Suzuki Dungey Retains SX Series Lead
In spite of soggy conditions, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing's Ryan Dungey walked away from this weekend's Supercross Lites race at San Francisco's AT&T Park with a healthy points lead in the championship.The 18 year old finished second in his heat race and seventh in the shortened 10-lap main. Although he'd got a good start in the main on his RM-Z250, Dungey hit a downed bike and then went down himself. After re-starting his Suzuki, however, he quickly regained his composure and battled his way up to at top-10 finish.
He currently leads the championship by almost 20 points.
In the Supercross class, Mike Alessi did well in his heat race by finishing second. But the weather conditions hurt Alessi in the shortened, 15-lap main. He struggled and finished 15th.Team mate David Vuillemin was having a good ride in the main event for the first few laps, but then his knee popped out and he had to pull out of the race.
Ryan Dungey, "We got a bit of rain and only got one short practice. Going into the heat race, we got second and that was good. In the main, they cut off five laps from that. I got a pretty decent start but made a mistake and went off the track but got back on and was charging hard. I was running in fourth and came across a lapper's bike. I didn't even see it and I doubled right into it. I was just thankful that I got right up. I got seventh but I feel like I rode well, besides those mistakes. I'm just a little bummed about tonight - if we'd had five more laps, I could have maybe gotten a top-five finish. But I'm feeling positive going into Anaheim. We're going to take care of business."Mike Alessi, "We only had one practice and it was OK. It was really muddy and we struggled a bit but we made the bike better for the heat race. I got a great start in the heat race and ran second almost the whole race. At the main, it started pouring down rain and, it's hard to imagine, but it was the worst rain I'd ever seen. The track just became a slop-fest. I got a great jump at the start but then I spun really bad because of the rain and ended up 10th or 11th. Then I made a small mistake and went down. I ended up 15th and that's not where I should have been, I think I should have been third or fourth but things just didn't go my way. But we'll move on and get ready for next week at Anaheim."
David Vuillemin, "I wasn't feeling great in practice but the heat race went a lot better and I finished in fifth. Then it started raining a lot for the main event. I was pretty confident because I actually like riding in the rain. I was running in ninth and I popped my knee out in one of the ruts. I stopped and tried to stretch it to pop it back in but I couldn't do it; it was too painful. So I just stopped and came back to the truck. Even so, I had two good starts this weekend and we've made a lot of progress with the bike. I have to thank the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team for all their hard work. I don't think my knee is anything too serious and I hope to be back next weekend."
Supercross result: 1 Chad Reed (Yamaha), 2 Kevin Windham (Honda), 3 Davy Millsaps (Honda), 4 Jacob Marsack (Honda), 5 Grant Langston (Yamaha). 15 Mike Alessi (Rockstar Makita Suzuki). 17 David Vuillemin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki).
