Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe raced his Yoshimura-equipped Suzuki RM-Z450 to a ninth-place finish at Saturday night’s 2011 AMA/FIM Supercross Championship fifth round at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, as reigning Champion Ryan Dungey suffered a derailed chain and was forced to retire.
Metcalfe piloted his Suzuki to a fourth-place finish in the first 450 heat race, then after a tough 13th-place start in the Main Event, he worked his way through the pack to score a ninth-place finish.
“It wasn’t one of my better days,” said Metcalfe. “Everything for me today was just difficult. But you learn a lot from these days and we’ll take it and move forward. I want to thank the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team for sticking by me and we’ll just concentrate on Houston. I’ve always liked Houston and have generally done pretty well there.”
Dungey started the day with a strong practice and finished first in timed qualifying on his RM-Z. He grabbed the holeshot in his heat race and finished with a convincing win. A mid-pack start in the Main put him in 10th after the first lap. But he kept his head down and was able to work his way through the pack up to sixth place by lap seven. Unfortunately, on lap eight, the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider threw the chain and ended with a DNF in the. Based on initial observations, his Rockstar Makita Suzuki team concurs that the chain loss was a result of a rock or other foreign object in the sprocket or possible contact with another rider.
“Well, obviously the Main event didn’t go our way tonight,” said Dungey. “The bad part is that we had a really good day; a good practice and a really great bike setup. We won the heat and then ran into some bad luck in the Main. It’s a pretty tough pill to swallow because the entire Rockstar Makita Suzuki team has been working really, really hard. I don’t know the last time we’ve had a DNF, which is pretty amazing in itself. This is a tough one and I’ll take the weekend to blow off some steam for sure because we aren’t going to quit and we aren’t going to let this keep us down. The goals are still the same. We will be there at Houston.”
The 2011 Rockstar Makita Suzuki team’s next event is Saturday, February 12th, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Anaheim II Supercross Class Results:
1. James Stewart (Yamaha); 2. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki); 3. Chad Reed (Honda); 4. Justin Brayton (Yamaha); 5. Trey Canard (Honda); 6. Andrew Short (KTM); 7. Ivan Tedesco (Kawasaki); 8. Kevin Windham (Honda); 9. Brett Metcalfe (Rockstar Makita Suzuki); 20. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki).
