Report: Dungey's back on top in California
By Team TMX on 7th Apr 16
After three races without a win, defending 450SX champion and series leader Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM) was back on top of the podium at round 12 of the AMA Monster Energy Supercross championship.
Held on a hardpack track at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, Dungey took the lead from Justin Bogle (Geico Honda) with an aggressive pass at the end of the opening lap. Ken Roczen (RCH Suzuki), second in the standings, followed Dungey through but despite applying constant pressure for the first half of the 20-lap Main Event the German couldn't get close enough to make a pass.
With back-markers causing problems for Roczen, Dungey was able to open up a small gap which he controlled until the flag to take his sixth win of the season by just under one-and-a-half seconds.
"I got off to a good start which was key,” said Dungey, who's now strung together a run of 28 consecutive podium finishes. "Bogle got in there a little bit but we were able to make the pass at the end of the lap and Kenny was there to make the pass as well and put the pressure on.
"It was tough. He's good rider and it was hard to pull away but easy to make a mistake and lose time so I focused on hitting my lines and being consistent. For that whole race he was putting the pressure on and then we ran into some lappers and things kinda stretched out a little bit but we were pushing the pace tonight. It feels good to get a win."
Roczen, who got close enough to show Dungey a wheel on lap eight, was clearly upset that lappers had got in his way and cost him a chance of taking the win.
"It's always the same people. I think it was Friese, Alessi and definitely Nick Wey. He's a friend of mine and a super-nice guy but such a tough rider to lap.
"A blue flag means move out of the way, not ride us high, so I was bummed about that because I was right on Ryan and felt I could have pushed a bit harder towards the end. But it wasn't enough. I was riding good and it was a good second place, nothing to be too upset about."
Winner last time out, Jason Anderson (Rockstar Husqvarna) spent most of the race in third to consolidate his third place in the championship with Chad Reed (Monster Energy Yamaha) just holding off a late charge from Trey Canard (Honda HRC) to finish fourth.
After crashing at Daytona and being forced to sit out two rounds, James Stewart (Yoshimura Suzuki) was back in action but there was more frustration for the former champ.
The day started well for Stewart when he followed Dungey home in his heat race but a mechanical problem put him out of the Main Event after seven laps.
The 250SX West class was back in action at Santa Clara after a six-week break and defending champion Cooper Webb (Star Racing Yamaha) picked up where he left off in February with another win.
Former British MX2 champ Zach Osborne (Rockstar Husqvarna) took a big holeshot in the Main Event. Webb and title rival Joey Savatgy (Monster Energy Kawasaki) completed the first lap in sixth and eighth but the pair were making passes and by half-distance Webb was up to second with Savatgy third.
On lap 11 Webb slashed Osborne's two-second lead and made a pass up the inside in a right-hander and then pulled away to win and extend his points lead to 16.
"It was awesome,” said Webb. "It was a good race. I got an okay start but made it work and just went out and did the best I could. It's good to come to Levi's Stadium, I won last year and won this year and it's really good to be heading into the break with another win and the red plate. I thought the track was really, really good. It was technical, had some passing lines – they did a good job."
With just the final round in Las Vegas to come for the West region racers, the 250SX action now swings back to the East.
