Moto XXX Motocross Round 1 Race Report: Sacramento, California
The opening round of the 2007 AMA Motocross Championships kicked off this past weekend in Sacramento, California. The 39th annual Honda Hangtown Classic was the site of round one and unlike last year the weather was sunny and warm all weekend. Riders were welcomed back to the great outdoors with a perfectly prepped track, nice weather, and a totally new qualifying schedule.
Saturday practice/qualifying got under way with the team's newest Lites class recruit, Mitch Dougherty, taking to the track first. This was Dougherty's first visit to the Hangtown track and he used the first session to learn the track and the lines while still putting in some decent lap times. With the track changing quickly, Dougherty's second session was a tough one. Even though Mitch felt a little better in the second session his best lap time still left him out of the "Fast 40" and he would be forced to line up for the consolation race later in the day. Unfortunately, Mitch struggled with arm pump during the consolation race and would finish outside of the top two signaling an early end to his weekend.
Motocross class practice/qualifying sessions took to the track as Kyle Lewis led the way for the team. Kyle was riding really well and posted lap times just outside of the top 10. Josh Summey, coming off a top 10 overall finish last year, was already pre-seeded into the motos and used the Saturday sessions to make some adjustments and get comfortable saving his speed for Sunday. Yoshihide Fukudome, who moved up to the Motocross class for the outdoors, looked good in the two sessions but ultimately would fall just outside of the top 40 and would line up for the consolation race Sunday morning.
Sunday morning started off with a dominating performance by Fukudome. With no practice session, the Motocross class consolation race lined up and took off as Dome started toward the front of the pack. Within a couple of laps Dome was in the lead and never looked back. His win would place him directly into the motos with the 40th gate pick. Josh Summey and Kyle Lewis both rode well in the two practice/qualifying sessions and would head to the line 17th and 20th, respectively.
Moto one got off the line just after 2:00pm with all three Moto XXX riders getting decent starts. As the pack completed the first lap Josh Summey sat in 17th, Kyle Lewis 23rd, and Yoshihide Fukudome in 30th. Lewis began working his way through traffic picking off riders every lap. Summey was riding well but couldn't seem to find a rhythm and fell back a couple spots while Dome stayed consistent. As the half way mark came out Lewis was up to 17th, Summey 23rd, and Dome still 30th. The laps began to tick off as Lewis and Dome both tried to improve their positions.
When the checkered flag finally came out Lewis had worked his way up to 14th place, Summey held on to 24th, and Dome crossed the line just behind in 25th.
Moto two saw Lewis line up to the far inside of the start gate, Summey one gate to the outside, and Fukudome on the other side of the dog house. Lewis got the better start of the trio and completed lap one in 15th. Summey was able to weave his way up to 27th after a near last start and Fukudome sat in 32nd after lap one. Lewis knew he needed to be consistent and that was exactly what he did as he proceeded to run a fast pace for lap after lap. Just after the completion of lap four, Josh Summey slid out coming around the high speed turn one. Summey went down hard and would pull off marking the end of the end of his day. Fukudome also had bad luck one lap later as he stalled his bike just before the finish line and was unable to restart. Still, Lewis held strong toward the front of the pack and was holding steady in 14th at the half way mark. As the laps counted down, Lewis continued to lay down fast laps and after 35 minutes would cross the line in 14th place.
At the end of the day the overall score board would read: Kyle Lewis 14th, Josh Summey 33rd, and Yoshihide Fukudome 36th. After the race, team manager, Allan Brown would comment; "This weekend just wasn't our weekend. Unfortunately, we had some bad luck with a few of our guys but Kyle was able to lead the team this weekend and put up a pretty strong finish. We are going to make some changes this week and we plan on being back to form next weekend at Mt. Morris."
Round two takes place next weekend at the High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. All of the Moto XXX riders are looking to improve their finishes and that will make for some exciting racing. See you there!
Moto XXX Racing is proudly supported by:
Honda, Supersports Inc., Deluge Sport, Akrapovic, Moose Racing, Perfex Corp., Scorpion Helmets, Tag Metals, Sidi Boots, Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals, Race Tech, Dunlop, Honda Genuine Parts, Braking, Motion-Pro, Atomic 22, Ti-Lube, Pro-Comp Wheels and Tires, Polisport Plastics, Lucky 13, RK Racing Chain, Excel, Honda Rider's Club of America, Sunline ARC, Carbon Fiber Works, Scott USA, SDG, VP Racing Fuels, Crower Power, Vortex Ignitions, LA Sleeve, Hinson Clutch Components, Ogio, Ready Racing, Metaltek.
For more information or to contact Moto XXX please visit www.motoxxx.com or call (951) 359-6999.