Reed, Pourcel Score First-Moto Wins

Kit Palmer | May 22, 2010

Chad Reed threw the first punch at the opening round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Hangtown. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider showed exactly why he’s wearing the number-one plate after dominating the first 450cc-class moto.Under sunny skies, Reed shot into the lead after taking the holeshot and never looked back, scoring a wire-to-wire win. And he made it look easy.

“It’s an awesome way to start the series,” Reed said from the podium. “[I’ve] been out for a long time and had a lot of frustration built up.”After getting off to a fifth-place start, Josh Grant, on the JGR/Toyota/Muscle Milk Yamaha finished second but not until putting together a late-race charge that carried him past rival Mike Alessi and Davi Millsaps a few laps from the finish.Millsaps, who ran second for most of the race, put his Red Bull Honda on the first-moto podium in third.After getting off to a third-place start on his 350 Jagermeister KTM, Alessi had to settle for fourth.Fifth went to GEICO Powersport Honda’s Brett Metcalfe, followed by Ben Townley, Ryan Sipes, Belgian Ken DeDycker, Tommy Hahn and Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey.Dungey got off to a terrible start and spent the whole race working his way up through the pack on what many riders are saying is a fairly one-lined, but otherwise good, track.The first 250 moto was a thriller that saw up to 10 riders all battling in the lead pack. And when it was all over, it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel who scored the first-moto win, but he did it the hard way.

The Frenchman passed Trey Canard for the lead on the first lap and opened up a comfortable lead, but just past the halfway point, Pourcel went down and lost a number of positions.Pourcel worked his way up and was in second, right behind KTM’s Tommy Searle. The two former GP riders then engaged in a close battle for the lead, with Pourcel making the pass on the penultimate lap.Searle ended up second, followed by Pro rookie Eli Tomac on the GEICO Powersports Honda.Tomac actually had the moto win in the bag at on point in the race. He inherited the lead when Pourcel fell and started pulling away from Searle, but the Honda rider fell in a turn late in the race, costing him a sure win.Pourcel’s teammate Jake Weimer finished fourth, followed by GEICO Honda’s Justin Barcia, Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, Canard, Tyla Rattray, Blake Wharton and Dean Wilson.