What Really Happened: Hangtown National

By: Motocross.com

Posted: 06/04/09

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Words and photos: Jeff Kardas

For 41 years they've been holding national-level races at the Hangtown/Dirt Diggers/Prairie City OHV area located just outside of Rancho Cordova, California. Just a short drive from the state capital of Sacramento, Hangtown is the longest-running venue on the AMA National circuit, and this year's race was probably one of the most interesting in its history.

Marking the first time the race has ever been held on a Saturday, the expectations for crowd count were up in the air (as they will be for all of the Nationals this summer), but it appeared to be only slightly less than in the previous few years. More importantly was the fact that the 2nd 450 moto was actually broadcast LIVE on SpeedTV at 9PM EDT and 6PM on the west coast. That's a huge deal, and the first time it's ever happened for our little sport, so be sure and appreciate its significance. It'll happen a few more times this year too, namely at High Point (LIVE on NBC!), Thunder Valley, and Washougal. As much as a few of the local fans may gripe about the switch to Saturdays, there's no doubt they're loving it while watching it live on television on Saturdays just before they go to load up to race for themselves on Sunday.

Familiar soil that makes for great racing.

The track itself was more or less the same as it was last year, with the exception of the first turn area which was switched around a bit. The Dirt Diggers did add a whole bunch more sand to supplement what they added last year. In fact, they estimated the addition of 1200 tons this time around, not to mention a whole bunch of rice hulls, which sort of act as saw dust and help retain moisture in the soil. Well, it certainly wasn't dusty this weekend, nor was it muddy, so what they did seemed just about perfect. Here's our beef with it: It looked like Red Bud. It looked like Freestone. It looked like Millville. It looked like Lakewood. It looked like... well, you get the idea – the tracks are all starting to look alike (although we'd imagine that Hangtown tastes the best). Granted, this soil make-up – heavy on the sand and other moisture-preservers – makes for some great race tracks and incredible conditions, it also removes much of their character. Blue-groove hard-pack in So-Cal, hard red clay in Texas, deep rutted dark clay at High Point – that's a big part of what's made the Nationals so epic in the past, and we can't help but feel that it's going the way of the 2-stroke. On the other hand, if perfect soil and no dust are tops on our list of complaints, then things must not be too bad – and they aren't. In fact, this is a great season so far and with all of the race-day changes, it's actually a pretty exciting season to be a part of. Let's check out what really happened at Hangtown...

Ryan Villopoto

OK we'll throw out a few jaw-droppers first, just in case you've been living under a rock (or very limited TV and internet access since last weekend). Ryan Villopoto is out for the season. Mike Alessi won his first premier class National. Seven riders were penalized a position for jumping while the new caution flag was displayed (including 250 winner Christophe Pourcel and 450 moto 2 winner Josh Grant). Josh Grant won a 450 moto (then got demoted to 2nd). Jason Lawrence got a black flag, and it wasn't even because he blatantly jumped over the gate for the 2nd moto. Now, for the details.

It's true, Monster Energy/Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto – a favorite of many to win the 2009 450 title – is out for the season to get a childhood knee injury mended. Apparently Ryan tweaked his knee just right in mid-week testing after his dominant Glen Helen performance, and felt that this time it wasn't just going to correct itself. Under the knife he goes, with no intention of returning this summer. It must've been a touch choice for him and the team to make after such a brilliant start to the season, not to mention that ride of his at the final Supercross of the season. In speaking with him afterwards, he seemed almost fine with it though, as he'd been dodging that bullet for his entire pro career and finally gave in to fate. Farewell, young prince, we'll see ya at Anaheim 1.

Reed is gaining momentum.

It's also true that Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki's Mike Alessi is now the odds-on favorite to inherit the 450 title – although not with 100% certainty. We wouldn't say it's his title to lose, exactly, especially with his teammate Chad Reed gaining in speed, fitness and comfort on the bike. As is clear to everyone reading this by now, Alessi was able to chase down several top riders to gain the win in moto one, despite the little mishap that left him on the ground in the first half of the first lap. The really remarkable thing here, though, is that Mike Alessi actually passed other riders on the track during a race. When's the last time you remember that happening? Of course with starts like Mikey gets there's usually only one direction to go, and that's backwards, but still it was nice to see that he's capable of moving forward through the pack almost as good as he is at moving back through it. His hounding of Grant in the 2nd moto was solid in every sense, and he definitely was pushing the JGR/Yamaha rider, but ultimately never made the pass. Did he make it because he didn't need to? Maybe, but it sure looked like he was trying to get by, and the fact that Reed was closing in on both of them at a rapid rate probably increased his sense of urgency too. Clearly there's a lot going on over in the Suzuki pits these days, what with two "top" guys in the same truck (along with Byrner, don't forget about Byrner). The team seems to be putting a lot of effort into Reed at the moment, and since his off-season testing was pretty much non-existent, they're doing a lot of it right now in the middle of the series. They barely got his bike together in time to pass tech at Hangtown, but after they did he proceeded to bust out the fastest lap in timed qualifying (just like he did at Glen Helen). In addition, based on his very hard charge all the way to the last corner at Hangtown at a pace that was significantly greater than that of Grant and Alessi, we'd guess his fitness is just about where it needs to be. Which leads us to a prediction: Reed will win at least one moto at Freestone. What do you think?

