After last week’s race in Texas, the 450 class in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship was starting to look like the sole domain of Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi. He had two dominating motos, a 31-point lead, and appeared to have things well under control. But…that all went out the window on the Monday following Freestone when he was testing out the track at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, PA. After trying different jump combos in one particular section, he reportedly bounced his chin off the bar pad. He then continued straight off the track, across a grass section, and a collision with a fence post caused the handlebar to spear him in the kneecap. The result? A broken patella, surgery last week, and a whole new 450 title chase.

Mike’s Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate, Chad Reed was suddenly poised as the guy to take over the points lead, though he joked that it wasn’t a role that he was relishing., since all the previous points leaders this season had gone out due to injury. Chad’s clearly the fastest of the remaining contenders, and he showed that on Sunday with a 1-1 finish. Chad had a brief duel with Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short in the first moto, and then he had to work his way from third and past the Honda duo of Short and Ivan Tedesco in moto two. But short of one brief crash caused by a branch that caused his front wheel to pop out of a rut, he had things well under control.

Maybe the craziest story of the weekend was Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ricky Dietrich, who’s been turning solid rides while filling in for an injured Ryan Villopoto. Ricky was scheduled not only for Saturday’s MX National in Pennsylvania, but a WORCS race the following day all the way across the country in Toutle, Washington. Ricky turned in a very respectable pair of moto finishes in Mt. Morris with an eighth and ninth for sixth overall, before catching a charter flight in Morgantown so he could make his connection to points west. He followed that up with a seventh on Sunday.

There were several standout rides on the weekend among the 450 riders, and the first went to Michael Byrne, who was sporting a happy 30th birthday butt patch on his Answer Racing gear during practice. His 4-5 moto finishes were his best of the season, and he’s made good progress since returning from a shoulder injury suffered at Daytona. Boost Mobile / ampm / Monster Energy / Troy Racing’s Nick Wey’s seventh in the first moto was his best finish of the season so far, as was Tommy Hahn’s fourth in the second moto.

We should have a good crop of returning riders at the next round in Colorado, including Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Timmy Ferry (who’s much more ready following recovery from his broken heel), and Honda Red Bull Racing’s Davi Millsaps (who was still too sore to ride following his gnarly Hangtown crash). Also slated to return is Jason Lawrence, but…we’ll wait and see on that one.

Reed takes over the red plate as the points leader, and has a 19-point margin over his sidelined teammate. But, there are rumors of Alessi trying to make a return to action as early as Colorado.

In the 250 class Christophe Pourcel (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) took his second overall win of the season, but the first where he backed up a first moto win…and his record there is a perfect 4-for-4. Unfortunately, part of that second moto win came due to a crash by Trey Canard (Geico Powersports Honda), who was leading when he went down hard with two laps remaining. Trey has been close to taking his first moto win this season, and it was clear that he was pushing hard in an effort to not only get the moto win, but the overall as well. Unfortunately, a bobble and trip over the bars resulted in a gnarly endo and a broken arm for Trey, certainly not the result he was looking for.

Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) had a challenging weekend, with a crash in the first moto. His charge back through the pack was pretty amazing, considering the depth of talent in the class this year, but with Pourcel riding as fast as he is, it’s tough to give up that much track position early. Dungey made it back to third behind Canard in the first moto, and had to work his way past Tommy Searle (Muscle Milk MDK KTM), and Justin Barcia (Geico Powersports Honda) in the second moto. Add in Canard’s crash where he picked up another spot, and Dungey ended up in second for the moto, and second overall.

How about some standouts on the day? Tommy Searle scored a podium finish thanks to his 4-3 day, and has been showing some improved speed over the last couple rounds. He’s also been edging out his former MX GP rival, Tyla Rattray, which has surprised some of the GP observers on the AMA circuit. Apparently Tyla used to have Searle’s number over there, and it was a rare day when Searle would beat him.

With riders from the two 250 super-teams (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki and Geico Powersports Honda), and Dungey filling quite a few of the top ten spots from week to week, it seems tough for anyone else to crack the top ten. The Division 7 / Star Racing / Yamaha duo of Broc Tickle and Matt Lemoine both made it, with Tickle leading the way in seventh with his 9-8 scores…and that was after starting outside the top 20 in moto one after a rough start.
With Pourcel’s 1-1 day, he also takes over the points lead in the 250 class from Ryan Dungey. It should be interesting to see how these guys fare in the high altitude of Thunder Valley in two weeks.

The women also raced in High Point, and it was another 1-1 day for Ashley Fiolek (Honda Red Bull Racing). As per usual, her closest rival was Jessica Patterson (Honda of Houston), but consistency has been plaguing JP in her quest to unseat Ashley from atop the standings. Maybe the best battle of the day was between Vicki Golden and Sherri Cruse who traded positions back and forth in the first moto. Sherri edged out Vicki…this time. But at this point they’re still tied for points in the overall battle for third spot in the series.

Be sure to check back in two weeks for the scoop on what’s new as the series moves to Colorado.