Category Archives: News

HILL LEADS RCH RACING with 7th IN MAIN EVENT

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SALT LAKE CITY (Saturday, April, 27, 2013)

The picturesque snow-capped mountains of Utah served as the background for Round 16 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City but Chamber of Commerce 70-degree temperatures greeted race teams and fans, the best weather for an SX race this season.

The racing circuit inside the outdoor college football stadium which serves as the home of the Utah Utes proved to be a major challenge for crew chiefs and riders. The extra-short straightaway between the starting gate and tight Turn 1 along with a racing surface filled with marbles and stones were factors in the Heat Races and Main Event.

Josh Hill (No. 75 Dodge/Sycuan Casino/RCH Racing/Bel-Ray/Suzuki Z450) led the Dodge/RCH Racing team with a season-best finish of seventh in the Main Event. He raced inside the top 10 throughout the 20-lap feature.

RCH Racing teammate Broc Tickle (No. 20 Dodge/Sycuan Casino/RCH Racing/Bel-Ray/Suzuki Z450) earned his 16th consecutive Main Event start of the season and finished 11th.

Hill was seventh fastest in the afternoon timed practice and Tickle eighth. Both RCH riders used aggressive starts in their respective Heat Races to easily transfer to the Main. Hill finished third in Heat 2 while Tickle was fourth in Heat 1.

In the Main Event, Hill was running ninth after the first lap. He moved into seventh on Lap 8 and maintained the position the rest of the race.

Josh Hill Salt Lake City

“I got a decent start in the Main and made a few quick passes to gain some spots,” Hill said. “I got up into the top 10 early and that helped. The race start was so hard if you were starting outside of the first few gates because it was such a short straightaway and tight left-hand turn. Guys would just bang into each other. Riders with the first eight gate picks chose the inside. It was a battle.”

Tickle looked to be on his way to his ninth top-10 Main Event finish until a mishap on Lap 10 in the tough whoops section dropped the RCH rider seven spots to 17th. The Michigan native raced the next nine laps incident free and battled his way back to 11th.

“It was a solid start in the Main until I went down,” Tickle said. “I was riding ninth and about to pass Andrew Short but skipped over a couple of the whoops and crashed pretty good. So I got up, got in behind (Trey) Canard and just started picking guys off that I had lost positions to earlier.”

Ryan Villopoto earned the Nuclear Cowboyz holeshot and never looked back en route to his ninth 450SX Class win of the season, securing his third-consecutive 450SX Class championship. He held off Davi Millsaps who raced second for the final 18 circuits. The margin of victory was 1.528 seconds. Ryan Dungey was third.

Villopoto is the fifth rider in Monster Energy AMA Supercross history to win three championships, joining RCH Racing team owner Ricky Carmichael, Bob Hannah, Jeff Stanton, and Jeremy McGrath.

The 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series season concludes next weekend in Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Josh Hill To Hell & Back: RCH Racing Ep. 1

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After a breakout Rookie season in 2008, Josh Hill’s career came to an abrupt halt in 2010 when he shattered his right femur, pelvis, and humerus attempting an 80-foot backflip while training for X Games. After numerous surgeries, Josh’s complications continued as he developed Compartment Syndrome in his opposite leg leaving him paralyzed from the knee down. Hear the full story of Josh’s persistence will and determination to get back on the bike and the support he’s found with the Dodge/Sycuan RCH Racing Team as he comes back against all odds to sit in 15th place in the 2013 Supercross season! Incredible comeback!

X Games rookie Lance Coury wins gold in the Speed & Style!

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FOZ DO IGUAÇU, Brazil — X Games rookie Lance Coury, 23, won gold in the Speed & Style event on Saturday at X Games Foz after beating out Brazilian rider Gilmar Flores in quarterfinals, dispatching former FIM Freestyle MX World Champion Libor Podmol of the Czech Republic in semifinals, and finishing ahead in a final bout against Norwegian rider Andre Villa.

“It’s my first X Games. I love this,” said Coury, breathless and dusting himself off in disbelief after the head-to-head race. “I got into freestyle motocross because of Travis Pastrana and X Games.”

In quarterfinals, Villa beat French rider David Rinaldo, the current leader in the 2013 FIM Freestyle MX World Championship series, and took Swiss rider Mat Rebeaud down in semifinals. In the main event Coury took an early lead out of the gates, then slipped up in the rhythm section with Villa closing in fast.

The stadium-sized course was bigger and more open than the previous Speed & Style tracks at X Games Los Angeles, which were held inside the Staples Center arena, leaving room for both more speed and bigger airs.

