After an unusually early week off, round 2 of the Lucas Oil/ AMA Pro Motocross Championship returned this weekend at the Flagstar Bank Freestone National in Wortham, Texas. Freestone has always been known as a place that separates the men from the boys as temperatures typically hover around the triple digit mark. This year was no different as temperatures soared into the 100’s as the riders lined the gate.
There were many questions left on the table after the riders left Hangtown, and with a week off many, including Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey, had plenty of questions to answer. While some choose to take the week off and test, others went bar to bar with some of the best in the world at the USGP at Glen Helen. Mike Alessi and Ben Townley were two riders that choose the latter and both had a tremendous amount of success at Glen Helen. But would they be able to carry that momentum over to Freestone?
450
As the scorching Texas heat began to beat down on the loamy sand of Freestone, moto 1 was ready to kick off. Gazing down the starting line there was one notable omission from the starting gate. The #29 of Andrew Short was nowhere to be found. Short’s bike had suffered some electrical problems before the start and he was unable to get the bike fixed before the drop of the gate, a very disappointing start to the day for the Texas resident.
When the gate dropped for moto 1 it was the Australian Brett Metcalfe that was able to rocket out of the gate and grab the holeshot. Metcalfe was followed closely by fellow Australian Michael Byrne and Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey. Dungey quickly got around Byrne and began to make a charge at Metcalfe. Behind the leaders Michael Byrne, the #10 of Tommy Hahn and Ben Townley were fighting it out for 3rd. Hahn was able to get around Byrne but his position was short lived as Townley made an aggressive move and was able to dispose of both Byrne and Hahn and move into 3rd place behind Metcalfe and Dungey. Behind the top-5 a group lead by Millsaps, Kyle Regal and others began to set the pace.
Metcalfe was able to hold off Dungey for a number of laps, but around 10 minutes into the race Dungey held an aggressive line through the Texas 12-pack and made a pass on Metcalfe for the lead. Dungey would begin to separate himself from the rest of the pack, but the action behind him was just getting underway.
After a rough start Chad Reed began to settle in and started making his charge through the pack. After getting around Millsaps around the 20 minute mark he set his sights on the group of Townley, Hahn and Metcalfe. As Reed was making his charge to the front, Townley and Hahn were tracking down Metcalfe who looked to be weltering under the Texas heat.
Townley was able to get around Metcalfe minutes later and was quickly followed by Hahn. Shortly after Reed put the hammer down through the Texas 12-pack and passed Metcalfe for 4th. Reed then set his sights on Hahn and was able to use the same line in the Texas 12-pack to get around #10 with little time to go. With the laps winding down, Reed once again used a blistering line through the newly renamed Texas Reed-pack and blitzed by Townley on his way to 2nd.
Reed would be unable to track down race leader Ryan Dungey, who by that time had built an incredible 20 plus second lead, on his way to his first 450 moto win of his career. Dungey was followed by Reed, Townley, Hahn and Josh Grant, who had worked his way up to 5th after a poor start. Texas native Kyle Regal rode a solid race and crossed the finish line in 6th, followed by Metcalfe who seemed to succumb to the heat. Byrne, Chisholm and Davi Millsaps would round out the top-10 in moto 1. Mike Alessi would not be a factor in moto 1 finishing a disappointing 12th.
After a mistake filled moto 1, KTM’s Mike Alessi was hoping to rebound in moto 2. But the #800 was edged out off the start by Brett Metcalfe who grabbed his second straight holeshot. Both riders were able to escape the huge first turn pile up that gobbled up a number of contenders including TLD’s Ben Townley. Townley would make a hard charge through the pack but would end up a disappointing 16th in moto 2. 
Alessi would not wait long to make a move for the lead as he was able to fend off a charge from Andrew Short and make the pass on Metcalfe. Alessi would start to pull away but the drama behind was kicking into high gear, as the top 6 riders where within seconds of each other. Andrew Short would make his way around Chad Reed for 3rd, Reed was then quickly gobbled up by the freight train of Dungey and Kyle Regal as both were able to pass Reed.
Dungey would then go after Short and was able to make the pass through the Texas 12-pack. As Dungey began to close in on Metcalfe for second, a huge mistake was made by Alessi as he high sided going into a turn. Alessi would rebound in 6th behind Reed, but the damage had already been done. Metcalfe and Dungey would go bar to bar into the next turn with Dungey able to grab the lead. Dungey would never look back from there as he cruised home to his second victory of the day. But the drama was far from over, as the crew of Metcalfe, Short, Regal, Reed and Alessi would go bar to bar the rest of the moto.
With 10 minutes to go Reed was finally able to make a charge past the stubborn Kyle Regal and move into 4th. But the feisty Texas native did not go quietly into the Texas sun as he would make a hard charge back at Reed and get around the defending champion. Regal would then go after another proven veteran in Short. The two would battle back and forth before Regal was able take the outside through the Texas 12-pack and make the pass stick on Short. But Regal’s day was far from over as he began to reel in the #24 of Metcalfe.
With time slowly ticking away Regal would grab the extra bit of throttle needed and make his way around the veteran Metcalfe and move into 2nd. The drama was far from over though as Reed was making a hard charge on Metty after getting around Short. With 3 laps to go Reed would take over 3rd from Metcalfe and tried to make a last ditch effort to get around Regal, but it was too little too late for Reed as Regal would hold on for second. Reed would take 3rd ahead of Metcalfe with Alessi making a late move on Short for 5th. Matt Goerke would take home 7th with Kyle Cunningham, Kyle Chisholm and Josh Grant rounding out the top-10.
After a week of taking a verbal beat down from everyone from the fans to the media, Ryan Dungey showed up in Texas and proved to everyone he had what it takes to be a champion on this level no matter who is riding. Dungey would take the overall with a dominating 1-1 performance, with Chad Reed (2-3) and a surprising Kyle Regal (6-2) rounding out the podium positions. Another solid performance from Metcalfe (7-4) would leave him in 4th with Josh Grant (5-10) rounding out the top-5.
