Red Bull Dome-inance!
By TMX Archives on 4th Mar 15
Can anyone stop Ryan Dungey? The Red Bull KTM rider stormed to his third win of the 2015 Monster Energy AMA SX series in Atlanta on Saturday night and stretched his series lead out to 30 points ahead of Trey Canard who came home third behind Eli Tomac.
With the series now past the halfway mark the 2010 champion is threatening to check out at the front and he dominated the series' second visit to the Georgia Dome.
Weston Peick grabbed the holeshot in the 450cc Main Event and after trading passes with last weekend's winner Chad Reed he led the early laps.
An unforced error that dumped Reed into the Tuff Blocks gave Peick some breathing space but it wasn't long before Dungey latched onto his rear wheel. At one point it was a four-way fight for the lead with Tomac and Canard closing down the top two but as soon as Dungey got inside Peick in the turn after the rhythm section the win was decided.
Dungey's nickname is ‘The Diesel' and with a clear track ahead he banged out lap after lap of precise riding to win by six-and-a-half seconds.
"Once I got around Peick I was able to ride a good race,” said Dungey.
"I knew opening up that gap would be important and then I was able to keep it mellow the last three or four laps just to bring it in for the win. It feels good.
"I kind of fell into a good groove. The track was slick so the harder you pushed the more mistakes I was making so I let the tyres hook up. The Honda boys were on my heels so I had to keep the pressure on right to the end.”
Early season pace-setter Ken Roczen had another bad night at the office.
The German injured his left ankle during the day and struggled to eighth, a result that leaves him 13 points behind Canard in the series standings.
Atlanta marked the third round of the 250cc East Coast series and it was former world MX2 champ Marvin Musquin who raced to his second victory of the campaign from last weekend's winner Jeremy Martin and defending champion Justin Bogle.
The Frenchman made it a clean sweep for the Red Bull KTM team, nailing a gate-to-flag win after motoring away from Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus who is quickly finding his feet in his first SX season.
Tonus slowly slipped back as Martin and Bogle charged through but was sitting in a career-best sixth until a mistake on the final lap broke his rhythm and allowed Martin Davalos to make a last-corner move on him.
"I was a little bit bummed last week with my crash in the heat race,” said Musquin.
"I feel like I could have won last weekend so I'm glad to get it done today.
"In the heat race I went down and got fourth so got seventh or eighth gate pick – not the best feeling going into the Main Event.
"I was really focused on my start and pushed really hard into the first turn and put myself into the lead.
"I wanted to get out front because with the sand you get roosted so hard.
"It was hard to push, it was so easy to make some mistakes so I'm just glad to get it done.”
The series now heads to Daytona International Speedway, Florida, for round 10 on Saturday night.