“I knew I was in front,” Coury said, recounting the slip-up that sent both riders careening off the course. “I don’t know what tricks he’s doing, I’m doing the tricks that I have in my head, I’m going as fast as I can, I can hear him on my back. I make a mistake in that line, he jumps over my head, I’m like, ‘I’ve gotta take the inside, one so he doesn’t crash on me, two so I can maybe keep him off of me.’”

Villa won on style points, 84.66 to 84.00 — partly thanks to a huge whip flip on the course’s 75-foot FMX competition ramp — but Coury came out of the scramble first and finished well ahead of him, bumping his overall score to 97.85.

“I didn’t even expect to ride X Games this year,” Coury said. “I didn’t expect to make it to the final round… honestly, I just had fun out there.”

Villa claimed silver, his first X Games medal in four appearances. Rebead beat out Podmol for the bronze in the consolation round.

TICKLE OVERCOMES EARLY SETBACK, FINISHES SEVENT IN SX MAIN EVENT

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SEATTLE – (Saturday, April, 20, 2013)

Broc Tickle led the Dodge/RCH Racing team at Round 15 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series with an impressive performance in Saturday night’s Main Event at CenturyLink Field. He finished seventh while teammate Josh Hill was 12th.

Rain Friday and Saturday made for very sloppy track conditions and forced organizers to condense the schedule. The untimed practice schedule was eliminated leaving only two timed sessions for the riders to dial in their bikes before the evening program.

Tickle (No. 20 Dodge/Sycuan Casino/RCH Racing/Bel-Ray/Suzuki Z450) rebounded from a disappointing 10th-place finish (only the top nine finishers advance to the Main Event) in his Heat Race with a strong performance in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) to earn one of two transfer spots into the Main Event. His 15th-consecutive Main Event start of the year was secure.

Tickle Seattle 2

“I was frustrated that I had to go to the LCQ because you never know who will be in it,” said Tickle. “I rode really well in the LCQ. For six laps, anybody can hang on and step up to beat the field. I just focused on getting a good start and made sure that I rode clean for six laps.”

The wide starting position wasn’t too much to overcome in the 20-lap Main Event. The Michigan native busted out of the gate13th. The determined Tickle went to work and emerged from a four-rider battle to take 11th on Lap 10. Despite the rutted-up track surface, Tickle continued the pressure, gaining three more spots by Lap 14 and used one last pin of the throttle to claim seventh at the checkered flag.

“It was a pretty good Main tonight,” Tickle said. “It always stinks when you have to go through the LCQ. My main goal was to get into the Main. I knew that the track was going to deteriorate. I like rutty tracks. My goal was just to go out there and ride hard for 20 laps and I felt that I did that tonight. I made one mistake in the middle of the race by following somebody and two guys got around me. I recovered pretty well. I think that I had a top-five bike tonight. I’ll take it. This was my best race of the year under some tough circumstances.”

Hill led RCH in the first timed qualifying session, recording the sixth best time on the hard-back and modestly fast race surface. Slower high-banked corners allowed for riders to brake-slide the 180-degree corners. Hill was ready for the challenge. A gnarly start straightaway section made the race start critical. Throttle control was mandatory on a circuit where full power wasn’t necessary to be fast.

Hill was impressive in his Heat race, finishing fourth in Heat 1 with a steady, workman-like ride.

In the Main Event, Hill couldn’t take advantage of his eighth position on the gate. He and Chad Reed collected each other in Turn 1. That dropped the Oregon native all the way down to 19th. He used the next nine laps to climb seven positions and held the spot, finishing 12th.

Hill Seattle 2

“I went into the first turn and came in a little hot,” Hill said of his charge from the gate in the Main Event. “I thought that I was going to get the holeshot; it was me, (Justin) Barcia and (Justin) Brayton all going at it. I thought that I had it. Brayton squeezed me off just a little bit. I grabbed some front brake, had nowhere to go and ran into the tuff blocks which took some guys out behind me. From there, it was tough because I had some clay stuffed in my clutch – I had no clutch. I tried to start my bike and I had to find neutral without using the clutch, which was tough. I started 25-seconds from the last guy on the track and just had to ride my guts out.”

“I feel like I am riding really well right now. I passed a lot of bikes tonight. If I had just a few more laps, I think I would have caught the two guys in front of me and thrown it in the top-10. I just ran out of time”

Barcia was the 450SX Class race winner, edging series point leader Ryan Villopoto by 3.885-seconds. Davi Millsaps was third.

The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series heads to Salt Lake City for Round 16 next Saturday.

