Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 23 JUNE 11, 2013 same thing.' That's why I gave all my best and it worked." In the end, some tactical passes on lappers at the right time, gave Musquin a little breathing room. At the flag, his margin over Roczen was 2.7 seconds. The My Own Race: 2 RYAN VILLOPOTO 1ST O/A (1-1) 450 1 RYAN DUNGEY 2ND O/A (2-2) 450 Ryan Villopoto had his biggest challenge of the day in the second moto with James Stewart. "He was up front and we all know he can run up front, it's just if he can be there the whole moto," Villopoto said. "He didn't gap far enough that it made a huge difference. So I was trying to just wait and make my pass on Ryan [Dungey] stick and then work on [Stewart]. I think something happened to his bike so I was able to get around him pretty quickly." In six out of eight motos so far, Ryan Dungey has finished second to Ryan Villopoto. He had momentum coming off his first overall win of the season in Tennessee, but an almost 17-second gap up to Villopoto erased a lot of that. Dungey reviewed his performance at High Point: "In the first moto, I got bumped around at the start," he said. "I came up there in second, but stood it up and thought I was going to get taken out like four times. I got shuffled back right below the top 10. By the time I got to second there was a little bit of a gap." After making a few changes to the KTM for the second moto, he found there was a section he couldn't match the leader's pace. "Right there in the middle of the track there was a jump where, for the longest time, we were doubling it and hitting the table. But the guys were going outside and tripling it. So I was losing time there and there were a couple of times I didn't get through clean and stood it up, so lots of time there." 28 TYLA RATTRAY 3RD O/A (4-4) 450 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Tyla Rattray broke through to score his first career podium in the 450 class at High Point. He said the transition from 250s to 450s has been tougher than he expected. The former World Champion felt comfortable on the European designed track and grabbed two great starts on his KX450F to get him up front early. "It's a different animal out there," Rattray said of racing the bigger 450s versus 250s. "Especially with physical fitness and you've got a lot more power under you, it's definitely a lot harder than people think." 800 MIKE ALESSI 5TH O/A (10-3) 450 Mike Alessi wears the nickname Holeshot on his pants, but P53 monkey was off his back. Not only had Musquin scored his second straight overall victory, he finally won a moto in America. Osborne was over a half-aminute back in third then Tomac in fourth. And then came a group so far this season he hasn't earned one. In spite of sub-par starts Alessi still ended strong at High Point with a 10-3 and fifth overall. His second-moto podium was the first of the season. "The first moto I got about a 30th-place start and all I could get to was 10th. The second moto, I started somewhere around fifth or sixth and came up and charged to third. I'm definitely working that's for sure. It seems like I'm doing it the hard way week in and week out. That 25 grand money they're putting up for the holeshots, it's like, I don't want it; I don't know what the deal is. I need that money and I want that money. It's like that old saying, the harder you try the worse you do. I'm pretty sure that's what the problem is right now. I just need to let it come to me and let the natural reflexes happen." 25 MARVIN MUSQUIN 1ST O/A (2-1) 250 94 KEN ROCZEN Unfortunately for Marvin Musquin, he made no dent in Ken Roczen's point lead since they traded 1-2 moto scores, but he was very happy nonetheless. "This one is special because it's my first moto win in America," he said. "I'm so happy for everyone on the team who have been working so hard, so it's great to finally get a moto win and my second overall of the year and my third one overall in America. I didn't start the championship like I wanted. Fourth two times and now two times first. I lost a little bit of points to Roczen and Tomac at the beginning of the championship now I have to win some motos to get some points on Roczen and Tomac. In the second moto I got a great start and was leading. I knew Kenny was behind me and I gave it everything I had. It worked. I think mentally and physically I was doing good and that's the best feeling ever." 2ND O/A (1-2) 250 He didn't get the win but more importantly for Ken Roczen, he gained points on rival Eli Tomac. He said the tiebreaking second moto came down to lappers. "I think this weekend on this track it was way hard to pass," Roczen said. "I got close [to Musquin] a couple of times, but I was never really in that spot where I could try to make a pass. Sometimes I was right there and there would be lappers or something. I think riders really need to get their stuff together because lappers have been pretty bad this year. I had a couple of incidents where I almost hit them and almost crashed because they stayed in the main line."

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