Cycle News

ROUND 8/JULY 20, 2013 WASHOUGAL MX PARK/WASHOUGAL, WASHINGTON MOTOCROSS P66 LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS SERIES 250 NATIONAL In the 250 National Championship, Eli Tomac has struggled to put two good motos together at the same race. And that is usually dependent on his starts. At Washougal, the GEICO Honda rider was nearly flawless, getting out to the early lead in both motos and then pulling away for an easy win. Tomac's 1-1 day moved him to within one point of Ken Roczen in the 250 point standings, but his win was not without drama, as he nearly threw it away in the second moto. "That was about as close as you can get to crashing without actually doing so," said Tomac. "I have to blame it on the shadows. It was up those rollers and I was trying to keep my rear wheel on the ground through those, and I must have just set my rear wheel down kind of early and kind of let off, and it was just like holding on to a bull after that. I just did a big nose wheelie up the hill. It was close." Despite the scare, Tomac finished the race with 20 seconds to spare over Roczen. My Own Race: 7 JAMES STEWART 800 3RD (3-3) 450 James Stewart put in another consistent ride, going 3-3 on the day for third overall. "Practice was good all day," the Yoshimura Suzuki Team rider said. "I felt like we had something but the track was difficult and it was hard for me to get used to it. In the first moto, I had a problem with arm pump and we made a change that I thought would help, but we ended up going the wrong way. The second moto was worse, the lap times went down and I just didn't have the speed. But overall it was a good weekend and I can't thank the Yoshimura Suzuki team enough. We're fighting and staying in it, and the results are starting to show it. We're happy about that but at the same time, we want to be battling for the win. Now, I'm just looking forward to Millville and making some things happen." 12 JAKE WEIMER Roczen watched his lead in the 250-title chase shrink to just one point after finishing second in both motos to Tomac. The Red Bull KTM rider struggled with starts at Washougal, especially in the first moto, and just couldn't match the pace that Tomac was turning. "This track is tricky and it got rough," said Roczen. "I feel like everyone was taking basically the same line, I call it 'slope style' where you go from outside to inside, taking the inside line in the corners. So it's hard to make up 4TH (10-4) 450 Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jake Weimer had his best performance of the outdoor season with a 10-4 for fourth overall. "Compared to the kind of days I've been having, this was a hole-in-one for me," said Weimer. "I've been struggling all year and haven't been able to put anything together. My first moto wasn't stellar; I rode all right but I had a poor start. In the second moto, I got a lot better start and fought real hard on the first few laps and got myself in real good position and just maintained. Really, it's been a struggle for me all year, mentally not feeling good about my riding. I did have a couple of decent rides during Supercross, and I've had a couple of decent motos in outdoors, it's just nice to finally put two of them together." MIKE ALESSI 5TH (7-6) 450 33 JOSH GRANT 7TH (5-10) 450 17 ELI TOMAC Mike Alessi struggled with his starts at Washougal but still managed a solid fifth overall after finishing seventh and sixth in the two motos. "I was shooting for a podium and we were close, my starts got me again today," said Alessi. "The starts have been real hard for me to get this year, but I'm still working and still trying to get them. Overall, I'm pretty happy, though. I tied for fourth and ended up fifth, so that's a positive we can work on and I'm looking forward to going to Millville and start working for that podium again." Josh Grant is slowly getting back up to speed after spending most of the early part of the season recovering from injury. The JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha rider got good starts at Washougal, but he damaged his brake in the second moto while battling with Ryan Dungey over the holeshot. "I got into Dungey in the first turn in that second moto and maybe bent something [with the brake], we're not exactly sure what it was, but I had no rear brake for the downhills," said Grant. "Other than that, I felt pretty good today. The track was basically one-lined and, with a good start, I ended up doing pretty good. I was running sixth in the first moto and 'Shorty' [Andrew Short] got into a guy on the last lap and I was able to get around him for fifth. Every weekend's been getting better, and better for me, and I feel I'm gaining momentum. My injuries were pretty major and when I did both my knees and both my shoulders, it was one of those things that was difficult to come back from. I've been doing my best to get back to 100%, but unfortunately I'm not there yet." 1ST (1-1) 250 "I finally got the 1-1," Tomac said of his third win of the season.

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