Lance Coury to compete in XGames Brazil

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MEDIA ALERT:

April 16th, 2013

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Hart and Huntington Rider Update – Lance Coury will compete at X Games Brazil Riding for Hart and Huntington Clothing and RCH Racing.

Lance Coury will compete in Foz Do Iguacu, c for the first stop of Global X Games in Brazil April 18th-21st in Moto X Speed and Style. RCH Racing team owner Carey Hart pioneered the Speed and Style event and is looking forward to Lance following in his footsteps. “I’m very excited to see Lance finally get his shot at X Games Speed and Style. He has been training with me over the last 2 years and I know he is definitely qualified to go give the top guys a run for their money.”

Lance may be competing in Speed and Style at X Games for the first time, but he is no stranger to the Hart and Huntington team or the motocross world. “I have been involved with Hart and Huntington for over 4 years now, the relationship started very naturally with being friends with Carey. I ride for Hart and Huntington clothing as well as under the RCH Racing tent riding a Dodge/Hart and Huntington/Sycuan/Suzuki.”

Lance got his first motorcycle at the age of 4, and has been competitively riding motorcycles since he was 5 years old. With his strong riding background and an awesome training facility at his disposal, Lance is focused on being one of the top Freestyle Motocross riders in the world and is hungrier than ever to succeed. In 2013 he will be competing at X Games, Dew Tour, X Fighters, and will be riding in exhibitions around the world.

Make sure to keep up to date with the riders and the Hart and Huntington team by following online:

Twitter: @LAnceCoury @HandHofficial @RCHRacing
Instagram: @LAnceCoury @HandHofficial @RCHRacing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hartandhuntington

HILL EARNS HEAT WIN and EIGHTH-PLACE FINISH IN MAIN

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MINNEAPOLIS – (Saturday, April, 13, 2013) – Dodge’s Josh Hill earned his first Heat Race win of the season en route to his second consecutive top-10 Main Event finish Saturday night to lead RCH Racing at Round 14 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series.

A packed Hubert H. Humphrey Dome welcomed riders for the first time since 2008 on a chilly day in Minnesota. Riders and mechanics had to brave the outdoor working conditions that saw the ambient temperature drop into the 20’s by time the gate dropped for the evening session.

Hill’s comeback continues to be the feel-good story inside the 450SX Class paddock as the defending event champion had his most impressive ride aboard his Suzuki this season. The numbers tell the story as Hill was sixth in both afternoon practice sessions to earn the third gate for his Heat. He used a slick maneuver early in the eight-lap qualifier to claim the lead and never looked back, leading all eight laps. He edged Chad Reed by 1.131-seconds to secure RCH Racing its first qualifying race win of the season.

Hill Minneapolis

“I was fourth (after the gate dropped), a decent start for me,” Hill said. “I set myself up where I could get one clean shot on those guys and I made a pass on all three. I was in the right place at the right time and took advantage of what was in front of me. Reed was coming fast but he made a small mistake and I was able to hold him off. It was cool. I got the jump on (Ryan) Villopoto and just pinched him off a bit. It was a solid ride. It was cool.”

With the second gate selection for the Main Event, Hill was able to bang handlebars with the leaders early, riding as high as fourth on Lap 8 in the 20-lap Main Event until falling off the lead-pack pace in the second half of the race.

“It’s been a long road,” he added. “I’m getting closer to where I want to be, happy about the stepping stone the last few weeks. I still have years of work to do to get to where I want to be. A few good weekends, for sure. I’m going in the right direction. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and it would be stupid to give up now. I’m just going to keep working as hard as I can and keep challenging the best riders in the world.”

Teammate Broc Tickle finished outside of the top 10 for the first time since Round 11 in Toronto. He finished 13th in Saturday night’s Main Event. His fate was determined early as a pack of riders went down, blocking the racing line and slowing the pace. Tickle was 15th after Lap 1. He managed to gain two positions over the final 19 laps.

Tickle Minneapolis

“After the whoops section, some guys crashed and went down,” said Tickle. “I had nowhere to go. By the time I could react, I just basically ran into the guys in front of me. There wasn’t much I could do; three of us got together. I think it was (Phil) Nicoletti who went down, not quite sure. Just a tough deal.”

Hometown favorite Ryan Dungey was the event winner, beating two-time defending series champion Ryan Villopoto by a mere 0.903-seconds. Davi Millsaps, Justin Barcia and Chad Reed rounded out the top-five.

The series heads west for the final three races of the 2013 season. Next week, riders visit Century Link Field in Seattle.