Australian star Chad Reed opened the AMA Pro Motocross season with his second straight Hangtown National victory Saturday night in Rancho Cordova, Calif., finishing second in the first moto and winning the second.
Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship: Hangtown
WIDTH="203" HEIGHT="114" BORDER="0" ALT="">Chad Reed won a hard-fought battle with Ryan Dungey to win in Hangtown. Gallery
"I'm a little surprised," said Reed, riding for TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Racing. "I tested the last two weeks and it's gone well. Normally, this track is always hard, choppy and one lined. We came back this weekend and it was a completely different track than we were expecting.
"I got two good starts, ran up front and I fought for it. I'm a little surprised how comfortable I was with the track and bike. We've had only a little time to work on the bike."
Ryan Dungey, the defending 450 Class champion from Belle Plaine, Minn., was second. He won the first moto and was second in the second.
"I had a week of outdoor testing and that helped us out," said Dungey, the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider. "I felt good today. Coming into the weekend, we had a couple weeks of testing and got a good base setting.
"I just wanted to get things started, see where were at and move forward. I was trying to bulldog it in the second moto and Chad got by me. I got behind him and saw some different lines. It took me a while to get back up there. I made one last attempt, but I'm happy with that result. I made a hard attempt to get by and was riding on the ragged edge, so I decided to back it down. It's a long season."
Ryan Villopoto, from Poulsbo, Wash., was third in both motos.
Blake Baggett, from Grand Terrace, won the 250 Class with a 2-1 moto finish.
"I knew I had done all the training during the week and it was good to come out and see how I was," Baggett said. "I like outdoors better than supercross because you have to be creative and keep moving around. I was just patient in the second moto. I knew I had to let the race come to me."
In the Motorcylce-Superstore.com Women's Motocross Championship, defending champion Jessica Patterson, from Tallahassee, Fla., dominated both of the motos on her DNA Shred Stix/Star Racing Yamaha.