Historic Unadilla Sports Valley hosts round nine of the Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship with a retro theme to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
JGRMX Toyota/Yamaha Unadilla Results
DAVID EVANS
Aug 16, 2009
JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha Unadilla Results
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (August 16, 2009) – Retro was the theme for the track at the Unadilla Valley Sports Center as the facility celebrated its 40th year of motocross racing in New Berlin, N.Y. The riders were encouraged to wear vintage racing gear and outfit the bikes in old-school graphics to add to the celebration. In an interesting twist of fate, it was also the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, which took place on August 15, 1969 just down the road from the track in nearby Bethel, N.Y. While the emphasis was on the past, the JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha Team looked to the future with the AMA motocross debut of 18 year-old Christian Craig. Riding alongside Cody Cooper, Craig is substituting for Josh Grant as he recovers from injury.
Cooper and Craig qualified sixth and 12th respectively, however they both had challenges during the racing. In the first moto Cooper went down in the first turn, remounted and charged close to the top-10 only to suffer another crash. He was credited with 17th. Craig was having an outstanding first national moto running as high as eighth before he also went down finishing 34th. The second moto again proved difficult for both riders with Craig unable to get comfortable with his suspension settings finishing 31st and Cooper getting a rock lodged in his front brake caliper causing him to make a NASCAR style pit stop and finish 30th. Cooper’s combined moto finishes gave him 19th overall for the day with Craig 33rd.
“Craig was riding well until his crash in the first moto stalled his momentum,” said team manager Jeremy Albrecht. “We will work on suspension settings this week and look forward to seeing his performance at Budd’s Creek now that he has his first national motocross event behind him.”
After nine of 12 rounds the series points standings are:
1. Chad Reed 387 6. Thomas Hahn 198
2. Andrew Short 305 7. Justin Brayton 183
3. Ivan Tedesco 286 8. Nick Wey 163
4. Josh Grant 272 9. Cody Cooper 161
5. Michael Byrne 245 10. Mike Alessi 142
Round 10 of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship will be on August 22 at Budd’s Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Md. The first motos of both the 250 and 450 Classes will air live on www.allisports.com beginning at 1:00 p.m. (EST). The second 450 moto will be broadcast live on NBC starting at 4:00 p.m. (EST). 