Dungey draws blood in San Diego
By Team TMX on 20th Jan 16
Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM) claimed his first win of the season and his 18th consecutive podium finish at round two of the Monster Energy Supercross series at Petco Park, San Diego, on Saturday night.
The defending 450SX champion qualified first but it was Justin Brayton (BTO KTM) who took the holeshot from Vince Friese (Motoconcepts Honda) with Chad Reed (Monster Energy Yamaha) starting third.
On lap two Dungey moved into the lead with Reed following him through to second and the pair then led the 20-lap Main Event until the end, gapping the field by 10-and-a-half seconds.
Ken Roczen (Soaring Eagle Suzuki) was running fifth in the early stages before jumping off the track as Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) – winner of Anaheim 1 – held seventh.
Control
By the halfway point Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) was up to fifth but Dungey was in complete control, leading Reed by just over a second with Cole Seely (HRC Honda) third from Anderson who had made a succession of smooth passes.
With five laps to go Dungey had stretched his lead out to two seconds over the veteran Aussie, with Seely and Anderson fighting for third a further four-and-a-half seconds behind.
Anderson then made an aggressive pass to move up a place but he was docked two places for jumping when the red cross flags were out so Seely picked up third from Tomac.
"November, December has seen a lot of laps with no racing so it's nice to get racing again,” said Dungey.
"We try to do our work in the off-season and be ready. If you can practice then I believe mentally if you have the right thinking you can come in and apply that to the race.
"It's cool to get this first win of the season.
"Sometimes it comes a bit later so it's nice to get this first one, especially at round two.
"It's great for the morale of the team and we believe in our package and the team.
"Coming into last year it was a brand-new bike and we were learning. Now, with a whole year under our belts, we've tried to get the engine a little better, fine-tuned the suspension and we hope we're going faster – that's the goal.”
The winner of last weekend's opening round, Cooper Webb (Star Racing Yamaha) was a firm favourite in the SX250 West Coast class heading into San Diego – and he didn't disappoint.
Jordan Smith (Geico Honda) took the holeshot ahead of team-mate Jimmy Decotis but Webb, who started just inside the top 10, was always in control.
Zach Osborne (Rockstar Husqvarna) took the lead just before the halfway point of the 15-lap race but a lap later Webb had cruised through to second and with four laps to go he slid up the inside to hit the front.
Osborne, a former British MX2 champion, crashed back to sixth with two laps to go allowing Webb to claim a comfortable win from Joey Savatgy (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Smith.
Christian Craig (Geico Honda) was fourth ahead of Colt Nichols (Rock River Yamaha).
"I just put myself where I had to be,” said Webb.
"Last year this is where I got hurt. I think that was a little bit in my head but I pulled my head out of my butt and decided to get it done in that main.
"It wasn't a great start at all – which was a real shame – but it feels cool to come through the pack and pass all the guys like that.
"It was late in the race before I made the pass so it was another late-race charge and I'm just stoked to be back up here.”
