Red Bull/KTM Factory riders Mike Alessi and Andrew Short finished inside the top ten at the eighth round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship held at Washougal Motocross Park.

Alessi started decently in the first moto before suffering a crash in the second turn. By the time he crossed the finish line at the end of lap one, he was sitting in 30^th place. Meanwhile, his teammate, Short, got a great start and was sitting in 5^th place. By lap two Alessi had already passed seven riders, he passed four more on lap three and three more on lap four. Now sitting in 16^th, he quickly began to close on fellow KTM riders Tye Simmonds and Kevin Rookstool. Alessi was able to make the pass on both riders to move into 14^th. He continued to push and made three more passes by the halfway point to move into 11^th. He closed in on Jimmy Albertson for 10^th and made the pass into the top ten on lap twelve and one lap later passed Byrne for 9^th. He maintained his pace and finished a hard fought 9^th overall at the end of moto one. Short battled inside the top five throughout the entire moto and put in one of his most impressive motos this season to finish 5^th.

In moto two, Alessi and Short both had great starts well within the top ten. Unfortunately, the race was red flagged on the first lap after Trey Canard crashed and broke his femur. The race restarted, and Short was able to garner another good start coming around the first corner in 7^th. Alessi had worse luck and came around the first corner mid-pack. Still on the first lap, Short was racing in 7^th position when he spun out and fell back to 11^th. He spent the next laps breaking back into the top ten and eventually found himself in a long battle for 8^th position with Jake Weimer. Short eventually got around him and was holding 8^th place on the last lap when he stalled his bike and dropped back two positions. He finished the moto in 10^th place. Alessi put together another solid come from behind charge and worked from his mid-pack start back to 6^th in the second moto.

“I had bad luck on the starts of both motos today,” commented Alessi. “But I felt really good on this track and was able to move forward pretty quickly. I would have liked to finish inside the top five, but overall I feel pretty happy with my results given the starts that I had today.”

Red Bull/KTM Factory rider Marvin Musquin made his return to the 250 class at Washougal after sitting out the last seven weeks recovering from injury. He had a great first moto, finishing 10^th overall. “I was very happy with my first moto. My hand felt good and I didn’t feel too tired. I just tried to ride a safe race and put together a solid moto,” remarked Musquin.

Musquin was showing his speed again in the second moto when he moved from his 12^th place start up to 9^th position by the halfway point. Unfortunately, Musquin suffered a crash in the whoop section near the end of the second moto which dropped him to 18^th. With only a few laps left, he was not able to make up the positions he lost and he finished 18^th in that moto. His 10-18 results earned him 14^th overall for the day.

Next Event: Unadilla – August 13, 2011

Overall Results 450 Class –

1)    Ryan Dungey

2)    Ryan Villopoto

3)    Brett Metcalfe

4)    Chad Reed

5)    Justin Brayton

6)    Mike Alessi – KTM

7)    Tommy Hahn

8)    Andrew Short – KTM

9)    Jimmy Albertson

10) Michael Byrne

11) Trey Canard

12) Jake Weimer

13) Weston Peick

14) Tye Simmonds – KTM

15) Nick Wey

Overall Results 250 Class –

1)    Blake Baggett

2)    Tyla Rattray

3)    Dean Wilson

4)    Kyle Cunningham

5)    Gareth Swanepoel

6)    Justin Barcia

7)    Malcolm Stewart

8)    Martin Davalos

9)    Darryn Durham

10) Broc Tickle

11) Tommy Weeck

12) Gannon Audette

13) Alex Martin

14) Marvin Musquin – KTM

15) Jason Anderson

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