Photo Update after Round 1 of the 2006 AMA Toyota Motocross Championships.

Photos by James Lissimore

Could this be the start of the best outdoor motocross season in recent history?

The Hangtown track and facility featured many upgrades for 2006.

The battle.

The victor. James Stewart won his first-ever MX class overall at Hangtown. Can he do it again this weekend in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania?

Yamaha's Chad Reed rode well at Hangtown and came away with a 2-3 for third overall.

David Vuillemin had an offer on the table to race in Canada this summer. He gave it up to race for Motoworld and redeem himself in the AMA nationals. His 4-5 for 4th overall proves that he has the speed for a podium.

Stewart has not topped the podium outdoors since his time in the 125 class.

Perfect form: Doug DeHaan scored a point in the first moto with a 20th. He gets better as the series moves to the eastern tracks so look for his results to improve this weekend.

Sponsored by Buddy Ford? Coors Light backed Steve Lamson raced the MX class and finished 22-17 at his hometown race.

Check out Jolene Van Vugt in her new M2R gear.

Jessica Foster is racing in France this weekend but will be back in Canada for the Gopher Dunes national.

Foster finished 17-16 at the Hangtown round of the WMA nationals.

Van Vugt finished 15-19.

KTM's Mike Alessi (800) used excellent starts to win both motos at Hangtown.

Australian Brett Metcalfe finished 5-2 for second overall!

Another Aussie, Andrew McFarlane was third overall.

Casey Lytle's first weekend on the job as the KTM Team Manager went pretty well with a 1-1 sweep by Mike Alessi.

Pre-race favourite, Grant Langston, struggled with his arm injury and placed out of the points in both motos. Don't count him out of the championship just yet, Grant likes to do things the hard way.

Dennis Jonon is wearing FXR gear.

Eric Nye is racing MX2 West for KTM Canada this summer.

Michael Willard holeshot and led his Saturday qualifier over some big names like Ramsey and Marmont. Unfortunately he crashed early in the race but still qualified easily. His times were fast all weekend but he struggled with crashes and a flat tire in moto two after he had moved into the top 10 after a mid-pack start.

Donnie McGourty will stay in the U.S. for the summer and race the U.S. nationals.

Michael Sleeter will race MX2 West for the Royal Distributing KTM team.

Can Ryan Villopoto win at Mt. Morris this weekend?

For Top Photos from Hangtown, click here for Racer X Illustrated's
Sunline/SixSixOne photo report.