San Diego: 450 Race/Photo Report	PDF | Print | E-mail
	Author: Scott Parkinson
	Location: San Diego, CA

photos by: John Parkinson

For the third straight week the weather was a major worry coming into this weekend’s race in San Diego. The storm hit Friday night and continued pretty heavily throughout the morning. In the afternoon the skies where looking pretty dark, but they didn’t drop much rain. The Dirt Wurx crew had the track covered all night and most of the day on Saturday. They pulled the covers off at 4:30 and started practice at 5:30, just in time for the rain to start to come down. Practice got pretty wet and sloppy, but the rain began to slow down. Before practice started the Dirt Wurx crew mixed some sand into the San Diego soil which really helped the track soak up the rain. By the time it was time to start racing the track was rutted and rough but looking remarkably good.

Heat 1
Dan Reardon grabbed the holeshot and held onto the lead early in heat 1. Ivan Tedesco looked fast coming out of practice and soon took over the lead. Behind Tedesco Hill and Millsaps also found their way around Reardon. Hill was one of the first riders to triple into the corner coming out of the rhythm section which gave him just enough of an advantage to take over the lead. Millsaps tried to follow Hill’s lead, but Tedesco closed the door in the final corner with an inside block pass on Millsaps.

Here is how they qualified:
1) Josh Hill
2) Ivan Tedesco
3) Davi Millsaps
4) Dan Reardon
5) Kyle Chisholm
6) Tommy Hahn
7) Michael Byrne
8) Grant Langston
9) Cyrille Coulon


Heat 2
Kevin Windham grabbed the holeshot in heat 2, but Ryan Dungey was right there. The two riders pulled way from Short who sat in 3rd. Windham was unable to do the triple coming out of the first turn and Dungey was able to make the move into the lead. Once in the lead, Dungey checked out. After a bad start Ryan Villopoto battled his way into 5th. He crossed the finish line side by side with Justin Brayton who held on to place 4th.

Here is how they qualified:
1) Ryan Dungey
2) Kevin Windham
3) Andrew Short
4) Justin Brayton
5) RyanVillopoto
6) Nick Wey
7) Kyle Partridge
8) Chris Blose
9) Fabien Izoird

LCQ
In the 450 LCQ a lot of riders were hitting the ground, including KTM pilot Mike Sleeter who went down in the first corner. Coming out of the carnage was Jason Thomas with the lead who ran away with the win. The true battle was for second. Hinson looked to have the 2nd place position on lock down until he hit the ground.Taking over second was Justin Keeney; however, the rider on the move was Bobby Bonds. Bonds hunted down Keeney and made the pass. It looked like Keeney was going to be right there to do battle until the end, but Keeney found himself on the ground allowing Bonds to cruse into the main.

How they qualified:
1) Jason Thomas
2) Bobby Bonds

Main
Nick Wey came out of the gate in the 450 main with the holeshot; unfortunately, Ryan Dungey had his front tire wash out in the first turn which resulted in him and Ryan Villopoto hitting the ground. Both riders were able to remount, but they no doubt had their work cut out for them.

Out front Nick Wey held down the lead for two laps until Team Honda’s Davi Millsaps took over the lead. Millsaps cutting creatine from his diet seems to be working. Millsaps grabbed the lead and never looked back taking the win in San Diego. Right behind Millsaps was his teammate Andrew Short. Millsaps, Short, Tedesco, Hill, and Windham all stayed close for most of the race. Millsaps began to pull away late in the race and Tedesco really began to put pressure on Short. The triple coming out of the first turn was difficult to hit with the wet, rutted conditions on the track. Late in the race Tedesco and Hill had really closed in on Short, and heading into the triple out of the first turn, Short got some wheel spin and came off the lip sideways. Sadly, for Short it was enough of a mistake that he cased the triple, and he cased it pretty bad. Short wasn’t able to finish the race and had to be taken away on the Asterisk mule. He looked to be in a lot of pain. Reports say that Short was OK, but he will be heading to the doctor on Monday to take a closer look at anything he may have injured.

above: Short just before he cased the triple.

After Short went down Tedesco took over second; however, that wouldn’t last long as Hill was all over the Valli Motorsport Yamaha rider. Hill made his move and secured his second place finish. When the checkered flag came out it was Millsaps, Hill, and Tedesco on the podium.

Kevin Windham was right there in the mix for most of the race. However, while riding in 5th the normally smooth rider began making little mistakes and lost time on the leaders. Late in the race Windham had bike issues which pushed him back to 16th.

San Manuel Yamaha rider Josh Hill road a smart race. He started the race in 5th and slowly moved his way forward. He got around Windham and then passed Tedesco late in the race. Being Short had already gone down, Hill found himself in second. Hill is currently second in the point standing and he picked up 7 points on Ryan Dungey in San Diego.

Speaking of Dungey, after going down in the first turn Dungey was slow to get going again. On the third lap he had only passed two riders and was sitting in 16th place. He then put his head down and went to work, picking up valuable championship points with each pass. In the end Dungey worked his way into 6th place.

After his first turn crash, Ryan Villopoto put on the charge! When the smoke cleared, Villopoto had worked hard to fight into 4th place and kept his championship hopes alive.

Here is how the finish:
1) Davi Millsaps
2) Josh Hill
3) Ivan Tedesco
4) Ryan Villopoto
5) Justin Brayton
6) Ryan Dungey
7) Tommy Hahn
8) Grant Langston
9) Nick Wey
10) Kyle Chisholm
11) Chris Blose
12) Fabien Izoird
13) Dan Reardon
14) Michael Byrne
15) Bobby Bonds
16) Kevin Windham
17) Cyrille Coulon
18) Jason Thomas
19) Kyle Partridge
20) Andrew Short

Season Points
1) Ryan Dungey 105
2) Joshua Hill 101
3) Ryan Villopoto 95
4) David Millsaps 82
5) Ivan Tedesco 77
6) Justin Brayton 72
7) Andrew Short 69
8) Kevin Windham 66
9) Thomas Hahn 56
10) James Stewart 51
11) Nicholas Wey 50
12) Kyle Chisholm 39
13) Michael Byrne 36
14) Grant Langston 32
15) Chris Blose 26
16) Fabien Izoird 26
17) Jason Thomas 25
18) Austin Stroupe 18
19) Manuel Rivas 17
20) Cyrille Coulon 15
21) Dan Reardon 8
22) Gregory Aranda 8
23) Justin Keeney 8
24) Bobby Bonds 6
25) Jason Lawrence 4
26) Chad Reed 4
27) Jesse Casillas 3
28) Kyle Partridge 3
29) Jarred Jet Browne 2
30) Joshua Grant 1