Red Bull KTM Factory rider Ryan Dungey picked up a podium third in the 450-class at round fifteen of the Monster Energy Supercross Series held at Century Link Field while teammate Ken Roczen finished a hard fought seventh overall. Both riders were on the KTM 450 SX-F.
Roczen and Dungey were among the top contenders in the early practice sessions. Roczen finished qualifying on top of the lap times to win a place in the first heat. Dungey was fourth fastest in practice putting him in heat two.
Dungey kicked the night show off in fine form at second out of the start gate. By lap five he had found his rhythm and after making a few attempts to take the lead from Mike Alessi he made a pass stick with a lap to go and went on to win the heat.
Roczen qualified for the main by finishing heat two in third spot after not getting the best of starts. He was seventh out of the gate but by lap two had worked his way up to fourth. He maneuvered his way past KTM rider Andrew Short and started to reel in Barcia in second place before time ran out on him and he transferred to the main event in third place.
In the main, Dungey got a good start rounding the opening turn just shy of the holeshot behind Villopoto. However, several mistakes in the early part of the race allowed James Stewart to gain ground on Dungey and to pass him in lap four. Dungey pulled it together and held off a hard charging Eli Tomac to finish the night on the podium beside Villopoto and Stewart.
Roczen got a reasonable start and rounded the opening lap in fifth position. But a mistake in the rutted out whoops section just before the finish line jump on lap five cost him several positions. There was then a three-way battle between Roczen, Short and Canard for most of the remainder of the race with Roczen ultimately taking the checkers in seventh place.
“I am not happy with the way I rode and I made quite a few mistakes tonight,” stated Dungey. “I need to go back to the drawing board this week with the team in
“I just didn’t ride very well,” said Roczen. “I am really lucky that I managed to save myself from crashing in those whoops. That could have ended up a lot worse. I just didn’t find my rhythm again after that. I battled with Shorty and Canard for quite a bit but I just didn’t have my A game on tonight.”
Next Event:
US Supercross Rd.
450-class results
1, Ryan Villopoto
2, James Stewart
3, Ryan Dungey KTM
4, Eli Tomac
5, Justin Barcia
6, Trey Canard
7, Ken Roczen KTM
8, Andrew Short KTM
Championship Points after 15 of 17 rounds
1, Villopoto 318
2, Stewart 270
3, Dungey KTM 267
4, Roczen KTM 249
5, Barcia 214
Manufacturers points after 15 of 17 rounds
1,
2, KTM 317
3, Suzuki 303