DUNGEY WINS; TOWNLEY CRASHES
Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey swept the motos to earn his seventh straight 450 class overall victory at round eight of the AMA Pro Motocross championship at Washougal Motocross Park at the weekend.
It wasn’t good news for one of his main rivals however, with New Zealand’s Ben Townley (Honda) crashing out of the first 450cc race, suffering concussion and injuring his shoulder. He did not line up for the day’s second race.
The former MX2 world champion had this season been on the comeback following a serious shoulder injury sustained in the United States in 2007 and it had been a meteoric return, with the Kiwi hero up to third overall in the championship chase before Saturday’s disaster.
“I banged my right shoulder pretty hard when I went down and could not lift it to grab onto the bars,” said Townley. “It’s bruised pretty badly so will have to give it a few days of rest and hopefully by the middle of the week I can assess if it will be possible to ride. We have two free weekends until Unadilla so I’m quite confident I will be good to go,” he said.
Townley has slipped to fifth in the rankings with just four rounds remaining.
For Dungey, though, it was business as usual on Saturday.
It was his 12th victory in the past 14 motos and Dungey (pictured above) has now extended his championship lead to 95 points over Honda’s Andrew Short.
Short, of Texas, was the 450cc class runner-up at the weekend and Australian Brett Metcalfe, on another Honda, took third overall.
Dungey now has earned 368 points to Short’s 273 as the series starts a two-weekend break, resuming again at Unadilla, where Yamaha’s James Stewart is expected to make his return.
Short, meanwhile, continues to tear up the starts, taking the holeshot in both motos, but the Honda Red Bull rider couldn’t hold off Dungey. He finished runner-up in both motos.
Metcalfe finished the day on the podium. He rode among the leaders the whole way in the first moto but had to come from behind after crashing early in the second moto. He rode from way back to finish fifth, which gave him just enough points to stay ahead of Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn for the day.
Hahn finished second in the first moto and was pressuring Short for second when the chequered flag came out in the second moto. His 7-3 gave him fourth for the day.
Rounding out the top five overall was Kawasaki’s Nick Wey who put in one of his best rides of the season. He finished 10th in the first moto but improved on that by four positions in the second moto.
Meanwhile, Honda’s Trey Canard swept both 250 class motos to capture his third-straight win in that division.
Series points leader Christophe Pourcel, of France, finished second overall with a pair of runner-up finishes. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider got off to a bad start in the first moto and had to work his way to the front, using up a lot of energy on this hot day.
Pourcel got off the line much better in the second moto, but just didn’t have enough in the tank to catch Canard. He again lost significant points to Canard but still leads the class championship by 38 points over Canard.
Pourcel’s team-mate Tyla Rattray joined Canard and Pourcel on the podium, his steady 4-3 giving him third overall.
Honda’s Blake Wharton rode well in the heat and finished a consistent 5-4 to get fourth overall, nipping Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson by virtue of his better second-moto finish (both riders earned 30 points on the day).
Wilson might have done better had he not fallen in the first moto. He went 6-6 on the day.
Wilson’s team-mate Jake Weimer suffered a similar fate. He finished a strong third in the first moto only to fall while running near the front in the second moto. His 3-11 gave him sixth overall.
Eli Tomac, Tommy Searle, Vince Friese and Martin Davalos rounded out the top 10 overall.
RESULTS:
450cc Class
1. Ryan Dungey (Suz) 1-1
2. Andrew Short (Hon) 2-2
3. Brett Metcalfe (Hon) 3-5
4. Tommy Hahn (Suz) 7-3
5. Nick Wey (Kaw) 10-6
6. Ryan Sipes (Yam) 5-11
7. Kevin Windham (Hon) 9-9
8. Kyle Chisholm (Yam) 8-10
9. Dan Reardon (Yam) 12-7
10. Kyle Cunningham (Yam) 11-8
11. Mike Alessi (KTM) 6-13
12. Josh Grant (Yam) 4-16
13. Justin Brayton (Yam) 17-4
14. Weston Peick (Yam) 16-12
15. Ben Evans (Kaw) 15-18
Leading standings after eight of 12 rounds:
1. Dungey 368 points;
2. Short 273;
3. Metcalfe 257;
4. Grant 238;
5. Townley 223;
6. Alessi 219;
7. Chad Reed 204;
8. Sipes 166;
9. Chisholm 158;
10. Kyle Regal 157.
250cc Class
1. Trey Canard (Hon) 1-1
2. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw) 2-2
3. Tyla Rattray (Kaw) 4-3
4. Blake Wharton (Hon) 5-4
5. Dean Wilson (Kaw) 6-6
6. Jake Weimer (Kaw) 3-11
7. Eli Tomac (Hon) 7-9
8. Tommy Searle (KTM) 10-7
9. Vince Friese (Yam) 12-12
10. Martin Davalos (Yam) 22-5
11. Nico Izzi (Yam) 9-18
12. Darryn Durham (Hon) 38-8
13. Tommy Weeck (Hon) 15-14
14. Travis Baker (Yam) 8-37
15. Les Smith (Hon) 17-13
© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com