Report and photos by James Lissimore  

The Red Bull Airforce was back in action at Hangtown. It must have been nice for the guys to not have to hit the center of a stadium at night for once. 

Simon Homans made the trip out from Quebec to try his hand at an AMA Motocross national. Looking to get in a warm up before the Canadian series starts next weekend, he borrowed a 450 with the help of Yamaha of Troy. Unfortunately, Simon admittedly rode a little tight and was off pace during Saturday’s new timed qualifiers, failing to qualify for Sunday’s motos. 

Michael Willard was also out at Hangtown to get one last race in before next weekends Canadian opener in Ste. Julie. He was only able to muster 23-25 moto scores for 30th overall. 

Brazilian rider Antonio Balbi  showed that last weekend’s Prequel podium wasn’t a fluke with another strong ride at Hangtown. The Honda privateer finished 13th overall after putting in a sold 11th place finish in the final moto. 

Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey started off his outdoor season with a consistent 3-3 for the final spot on the podium. 

The first Lites moto saw a great 4 way battle for the lead in the opening laps that featured Dungey(62), Ben Townley(101), Josh Grant(24) and Ryan Villopoto(not pictured). 

Monster Kawasaki’s Villopoto managed to motor away from the pack in moto 1, but couldn’t catch his teammate Townley in the second moto, forcing him to settle for second overall on the day. 

After not making the top 40 in lap times during Saturday’s timed qualifiers, Moto XXX’s Yoshide Fukudome was the first winner of the AMA’s new consolation moto format where the top 2 riders get to be alternates for the Sunday program. When several riders failed to line up, Fukudome made it in and went 25-38 for 36th overall. 

Someone forgot to tell Ricky Carmichael that he retired last year. The part timer showed up at Hangtown as prepared as always and put on a great show with James Stewart, battling with Stewart right to the finish in the first moto but coming up short in second. In the final moto he got out to the early lead and never looked back, notching another win in his already storybook career. 

Like his training partner Carmichael, Townley jumped out to the early lead in the final Lites moto and took the win and the overall, his first outdoor victory since arriving in America. 

Honda’s Davi Millsaps put in his best ride since coming back from a broken femur. Millsaps holeshot the final moto and capitalized on James Stewart’s late moto crash and subsequent brake problems to nab second in the moto. His 5-2 was good enough for 4th overall. 

BTO Sports/Butler Brothers Doug DeHaan was the lone Canadian to qualify for Sunday’s motos in the Motocross class. The Ontario rider finished 23rd overall. 

Dusty Klatt didn’t exactly have the weekend he was hoping for but his 11th in the second lites moto after a poor start was a good sign of things to come. His first moto didn’t go as well, as he got a decent start and was running in 7th but crashed on the first lap and got run over by a couple of riders. By the time he remounted and got the bike fired he was almost a lap down but he put his head down and finished the moto. His 34-11 moto finishes were good for 14th overall. 

Tim Ferry proved that his Supercross success was no fluke, as he rode to solid 3-3 moto finishes for 3rd overall in the motocross class. Steve Matthes in all his wisdom booked a flight home that required him to leave before the end of the second moto and therefore could not perform any of his required man friend duties at the podium. The word is that he’s now been cut from Team Ferry. 

Even after a 146 wins, RC is still as happy as ever to top the podium.