An overall victory in the Motocross Lites class at Steel City last week has given defending champ Ryan Villopoto the lead once again. The series has been a season-long duel between Villopoto and Monster Energy Kawasaki team-mate Ben Townley and, last weekend, Monster Energy Kawasaki riders swept the top four positions, with Brett Metcalfe and rookie Austin Stroupe finishing third and fourth respectively.

Villopoto comes to Freestone with a six-point lead over Townley, after both riders had to overcome adversity last week in Pennsylvania, having been caught up in a massive first-turn pile-up in the first moto.

“We both had to come back from last and we made a great charge through the field,” said Villopoto, who earned his fourth overall victory of the season, “I was able to recover and salvage some valuable points. Every point counts coming down to the end of the season.”

Texas fans will have local heroes to root for this Sunday as both Short and Ivan Tedesco have adopted Texas as their home. Lites class contender Tommy Hahn lives in Texas, as does fellow Lites competitor Kyle Cunningham.