“While we’ve already had an incredibly memorable season with Ryan Dungey emerging as the star of the future, the return of James Stewart provides a captivating storyline as we close out the season and head toward crowning a champion,” said MX Sports Pro Racing Vice President Davey Coombs. “Ryan appears to be on his way to making history, and by adding James to the mix, it will be a must-see turn of events as arguably the two biggest names in the sport right now battle it out.”

2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship: Standings at round 8

450 Class Championship Standings
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki, 368
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda, 273
Brett Metcalfe, Australia, Honda, 257
Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha, 238
Ben Townley, New Zealand, Honda, 223
Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., KTM, 219
Chad Reed, Australia, Kawasaki, 204
Ryan Sipes, Flaherty, Texas, Yamaha, 166
Kyle Chisholm, Valrico, Fla., Yamaha, 158
Kyle Regal, Kemp, Texas, Honda, 157

250 Class Championship Standings
Christophe Pourcel, France, Kawasaki, 340
Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda, 302
Dean Wilson, Scotland, Kawasaki, 294
Tyla Rattray, South Africa, Kawasaki, 286
Justin Barcia, Ochlocknee, Ga., Honda, 212
Blake Wharton, Pilot Point, Texas, Honda, 209
Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Yamaha, 209
Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda, 200
Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki, 195
Martin Davalos, Ecuador, Yamaha, 163

Moto 2 saw Ivan Tedesco hold on to an early lead until pressure from Chad Reed forced a mistake and Reed lead for the remainder of the moto. Reed threw away his goggles with 2 laps to go after using rolloffs in wet conditions.

Andrew Short, who holds second place points in the championship finished 10th in moto 2 increased the margin by more than 100 points which makes it impossible for anyone else to take the championship with only two rounds remaining and 100 points up for grabs.

However speedbump has suffered a broken kneecap while practicing in Pennsylvania. Round 4 of 12 of the series will be run without Mike Alessi lining up so it gives other riders like Chad Reed, Andrew Short and Josh Grant an opportunity to prove they are contenders for the championship.

The Rockstar Makita Suzuki team reported that Mike underwent successful left knee surgery and will make a full recovery which will see him back before the end of the season.

“There was no other damage to the knee beyond the broken kneecap,” said team manager, Roger DeCoster. “The outlook is better than expected, as we thought he was out for the year. It appears now that there’s a good chance he will be able to get back out there racing before the end of this season.”

“It was good to come away with a solid result at Glen Helen. I knew I had the speed and I knew the bike was good, it was just a matter of putting it all together at the same time,” said Reed.

Many people were expecting Chad to put in a much weaker performance after a two year absence from the outdoor motocross championship. You can imagine the surprise when he blitzed them all in practice and looked like he even could walk away with a win. However things didn’t quite go as expected &ellipse;

“I was slow off the line in the first moto and that put me mid-pack for a few laps. I had to go hard out to get back to the front and the leaders had made too much ground.

The track Glen Helen become extremely rough and rutted early in the day which may have contributed to Chad’s performance on the day. So with the Hangtown classic this weekend Chad will need to lift his game.

“I know what I need to work on this weekend, Hangtown isn’t my favourite track so I’ll just get my head down and focus on the job.

Being the consistent racer Chad Reed is, and knowing that they didn’t actually do any testing before the season opener, I’m sure will see a lot more of him this year, maybe even a podium or two.

“We’re looking good for the series, I’m feeling confident and I have a great team behind me, pushing me all the way.

Not to mention Chad has a Supercross only contract, he is racing the outdoors just because he wants to. I guess that’s the way it should be…

“After Glen Helen, I knew the decision to race outdoors again was the right one. Some people out there doubted me, and it will be good to prove them wrong.”

“It was tough,” said Villopoto “My starts out of the gate were good, but we can get better.”

450
1.Ryan Villopoto
2.Mike Alessi
3.Josh Grant
4.Chad Reed
5.Davi Millsaps
6.Tommy Hahn
7.Mike Brown
8.Cody Cooper
9.Weston Peick
10.Andrew Short

“I’m really looking forward to racing the Outdoors this year,” said Reed. “And I’m excited about it for several reasons: The last few years, I didn’t race Motocross because I really felt like I needed to take a break after the Supercross season. But this year, I feel so comfortable with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team and everybody has been so supportive that it just makes me want to get out there and race.