It was good to see Hot Sauce back in the saddle.

Rejuvenated or where they should have been all along, Red Bull Honda Racing seems to be coming along. Ivan Tedesco seemed absolutely electrified this weekend, after finally getting great starts and capitalizing on the mistakes of others, he found himself in the top 3 all afternoon, ending up 2nd at the end of the day. He was just plain aggressive while battling with Alessi in moto two, and as long as he keeps getting those starts, he should be able to redeem himself while looking for a new job (or contract renewal) for 2010. Also excellent even more so than usual was Andrew Short, who had an excellent battle with Reed in the 2nd moto. On a bit of a tangent here, we must mention Geico Powersports Honda's lone 450 rider Daniel Reardon, because he was right behind that battle for its duration, and eventually even got past Short. That was a huge surprise for a lot of people, but not to the Aussies who know that Dan's a 450 man, so there should be a lot more where that came from this summer. Back to Red Bull Honda guys, though, and the brilliance that was Tedesco and Short was offset by Millsaps. Davi was clearly suffering from an ankle injury, but a crash in moto two put him on his face and out of the race – which in a class stacked like this one is probably means any hopes of a top-3 in the series is unlikely. Afterwards, Millsaps reportedly denied a hospital trip to suffer through his injuries like a man – a chunk of flesh off his tongue and a cut on his nose – but he'll be fine, unless the ankle's not good by this weekend.

Lawrence continues his downward spiral.

Let's see, we've talked about RV, Alessi, Reed, the Honda guys, what else was there... oh yes, Jason Lawrence. Where to begin? As usual, there was no shortage of drama surrounding the Jlaw camp, but this time it wasn't limited to the man himself. Nope, now it's spilled over onto the team's rookie Max Anstie, who was very late to staging for his first moto, and was thus given last gate pick. This happened to James Stewart last year at Red Bud, so it's nothing new that DMG (dba AMA Pro Racing) came up with for this instance. Next up were a variety of rumors about what Jason himself did, which really is nothing new – in fact, every single weekend there are a bunch of rumors, only half of which turn out as true.  We heard about a run-in with a police officer for not wearing a helmet on his pitbike in the pits, to looking through parts bins for spares for another rider (without the permission of the team who's bins he was digging through), to throwing things at an AMA official. Keep in mind that these were just the rumors and unsubstantiated truths. The following list is things we KNOW occurred: an even more anti-AMA/authority paint job on his helmet; riding out of staging to check out the track (a big no-no), which led to him getting last gate pick (that makes 2 out of 3 for Team JLaw who received that one); received a black flag on lap one, DQ'ing him for quite literally bunny-hopping the gate in the 2nd moto. By now there's no doubt everyone reading this report has seen some version of the various camera angles of that maneuver – and an impressive maneuver it was. There's a lot of debate whether it was intentional, delusional, accidental, or just a mockery. The truth will never be known, which leaves us with opinion, and here is mine: Intentional, and meant to mock the system, which would also go along with his public acknowledgement of such by the words on his helmet the past two weekends. When AMA Pro Racing decided to DQ him for the action, they were well within the written word of the rulebook, and considering the fact that Jason is on probation until May 2010 (and just came off a probation for the previous year), he should feel lucky they didn't boot him for the season. Want another prediction? Jason won't make it past High Point – he'll be out before then. It is a shame for sure, but we've been saying that for a couple of years now and at some point it's not a shame, it's just a pain. The guy is a great rider and is very fun to watch on the track, but he's there so rarely that a lot of people forget if they actually dig his riding style or not. Let's hear your opinion!

Grant was one of the many to fall victim to a new flagging system.

Enough about that, and more about racers who actually raced – and unfortunately for about a half dozen of them, they were also penalized by race officials. You see, there's this new caution flag that was introduced this season. It's intent is to be somewhere between a red cross flag and the yellow flag, although to be honest it seems it is precisely the same as the red cross flag. The concept is: If ya see this yellow flag with the red slash on it, your wheels cannot leave the ground and you must hold your position due to a hazard ahead. Several riders got bit by it at Hangtown, not the least of whom were Josh Grant (while leading the 2nd 450 moto) and Christophe Pourcel. Both were penalized one finishing position, which put Grant to 2nd and Pourcel to 3rd – or, 3 points for Grant and 2 for Pourcel. Um, OUCH, they will both probably feel that one by the end of the season since these two championships will likely go down to the wire. So of course there's an uproar from both of the teams and fans of all shapes and sizes, claiming it's crazy, it's great, it's wrong, it's right so let's just look at the facts. The riders are reminded of the flags at rider's meeting every Saturday morning before practice. The team managers have memorized the rule books, and let's not forget that these guys have been racing since before they started public school – they know how to watch for flags on a race track. So, no excuses. What's really bizarre is now AMA Pro/MX Sports and/or both are considering changing the flag to something more noticeable. In other words, something that's apparently already confusing may now be changed again, mid-stream, to make it easier to see or comprehend? That sounds like compounding the problem if anything, but we shall see how it pans out (Freestone's riders meeting: "OK guys, remember that flag everyone was confused about last week? Well, we're changing its shape and color and now you gotta look for THIS one instead... so, uh, just forget about that other one...").

