Ryan Villopoto took his second overall 450 Class win of the season at Thunder Valley. Image: Simon Cudby.

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto has continued his 450 Class domination at Colorado’s round two of the 2013 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing.

Held at the picturesque Thunder Valley Motocross Park on Saturday, Villopoto kicked off his 2013 Rockwell Watches Thunder Valley National campaign as the fastest qualifier before putting on an impressive display during the two 30-minute motos.

In moto one it was Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Barcia who got off to the early lead with the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Holeshot.

Barcia was closely followed by reigning 450 Class Champion Ryan Dungey aboard his Red Bull KTM with Villopoto trailing close behind in third.

The rookie led the pack until the mid-way point when Dungey made a pass for the lead. From there, Barcia and Villopoto kept the pressure on Dungey and it wasn’t long before Villopoto took over the lead.

Behind the top three riders Honda Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard and FIM Motocross World Championship contender Clement Desalle had a race of their own during moto one.

Canard was able to hold the Belgian rider off for fourth place as the chequered flag flew with Desalle followed closely in fifth to round out the top five.

Barcia grabbed another holeshot in moto two with teammate Canard latched on as the two got ahead of the pack early on. Smartop/MotoConcepts Mike Alessi also injected himself into the lead battle,

Following Barcia, Canard and Alessi was the hard charging pack of Villopoto, Dungey, James Stewart and Desalle. Villopoto made quick work of his competition, taking over the lead early in the race.

Dungey battled his way to second place as Barcia followed close behind, meanwhile Yoshimura Suzuki’s Stewart made up a lot of ground in moto two as he started off well outside the top five and battled up to a podium position.

Stewart ran into some issues in moto one when a downed rider caused him to crash early in the race. Stewart recovered from his fall, making his way back to fifteenth in the opening moto.

Overall it was Villopoto taking a 1-1 sweep in the 450 Class with Dungey taking the runner-up spot with his 2-2 scorecard followed by Barcia in third with 3-4 finishes.

Canard used his 4-5 moto finishes to take home fourth overall while Alessi rounded out the top five with a pair of sixth place finishes on the day.

Australia’s Chad Reed experienced a rough day with 23-21 moto finishes for 23rd overall aboard his TwoTwo Motorsports entry. Fellow Aussie Michael Byrne was 26th overall with 24-33 moto finishes.

Villopoto leads the championship standings by 12 points over Dungey in second with Barcia holding down third place a further 18 points behind Dungey.

In the 250 Class it was Colorado native Eli Tomac who put together an impressive performance to take the overall win at his home round.

In moto one it was Tomac’s GEICO Honda teammate Zach Osborne who took the holeshot before Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen jumped to the lead right away.

Osborne and Tomac were side by side on the opening lap, with Osborne just ahead. However, while battling with his teammate, Osborne went down and lost a few positions in the process.

Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin and MyPlash Star Yamaha/Metal Mulisha’s Cooper Webb had a quick pace set from the start. The duo made their way up to podium contention, where Musquin made the pass on Rockstar Energy Racing’s Jason Anderson for third.

Following this move it was the rookie Webb who made his charge toward the front, passing Anderson and Musquin to secure his first career podium finish.

Tomac made a strong charge on the leader Roczen as the two went head-to-head on the final lap, but as Tomac neared the rear wheel of Roczen, he ended up tipping over in the corner, allowing Roczen to grab his third consecutive moto win of the season.

In moto two it was MyPlash Yamaha/Metal Mulisha’s Jeremy Martin grabbed his first-ever holeshot in front of a stacked field of riders. Osborne moved up and spent a short time in the lead early on but Tomac eventually took control of the race.

Coming into the second moto with a win under his belt, Roczen had his sights set on a clean sweep for the day but Tomac set a pace early on that just couldn’t be matched by the former world champion.

Roczen looked content in second, but Osborne kicked it into gear on the final lap of the second moto as he also made his way past Roczen to take over the second place position.

Tomac’s 2-1 moto score was enough to give him his first-ever win in his home state, as well as his first moto win of the 2013 Motocross season.

Roczen ended his three-race win streak with a third place finish in moto two. The current points leader took home second overall for the day with a 1-3 score.

Osborne was third overall with his 6-2 moto scorecard, earning his highest overall finish to date in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series.

Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin was a top contender in both motos, taking home a pair of fourth place finishes for fourth overall.

Reigning 250 Class Champion Blake Baggett struggled with starts and crashes all day, but the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider ended his day with a 9-5 score to round out the top five overall.

Australia’s Jackson Richardson finished up 17th overall in the 250 Class with a strong 18-16 scorecard aboard his privateer Honda.

Roczen maintains his 250 Class points lead after round two, sitting six points ahead of Tomac in second. Musquin currently sits third overall, 23 points behind teammate Roczen.

The series will now make its way to Bristol in Tennessee, an all-new venue on the 2013 calendar, where round three of the 12 round championship will get underway on 1 June.

Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship
Round Two – Lakewood, CO

450 Class overall results:
1. Ryan Villopoto 50
2. Ryan Dungey 44
3. Justin Barcia 38
4. Trey Canard 34
5. Mike Alessi 30
6. Clement Desalle 30
7. James Stewart 26
8. Tyla Rattray 25
9. Kevin Strijbos 24
10. Dean Wilson 22

250 Class overall results:
1. Eli Tomac 47
2. Ken Roczen 45
3. Zach Osborne 37
4. Marvin Musquin 36
5. Blake Baggett 28
6. Jeremy Martin 28
7. Martin Davalos 25
8. Jason Anderson 25
9. Cooper Webb 24
10. Justin Bogle 22

Click here for detailed results