It isn’t supposed to happen this way. Rookies don’t mix it up with James Stewart, much less push him all the way to the line. Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey did exactly that Saturday night in Anaheim, and a close look at the statistics indicate it was really no fluke.
Dungey was fast in practice and qualifying, and he was fast in the race. Not just because he got the hole shot and pulled away from Stewart early on, but he matched Stewart’s fastest lap time (within 1/10th of a second, or so). The next fastest rider on the track was Honda’s Kevin Windham (the third place finisher). Windham’s fastest lap was nearly a second and a half slower than the fastest lap recorded by Stewart and Dungey. Sound familiar? This sort of thing used to happen to the third place rider when Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart battled to the flag.
No other rider besides Stewart and Dungey recorded a single lap in the 56 second range, yet Dungey had six such laps in a row (laps 6 through 11). It was during those laps that Dungey built up a four second cushion on Stewart, who eventually reeled him in and took the win. The bottom line is that Ryan Dungey appears to be the real deal, and a potential thorn in James Stewart’s side (not to mention Chad Reed’s) every weekend this year.