“Also, I’ve been impressed with the changes to the series that MX Sports has done and I think they’re taking it in the right direction. So I really want to be a part of that and support the series and the sport. My team and my sponsors have stepped up to make this happen and I can’t thank them enough.”

Not to say that Reed and Stewart are the only competition as there are several other strong contenders including Ryan Villipoto who is yet to compete in the 450 class for a full season and veterans like Tim Ferry, David Millsaps, Kevin Windham and many others including the wild card Jason Lawrence. Reed is yet to win the outdoors, with a best place of 2nd for the overall series in 2004. Maybe 2009 will see him on top once again.

The premier class is a little light on for entertainment given that Stewart moves into the lead on the first last, pulls away from the field and then coasts the last couple of laps due to the huge lead he builds up over the race. That said, behind Stewart the competition is a lot closer with the places changing every race.

In the lites class Ryan Villopoto dominated the opening moto at Spring Creek Motocross Park, finishing ahead of Ryan Dungey, but the second moto was a bit more eventful when Villopoto crashed on the first lap. “I just came down the first downhill and I was pushing hard,” stated Villopoto. “I think I hit a wet spot. The next thing I know I was rolling on the ground.”

It was enough to hand the overall win to Dungey, who opened up a commanding lead on the Lites field. But in the bigger picture, Villopoto didn’t give anything up to Dungey since his second place finish was more than enough to clinch the championship.

Check out the latest AMA motocross championship results

Monster energy Kawasaki riders James Stewart, Ryan Villipoto and Tim Ferry. James remains unchallenged and is leading the competition in the AMA motocross series. Ryan Villipoto, who is currently at the top of the points table in the AMA motocross lites series. Tim Ferry has had consistent results so far this season and is holding second place in the Motocross championship.

The motocross of nations will take place at the Donington Park Circuit in England on September 27-28.

“Mr. Lawrence is suspended indefinitely,” said AMA Director of Motocross/Supercross/ATV Ryan Holliday. “In addition, the $25,000 fine that was issued after the June incident and suspended contingent upon the successful completion of a one-year probation will now be imposed.” Holliday added that the AMA would not reconsider Lawrence’s status until the conclusion of the 2008 season.

Lawrence was notified of the suspension at the race on July 5, after making the following statement days earlier.

Hey everybody,

I want to start out by apologizing to everyone at RedBud, my team at Yamaha of Troy and the entire MX industry on what not only happened this past weekend, but also for the rest of the crap I’ve been involved with this past year.

Things are pretty much rock bottom for me right now. I was on top of the world when I won the Western Lites title a couple months ago and now I’m sitting here feeling like crap. I’ve got my side of the story regarding what went down at RedBud, yeah, but there’s no sense in telling it. The simple answer is I put myself into a situation that I shouldn’t have been in and because of that I’ve let a bunch of people down.

I’ve run into some problems away from the track that have affected my results and it’s become apparent that I’ve got to address them. I am taking action to deal with these issues and to make sure incidents like what happened this past weekend don’t occur again. I’m calling on people that have been there with me through thick and thin, relying on them to help me with my problems and get me on back on track as I’ve come to realize these are things I can’t handle myself.

Motocross is my life. I love the sport and don’t know where I’d be without it. And being a champion I’m constantly in the spotlight and my every move – good or bad – is discussed and debated online and in the press. It’s a lot to handle and, in all honesty, I’ve had a bad year dealing with it.

But that’s going to change. I am going to try to turn this into positive and use this opportunity to fix the things that are causing these problems in the first place.

Again, I’m extremely sorry for my actions. To guys like my agent, Scott Sepkovic, and to Scott Paul, who owns Yamaha of Troy. Also, to Chris McAvoy, my team manager, and Keith McCarty at Yamaha, plus my mom and all the guys at the AMA who’ve had to put up with my behavior, I’m sorry. Very, very sorry.

But most of all I want to apologize to my fans. If I’d have bought a ticket to see my favorite guy race at RedBud and he got kicked off the property for getting in a fight the day before I’d be mad as hell. So to all my fans and fans of motocross in general, I’m going to take the extra step to make sure we’re cool again. I promise to make amends to you guys because there’s nothing better than seeing you pumped up when I’m doing well – and still having my back when I’m not doing so well, like right now.

I’m not making any excuses. I screwed up good this past weekend and I’m prepared to do what it takes to get back where I was when I won the supercross title. I’m no angel and never will be. But what I will be is responsible for my actions, take the right measures to correct things and learn from my mistakes.

JLaw