Canidae/Motosport Kawasaki's Tommy Hahn earned the Ricky Carmichael Hard Charger award last Saturday for his come-from-behind performance in the Hangtown Motocross Classic, round two of the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship.
Kawasaki's Tommy Hahn receives the Ricky Carmichael Hard Charger Award for his come-back performance during the Saturday moto at the Hangtown Motocross Classic.
Hahn found himself buried in the pack at the end of the first lap of the second 450 Class moto at Hangtown and immediately put his head down and went to work. The Decatur, Texas rider did not slow down until he had passed 19 of his competitors, climbing from a lowly 27th position on the score sheets to a solid eighth-place finish.
For his efforts, Hahn earned this week's Ricky Carmichael Hard-Charger Award, which is handed out at each round of the series. The award goes to the rider who passes the most riders in any given championship moto, from completion of the first lap through the checkered flag. It is named in honor of Ricky Carmichael, the 10-time AMA Motocross Champion and winner of a record 102 AMA Motocross races, not to mention five AMA Supercross crowns and 48 main event wins.
Hahn, who finished the day ninth overall based on his 11-8 moto finish, is now ranked a career-best fifth in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship standings as the series heads to the Lone Star State, where he will no doubt have a lot of friends and family on hand to watch himself and his younger brother Wil of the Muscle Milk/MDK KTM team.
Coincidentally, Tommy Hahn passed 18 riders in his first moto, climbing from 29th at the end of the first lap to eleventh at the finish.
Other fine come-from-behind rides at Hangtown included 250 Class series points leader Ryan Dungey, who crashed in the second turn of his first moto and was nearly last to get going. By the end of the first lap Dungey was up to 24th place, according to the AMA Pro Racing electronic scoring. From there the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider made it past 17 of his competitors to finish the moto in seventh.
Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto also deserves mention for the heroic effort he put in during the first 450 Class moto. The series points leader going into Hangtown, Villopoto was riding with what a knee injury he suffered some 48 hours before the race. After crashing in the same corner as Dungey did in his race, Villopoto went from 33rd place to 16th by the end of the moto, passing 17 riders along the way. However, after consulting with his team, Villopoto decided to not participate in the second moto and will have to drop out of the series in order to undergo major knee surgery.
Live streaming video of the first motos of Saturday's Freestone National from Wortham, Texas, can be found on
www.allisports.com, beginning at 2 p.m. ET, which is 7 p.m. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for international fans. There will also be a same-day Saturday evening telecast of the 450 class on SPEED TV beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Check your local listings for the time and channel.
