We’re at the midpoint of the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, and it’s been a good show so far. We’re up to seven first-time class winners during the season (Ryan Villopoto, Christophe Pourcel, Ivan Tedesco, Chad Reed, Mike Alessi, Jake Weimer, and Josh Grant), and who knows how many more we could add to the list before the end of the season. Who’s prime on the list of possible winners?

Andrew Short (Honda Red Bull Racing) looked good in the first moto, and appeared to be on the way to his first moto win. What happened? We’re not exactly sure. But he’ll have to work on some speed to hold off the other title contenders.

Tommy Searle (Muscle Milk MDK KTM) is another possible winner in the 250 class. He showed some speed during practice when he was the top qualifier. He seems to have gotten more comfortable with the pace and schedule of the U.S. races, and it shows. He’s definitely stepped up to another level than he was at the beginning of the season.

As far as Red Bud’s racing action, in the 250 class it was Weimer (2-4) taking his second straight overall win. Confidence in his starts and consistency won out, as his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate, and series points leader Pourcel, got taken down in a first turn crash in the first moto. Pourcel put in a great charge to get back to eighth place. That’s the second week in a row that he’s had to do that, following his tangle with the Thunder Valley starting gate. Pourcel came back to take the second moto win, and even maintained his points lead in the process. After the first moto, where Ryan Dungey had taken the win, Ryan wiped out the points lead that Pourcel had built, and even taken a two-point lead. But in the second moto, Dungey had a hard swap and over-the-bars pirouette, and with his eight-place finish, handed the series points lead back to Pourcel.

Interestingly, Pourcel mentioned that after the season he wouldn’t be a part of the French MXoN effort, saying that he’d be getting some work done on one of his collarbones.

In the 450 class, it was Grant’s day, as he used a second and a first to score his (and the JGRMX Toyota/Yamaha team’s) first overall win in a 450 National. Josh had put in an impressive charge in the first moto, moving from seventh and nearly catching Chad Reed (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) at the checkered flag. He also seems to have the speed to reel in and pass most of the front-runners at this point, like he did with the Honda Red Bull Racing duo of Tedesco and Short at Hangtown and Red Bud. The closest to him in speed seems to be Reed, and though Chad still seems to be struggling with his mysterious stomach ailment, he was definitely faster-looking at Red Bud than he was at Lakewood. Tedesco completed the podium.

This was the first event of the season where the women haven’t accompanied the men on the schedule, and there was a 2-Stroke Challenge Series event used to fill in during the intermission. What made this particularly cool for the fans was the addition of an array of local heroes, but also a solid sprinkling of former National Champs, like Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Emig, and Jeff Stanton (who doubles up as a Michigan Mafia member). Predictably, Ricky Carmichael walked away with the event. True, he’s not in the same peak physical shape that he was in during his reign in the sport, but there is still a GOAT insignia on the back of his Fox pants.

How about equipment? Emig opted out after practice (claiming clutch problems on his borrowed KX250), and the Honda crew put together a pretty trick ’07 Honda (complete with a white rear fender to make it look like the current race team bikes), and Josh Lichtle was aboard one of the Service Honda AF500s. Fortunately for the fans, the Rockstar Makita Suzuki squad had a spare for Ricky Carmichael’s RM250, after he blew one up clearing LaRocco’s Leap during the morning practice session.

All in all, it was a cool chance to hear the crisp bark of a two-stroke, watch RC and Stanton in action again, and get a whiff of some sweet 2-stroke exhaust. While the current crop of 4-strokes is hard to beat, it’s no wonder everyone gets so nostalgic about 2-strokes...that smell (along with some freshly tilled dirt) is probably something well engrained in everyone’s “favorite things” category.

Here are some predictions and observations for the second half of the season.

There’s an almost even 20-point gap between each of the top three riders (Reed, Grant, and Short) in the 450 class right now. For any of those guys to make a move, they’ll need to put between a couple points per moto on their nearest competitor

We like the new one-day format for the Nationals, but holy smokes that’s a full day. Don’t blink.

We spotted a prototype of a new carbon composite helmet in the pits (and have been sworn to secrecy for now), and also spotted a carbon fiber Tag handlebar on Broc Hepler’s idle Yamaha in the pits.

JGRMX Toyota/Yamaha had two riders in the top five, as Cody Cooper finished fifth, courtesy of a 6-5 day.

Look for Dungey to start doing “hot weather” dances. When the temperature goes up, he seems to have an advantage over his rivals, and he needs to make up some points on Christophe Pourcel.

MCRMX’s Tyler Bowers put in maybe his best Nationals effort to date, finishing eighth overall with an 8-9 day.

How about injuries this weekend? Tyla Rattray (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) went out with what appeared to be a broken thumb. The same goes for Ryan Clark.

Tommy Hahn went down hard, and got checked out at a local hospital. He’ll be okay, but will probably take a little post-concussion time off from the bike.

Jason Lawrence cased LaRocco’s leap really hard and abused his ankles, but came back to finish the second moto.

It sounds like Davi Millsaps (Honda Red Bull Racing) is getting close to a return to action following his hard crash at Hangtown; and with a cracked hip at the same race, Austin Stroupe (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) is getting closer to a return, but the team hasn’t picked a race yet.

Now everyone gets a weekend off to heal up a bit, and get ready for the next round of the series in Millville, MN, on July 18th.