Dungey takes first outdoor win of season at Glen Helen
By TMX Archives on 29th May 16
Ryan Dungey was the overall winner in the 450 Class at the FMF Glen Helen National. And with 1-2 moto finishes, it was certainly a solid day for the Red Bull KTM rider.
For Ken Roczen though, the outcome has to sting. For the second week in a row, Roczen was on his way to a dominant 1-1 sweep, but bike problems late in the first moto cost him the overall victory.
In that opening moto, Trey Canard took the holeshot but Dungey was close behind. As the field went up Mt. St. Helens on the opening lap, the riders split into two lines, with Canard leading the group on the left and Dungey on the right. Making their way up the steep hill, Dungey moved ahead of Canard to take over the lead.
On Lap 1, Roczen moved around Justin Barcia for third, then picked up another spot when Trey Canard went down on the next lap while running second.
Roczen was turning the fastest laps on the track and eventually closed the gap on Dungey. After riding just behind Dungey for several laps, Roczen made his move with about nine minutes left on the clock. Roczen scrubbed a jump, then went inside of Dungey to make the pass.
Roczen quickly began to check out with the lead, building up a 13-second gap at one point. But things unraveled in the final two laps when Roczen started experiencing bike issues. Unable to safely hit the jumps, he was forced to just roll over them, which caused him to lose lots of time. Dungey soon caught and passed Roczen for the lead.
On the final lap of the race, Roczen dropped two more spots. Jason Anderson moved up to second to match a career high, and Eli Tomac moved into third. Earlier in the race (with about two minutes left on the countdown clock), Anderson had passed Tomac for position as they went through a rhythm section.
After the moto, RCH Suzuki team manager Kyle Bentley said that the team took full responsibility for the error to led to Roczen's bike malfunction.
"Obviously in the first moto there was nothing I could do," Roczen told NBC Sports' Georgia Lindsay at the end of the day. "I was riding good, should have been another perfect day. But it's all right."
With the necessary adjustments made for Moto 2, Roczen wasted no time asserting his way to the front of the field. He stole the holeshot from Justin Brayton and Dungey, then Roczen started checking out.
Roczen went on to win the moto by nearly 20 seconds over Dungey, but Dungey (2-1) earned the overall victory while Roczen (1-4) had to settle for second place.
Tomac (3-3) landed on the overall podium in third, but for the second week in a row, poor starts kept him from challenging Roczen or Dungey. After the first lap in Moto 2, Tomac sat 14th before passing a number of riders en route to a podium finish. Tomac took fourth from Jason Anderson on Lap 7, then got Trey Canard for third two laps later.
As a result, the title race is starting to slowly slip away from Tomac. Roczen is still the championship leader over Dungey by a two-point margin, then Tomac is 15 points back of Dungey and 17 behind Roczen.
Fortunately for Tomac, the next round of the series takes place at his home track – Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colorado. Tomac lives and trains in Colorado, and he usually tends to do well at Thunder Valley. But the track was also the site of last year's season-ending injury.
Jason Anderson (2-5) and Trey Canard (7-4) rounded out the overall top five.
450 Class rookie Marvin Musquin had a top ten outing, but looked to be on his way to a much better day early on at Glen Helen. In the first moto, he climbed as high as third place on Lap 2 but ultimately faded back to ninth. A poor start in the second moto held him to an 11th-place finish.
A week after breaking his collarbone at Hangtown, Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Baggett surprisingly attempted to ride Glen Helen. After finishing 14th in timed qualifying this morning, Baggett decided to line up for Moto 1 despite still feeling a ton of pain. (He had surgery just five days ago.) Following a 16th-place finish in the first moto, Baggett did not race Moto 2.
JGR Yamaha's Weston Peick also did not race the second moto after crashing in Moto 1. He had been riding inside the top ten at the time.
The series will shift to Thunder Valley next Saturday, June 4 for the third round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season.
