Prior to the night-lit Colorado National at Thunder Valley on the outskirts of Denver, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed held sway in 450cc division, while his teammate Mike Alessi sat out the previous round after surgery to repair his obliterated left patella. But then came a medical miracle and only 19 days after his injury, Alessi showed up in Colorado and rode practice.

Showing true grit, Alessi was off the pace in practice, qualifying 28th. His damaged knee didn’t hinder his brilliant starting talents as he took the 28th gate pick and managed to pull off a second-place start, but he lost a few spots on the first lap and then crossed lines with JGR/Toyota Yamaha’s Josh Grant and went down in a heap, holding his bad knee as he sat on the ground grimacing in pain. He got back up and circulated for a couple laps before dropping out of the day, his championship hopes officially and finally shattered.

Honda Red Bull Racing’s Ivan Tedesco grabbed the early lead in both motos and led every lap on the day, going 1-1 to win his first ever 450cc National at the same venue where he won his first ever 250cc national a few years ago. Despite failing to score points in either moto at the opening round, Tedesco is now only 35 points out of the championship lead.

Similar to his teammate Tedesco, hometown boy Andrew Short ran second pretty much all day, going 2-2 for second overall.

One surprise on the day was Canidae/Motosport Kawasaki’s Tommy Hahn, who went 7-3 for third overall, even passing Short at one point in moto two before falling and giving the spot back.

In a conspicuous off-song evening, points leader Chad Reed was fourth overall with a 7-3 and still leads the points with seven rounds left to run.

450 Results:

1. Ivan Tedesco (1-1)

2. Andrew Short (2-2)

3. Tommy Hahn (7-3)

4. Chad Reed (3-7)

5. Michael Byrne (6-4)

6. Josh Grant (5-5)

7. Ricky Dietrich (11-6)

8. Jimmy Albertson (10-9)

9. Kyle Summers (9-10)

10. Jake Moss (4-33)

450 Points Standings (After 5 of 12 rounds):

1. Chad Reed (195/1 win)

2. Andrew Short (181)

3. Ivan Tedesco (160/1 win)

4. Josh Grant (151)

5. Mike Alessi (142/2 wins)

6. Tommy Hahn (123)

7. Michael Byrne (117)

8. Cody Cooper (104)

9. Ricky Dietrich (88)

10. Justin Brayton (79)

250R

In the 250cc class, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel kept his first-moto pattern intact, getting the holeshot and then holding off his teammate Jake Weimer for the lead for the entire moto. Division 7/Star Racing Yamaha’s Broc Tickle was a strong third in the first moto in front of GEICO Powersports Honda’s Blake Wharton and Muscle Milk KTM’s Tommy Searle.

Weimer got the holeshot in moto two. Pourcel was in a bad way from the get-go as his gate bounced when it went down, hitting him in the foot peg area under the bike and nearly causing him to fall as the rest of the field got away. However, Weimer decided to make it interesting, crashing out of the lead and handing it to GEICO Powersports Honda’s Justin Barcia, who led the next seven or so laps while Weimer got up in third, worked his way around Muscle Milk KTM’s Martin Davalos, and then slowly chased Barcia down.

Just past the halfway point, Weimer took the lead back from Barcia and that was it. Weimer took the win – his first ever moto and overall win – in front of Barcia, Searle, Dungey, Metcalfe, Pourcel, Matt Lemoine, Tickle and Tyla Rattray.

Pourcel was second overall while Searle was third. Dungey was fifth overall.

250cc Results:

1. Jake Weimer (2-1)

2. Christophe Pourcel (1-6)

3. Tommy Searle (5-3)

4. Justin Barcia (9-2)

5. Ryan Dungey (6-4)

6. Broc Tickle (3-8)

7. Brett Metcalfe (7-5)

8. Blake Wharton (4-11)

9. Tyla Rattray (8-9)

10. Darryn Durham (10-12)

250cc Points Standings (after 5 of 12 rounds):

1. Christophe Pourcel (217/2 wins)

2. Ryan Dungey (208/2 wins)

3. Tyla Rattray (160)

4. Tommy Searle (153)

5. Blake Wharton (144)

6. Brett Metcalfe (141)

7. Trey Canard (139)

8. Broc Tickle (130)

9. Justin Barcia (117)

10. Jake Weimer (113/1 win)