There was a 250 class at Hangtown too, and as expected, it was a doozy. It is so incredibly fun and cool that such a huge field of talent is assembled at the Nationals this summer, and to think a freakin' kid that's still wet behind the ears can almost run away with a moto is just plain fantastic. Barcia was stunning out front in that first moto, putting a healthy gap on Christophe Pourcel until about 5 laps from the end. That's when the fire started to fizzle just enough that Pourcel could inch up and make the pass with two to go. But it's not like Barcia just fell away, no sir, he stuck on the Frenchman's wheel straight to the line, and congratulated him afterwards. It was a great ride, unfortunately the bottom fell out in moto two with a crummy start followed by a hard crash that also claimed Austin Stroupe. Before the crash though, Barcia came from around 15th to 10th by lap two, blowing past Weimer, Lemoine, Rattray and Searle in the process. Up to 6th by lap 6, and he hit a wall with Blake Wharton written all over it – then Tickle got around, and Stroupe came knockin' on the door. Justin went down fairly hard on the blind finish line jump, where Stroupe ran straight into his bike and over the bars, with apparently a broken or dislocated wrist (although that has NOT been confirmed) to show for it. Barcia eventually got back going after delivering approximately 2,397 dramatic kicks to his CRF250R before bringing it back to life. He was credited with 29th for the moto.

Bonds is in for the Texas round as well.

Otherwise, Dungey nearly duplicated Pourcel's moto scores from the previous week, going 7-1 for 3rd overall, and maintaining a 2 point leading going into the 3rd round this weekend in Texas. Trey Canard has to be a favorite going into Texas, too, since he's proven to be just about as fast as anyone and is quite used to the heat and humidity that's brewing for everyone's enjoyment this Saturday. Also remarkable was Broc Tickle, who very few figured would be annihilating his teammates and running the pace of a select few right around the top 5. Broc's looking great out there, and it seems like he'll be able to keep that ball rolling.

A few other bits of info that are worth rounding up before we sign off here...

Bobby Bonds, the 2008 WORCS champion, moved over from red bikes in the Valli Motorsports rig and onto Sean Hamblin's vacant blue one. He's riding well, and appears to be somewhat committed to the Nationals as he also plans to be in Texas. He nailed a hard-fought 13th in the first moto, which is nearly as impressive as his WORCS counterparts Mike Brown and Ricky Dietrich pulled off  at Glen Helen. Speaking of Dietrich... a well publicized rumor that's as of now not been substantiated by a press release is that he'll be on Tim Ferry's factory Kawasaki beginning this weekend. Additionally, Branden Jesseman is said to be mounting up Villopoto's vacant steed, which should make for a couple of top-15'ish at worst factory Kawi's in the 450 class.

High-profile guys who qualified this week but didn't last: Troy Adams (20-12, 16th OA), Tyler Wharton (21-28, 26th OA), Adam Chatfield (29-29, 31 OA), Sean Hackley, Jr. (38-30, 37th OA).

High-profile guys who didn't make it (for various reasons): Gavin Gracyk, Kyle Keylon, Mike LaPaglia, Jesse Casillas, Robby Bell, Dennis Jonon, Justin Soule, Jason Thomas, Daniel Blair.

WMA's Vicki Golden charging hard into the first turn.

And last but certainly not least, the WMA once again started off the racing action at an AMA Motocross National. Moto one started like the last two had finished, with factory Honda's Ashley Fiolek way out ahead from start to finish. While last weekend she pretty much smoked everyone, this time newcomer Vicki Golden managed to gain a fair bit on her by the end, with only about 4 seconds difference between them at the end. Another 10 seconds or so back was Jessica Patterson, who looked to be struggling just a bit. Moto two was another story, however, as Patterson jumped into the lead early and pretty much checked-out on Fiolek, putting over 12 seconds on her by the end. Golden was once again, ahem, golden, and came across a solid 3rd, putting her 3rd overall behind Patterson and overall winner Fiolek. Ashley will retain the red background number one plate for Texas, as the women seem to be fitting in fairly well with the fans and media, who are certainly giving them the best coverage ever, if not yet on par with the men.

That about does it for this round – of course we missed a bunch, and we're certainly aware of most of it, but space is precious. Hopefully next weekend at Freestone Raceway in Wortham, Texas, we'll hit on the riders and topics we missed this time around, but you won't know for sure unless you come back and check for yourself; same time, same place.