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TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH — Miller Motorsports Park's newest event, the Built Ford Tough Utah National, saw huge crowds, great racing and two champions crowned.
The inaugural Built Ford Tough Utah National, Round 11 of the 12-round Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, was the first professional outdoor motocross event to be held in the State of Utah since 1973. The event took place on a brand-new, state-of-the-art motocross track constructed in the northeast corner of MMP's East Road Course.
Ryan Villopoto, riding the No. 2 Monster Energy Kawasaki KX-450F, won both motos in the 450cc class and clinched the class championship with one race remaining in the 2013 season. It was his second series title in the last three years.
In the 250cc class, Eli Tomac replicated Villopoto's effort, winning both of his motos aboard the No.17 GEICO Honda CRF-250R and also clinching his championship title.
Defending 450 class champ Ryan Dungey finished second in both motos and finished the day in second overall on his No. 1 Red Bull KTM 450 SX-F FE, with Trey Canard taking third in both motos to claim third overall on his No. 41 Team Muscle Milk Honda CRF-450R.
Completing the top five overall for the day were privateer Weston Peick, finishing fifth overall in both motos on the No. 46 Hyper-X/R2MX/ARMA Suzuki RMZ-450, and Justin Brayton, who finished sixth and seventh on the No. 10 Muscle Milk Honda CRF-450R. The only Utah-based rider in the race, Colby Sorenson of Lehi, finished 29th overall with results of 30th and 23rd on his No. 320 Sorensen MX Racing Suzuki RMZ-450.
Blake Baggett, the defending champion in the 250 class, finished second overall on the day with two second-place finishes on his No. 1 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX-250F. His thrilling, last-lap pass of Ken Roczen to take second in the final moto enabled Tomac to clinch the title. Roczen, riding the No. 94 Red Bull KTM 250 SX-F, posted fourth- and third-place finishes in the two motos to finish third on the day, his hopes of taking the title fight to the final round dashed by Baggett's last-lap pass.
Sixteen-year-old rookie phenom Adam Cianciarulo, in only his seventh event, finished fourth overall with third- and ninth-place finishes on his No. 292 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX-250F. He had a bad start in the second moto, falling all the way back to 40th in the 40-bike field, and put on a remarkable performance to work his way back to ninth at the finish. Taking fifth overall on the day was Justin Bogle, who posted ninth- and fourth-place finishes on the No. 34 GEICO Honda CRF-250F.
There were two Utah riders in the 250 class. Landen Powell of Salt Lake City finished 34th overall with 24th- and 31st-place finishes on his No. 93 Rocky Mountain ATVMC Honda CRF-250R, and Brandan Leith of Eagle Mountain was 40th overall after finishing 38th and 40th on his No. 638 Duff's Racing Kawasaki KX-250F.
Although the final accounting was not complete, the attendance for the inaugural Built Ford Tough Utah National appeared to be the largest crowd ever for a single-day event at Miller Motorsports Park.
"We're very pleased with the way everything went with the Built Ford Tough Utah National," said John Larson, General Manager of Miller Motorsports Park. "We would like to thank the fans, riders, teams, sponsors and our staff for making it a great day. We look forward to making next year's event even better."
There is even more motorcycle racing in the near future at Miller Motorsports Park, as the local amateur road racing series, the Utah Sport Bike Association's Masters of the Mountains championship, will be racing over the weekend of August 24-25, and the always-enjoyable vintage and historic machinery of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association will return for a seventh year over Labor Day Weekend, August 31 - September 1.
