Weston Peick tied his best outing and overall of the season for Round 4 of the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series held at the High Point National on Saturday but a surging James Stewart swept both Motos and added his name to the narrowing list of Championship contenders.
The MotoSport-sponsored Peick took fifth in Moto 2 after a 10th place finish in Moto 1 which was good enough for sixth overall. Peick remains in seventh-place in the Championship standings but is now tied with the sixth-place Josh Grant in points with 104. Both riders are just 11 points behind fifth-place Brett Metcalfe.
Weston Peick took fifth in Moto 2
Peick was only one of two MotoSport riders in the 450 series as Jimmy Albertson was unable to attend because of transportation issues and Davi Millsaps continued to rehab from injury. However, Millsaps, who rides for the Rockstar Energy KTM team, is widely expected to be ready in two weeks for Round 5. Tucker Saye was second and seventh in qualifying lap times but took 35th overall after finishing 25-34.
Tucker Saye
Rounding out the rest, Stewart who struggled a bit at the start of the season has now won three of the last four Motos and holds on to a solid third-place in the Championship standings with 161 points. Stewart is just six points behind the second-place Ryan Dungey.
"I was excited about coming this weekend because we made some good improvements on the bike," Stewart said. "It's been a while since we've had this speed and pace in reserve and I felt comfortable doing it. This track is one of the ones that I've had to overcome, but it was nice to get a win. It's actually the first time I've gone 1-1 in a while, so we'll go back and keep on working and go from here."
Ken Roczen, who won the last two overalls raced 2-3 for second overall at High Point. The first-place Roczen increased his lead to 16 points over the second-place Dungey who finished in fourth overall with a 3-4 showing. Meanwhile, Trey Canard took third overall for the third time this season and narrowly lost to Stewart in Moto 2 by less than a second.
So far this year it's been Roczen, Dungey, Stewart and Canard battling for the podium and all four continue to add distance from the rest of the pack. Metcalfe is closest with 115 points, 35 behind Canard. However, a healthy and fresh Millsaps could put a wrench in the Top 4 riders' plans when he returns and Chad Reed, who competed well in Supercross until a major wreck ended his season, is also showing signs that he's getting into race shape. He took both MotoSport Holeshot awards on Saturday and grabbed fifth in Moto 1 for his best outing of the season.
Ryan Sipes, a former MotoSport rider who retired last year but has been racing in the 2014 Grand National Cross Country Series, returned to Motocross action and took 11th place in Moto 1 and 15th place in Moto 2 for 13th overall.
Jason Anderson gets on podium for the first time this year
In the 250 series, Jason Anderson who rides for the MotoSport-sponsored Rockstar Energy KTM team, took seventh in Moto 1 but raced his best of the season with a second-place Moto 2 which was good enough for third-place overall - his first time on the podium this year. His teammate Joey Savatgy took 13th-place twice for a 12th overall.
Joey Savatgy grabs another Top 15 overall
Blake Baggett swept both Motos for the overall in the 250 series and now has three straight Moto wins. Jeremy Martin who opened the season with five straight Moto wins went 2-6 for second-place overall increasing his lead in the Championship standings over second-place Cooper Webb to 29 points. Webb finished in sixth-place overall at High Point and is now only seven points ahead of the advancing Baggett in the standings.
Riders get two weeks off before the Motocross season resumes with Round 5 on June 28 at the Tennessee National. Buy tickets online or at Muddy Creek Raceway, 450 Ridgeway Dr. in Blountville, TN.
2014 High Point National Motocross Results
2014 High Point 450 Class Results
- James Stewart (1-1)
- Ken Roczen (2-3)
- Trey Canard (4-2)
- Ryan Dungey (3-4)
- Josh Grant (6-6)
- Weston Peick (10-5) - MotoSport rider
- Andrew Short (7-8)
- Chad Reed (5-10)
- Brett Metcalfe (9-7)
- Phil Nicoletti (8-12)
2014 High Point 250 Class Results
- Blake Baggett (1-1)
- Jeremy Martin (2-6)
- Jason Anderson - MotoSport rider (7-2)
- Justin Bogle (4-4)
- Christophe Pourcel (6-3)
- Cooper Webb (3-7)
- Marvin Musquin (5-8)
- Justin Hill (9-5)
- Cole Seely (8-9)
- Alex Martin (10-10)
2014 Motocross Season Standings
450 Class Standings
- Ken Roczen (183)
- Ryan Dungey (167)
- James Stewart (161)
- Trey Canard (150)
- Brett Metcalfe (115)
- Josh Grant (104)
- Weston Peick (104) - MotoSport rider
- Malcolm Stewart (90)
- Chad Reed (88)
- Andrew Short (74)
250 Class Standings
- Jeremy Martin (177)
- Cooper Webb (148)
- Blake Baggett (141)
- Christophe Pourcel (128)
- Justin Bogle (126)
- Jason Anderson (117) - MotoSport rider
- Marvin Musquin (111)
- Justin Hill (93)
- Jessy Nelson (91)
- Cole Seely (87)
