Defending AMA/ FIM Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey has closed the points gap right up in the race for the 2011 title after racing to third place in Saturday night’s 13th round in Arlington, Texas.
The Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider sits just one point behind second-placed Chad Reed (Honda) and seven behind series leader Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki) with four rounds remaining and a total of 100 points still up for grabs.
He gated fifth in the 20-lap Main Event – held in front of a crowd of 51,000 – moved into second, but fell back to third when he clipped a lapped rider and crashed.
Dungey and his RM-Z450 were strong all day on the tough and technical Arlington track, scoring the fourth best time in the afternoon qualifying and grabbing a second-place finish in his heat race. In the Main, he rode hard but consistent and was able to work his way into second by lap nine before a tangle with a lapped rider on lap 11 put him back to third. Dungey pushed hard for the remaining nine laps and was able to catch back up to the second-place rider but fell just short of making the pass.
“All in all, it was a good day,” said Dungey. “My whole Rockstar Makita Suzuki team and I worked really good together and they did a great job with my Suzuki tonight. The track was tough; especially the whoop sections were really big and technical. I got off to a good start in the Main and was able to work my way up to second in like the tenth lap, but then a couple of laps later I came up on a lapper and just misjudged what he was gonna do and went down. I got back up in third and made a hard charge for second and got close but just came up a little short. All in all, I felt great and my RM-Z felt great too. I’m looking forward to St. Louis. It’s always a tough track; tacky and technical. We got a win there last year so it would be good to go back there and get another win.”
Supercross results: 1 Trey Canard (Honda), 2 Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki), 3 Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 4 James Stewart (Yamaha), 5 Kevin Windham (Honda), 6 Andrew Short (KTM), 7 Tommy Hahn (Yamaha), 8 Chad Reed (Honda), 9 Austin Stroupe (Yamaha), 10 Mike Alessi (KTM).
