yam)
20. Broc Tickle (Yam)

Moto Two:

1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3. Martin Davalos (KTM)
4. Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
5. Nico Izzi (Suz)
6. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
7. Tommy Hahn (Kaw)
8. Jake Moss (Yam)
9. Matt Goerke (KTM)
10. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
11. Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
12. Josh Grant (Hon)
13. Trey Canard (Hon)
14. Matt Lemoine (Yam)
15.  Justin Brayton (KTM)
16.  Mike Brown (Yam)
17. Wil Hahn (Yam)
18. Ryan Morais (Yam)
19. Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
20. Sean Borkenhagen (Hon)

Overall:

1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
3. Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
4. Nico Izzi (Suz)
5. Josh Grant (Hon)
6. Matt Goerke (KTM)
7. Jake Moss (Yam)
8. Trey Canard (Hon)
9. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
10. Martin Davalos (KTM)

AMA Toyota Motocross Lites Championships (After 8 of 12 rounds):

1. Ryan Villopoto (391/7 wins)
2. Ryan Dungey (282)
3. Bret Metcalfe (231)
4. Jake Weimer (199)
5. Nico Izzi (183)
6. Trey Canard (173)
7. Ryan Sipes (153)
8. Austin Stroupe (152/1 win)
9. Kyle Cunningham (108)
10. Matt Lemoine (124)