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Sunday, July 7, 2013 | 12:05 PM
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PrintRyan Dungey’s luck at RedBud was horrible—his bike broke while he was running second in moto one, and then he crashed hard while running second in moto two. That did a lot of damage to him in the point standings, for certain. But you can’t let his bad luck take any credit away from what Ryan Villopoto was able to do, which is rage back from bad starts in both motos to get to the front and go 1-1. Villopoto looked even stronger today than he did the last few weeks, and he appeared headed to a 1-1 day no matter what had happened to Dungey. “We did a lot of testing and working on the bike, trying to get that feeling we had at Hangtown back,” said Villopoto. “We didn’t do Southwick testing, we were just working on a setting that would work better everywhere. The speeds keep getting faster and the tracks keep getting rougher so you just always have to keep working on things.”
Dungey’s Red Bull KTM team didn’t have much of an answer as to what happened to Dungey’s bike in moto one—Roger DeCoster just said it was something electrical. Dungey stalled the bike in moto one, and couldn’t get the bike restarted. Once they finally got it pushed all the way back to the pits, the bike fired right back up.
Ryan Dungey had to day to forget at RedBud.
Simon Cudby photo
Then in moto two, Dungey did what everyone asks him to do: he hung it out over the edge trying to get Villopoto for the moto win. They were still darned close all the way down to the 30-minute mark, matching lap times in an all-out push to the finish. Then Dungey hooked a rut and the bike stopped and flipped spectacularly. He was stuck under the bike and immediately motioned for help from a track worker to help get the bike off of him. He lost nearly a minute on that lap, but only one position, and ended up third. Suddenly, Villopoto has a 40-plus point lead in the standings.
Josh Grant has actually been riding at Villopoto’s house down in Florida lately, and clearly the work has paid off, as he delivered a podium finish in the 450 Class. “He lives about 10 minutes away from me when he’s staying in Florida, and he gave me a call and asked if he could ride,” said Villopoto. “It’s good to have a another fast guy to lay down lines and get the track rough. And Josh, you know he can lay down a hot lap.”
Grant said he’s been a work in progress, obviously, after a long run of injuries. “The injuries I had, they weren’t minor, both knees and both shoulders,” he said. “A lot of surgeries.” After holeshotting the first moto, Grant admitted it was a little tough leading and running that pace since he hasn’t done it much lately, but he also said he’s going to keep working on his starts in hopes of doing it again.
RV went 1-1 on the day and now has a 40-plus point lead.
Simon Cudby photo
Trey Canard was fast all day, but a tip over in the first moto cost him a few spots. He battled back to fifth, nearly catching Andrew Short at the finish for fourth. Another good ride by Canard in moto two resulted in a sixth, overall a solid day for the Honda Muscle Milk rider.
James Stewart landed on the podium for the first time since the opener at Hangtown, and hung pretty close to Villopoto and Dungey after they got around him in the second moto. “They definitely had some better lines than me, and after they got by me I was able to learn some of their lines,” said Stewart. He said the biggest difference between his podium here and less-than-stellar results from the last two races was simply not going down. “I feel like we rode pretty well at the last two,” he said.
It’s almost like Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen have magnets between them, and the magnets push them apart at all times. They haven’t actually battled since the third moto of the season at Thunder Valley, and once again, fate wouldn’t let them tangle here. Roczen got a bad start in moto one while Tomac got away, and Tomac fell in moto two just after taking over second—and Roczen was leading. One of these days, they’re going to have to hook it up, and it should be good.
By the way, Roczen’s second-moto win was a big one because RedBud was a back-to-back race, with only one hour between motos. Word was getting around that Roczen and his teammate Marvin Musquin weren’t as strong in the second motos on these shorter days, since Tomac had rolled to second moto wins at most of the back-to-backs. Roczen actually says bike setup has had an impact on his strength throughout the day, and he’s much happier with his bike setup now.
Blake Baggett had another tough weekend.
Simon Cudby photo
Jeremy Martin’s podium ride in the 250s was the first for any of the much-hyped 2013 rookie class. Martin did ride a few races at the end of last season after his amateur season ended, but this was his first pro race ever at RedBud (he had raced the track before as an amateur). There was no doubt about his speed on this day, either, as he repeatedly went toe-to-toe with veteran Marvin Musquin in both motos, and when Musquin crashed in a deep rut late in moto two, it settled the battle for the final podium spot.
Tomac had crazy speed again this weekend, going a whopping three seconds faster than anyone else during his fastest qualifying lap. Many riders, however, mentioned that the track was so deep and one-lined in practice that it was exceptionally hard to get in a clean lap. But Tomac backed that up by blazing the first moto, then coming from ninth to second in moto two and even making a late run at Roczen! Roczen even upped his pace late in the moto, dropping from 2:24s to 2:21s, but then Tomac went all the way into the 2:18s to try to catch him. It will certainly be interesting whenever these two get a wheel-to-wheel battle at some point.
Rough day for defending 250 champion Blake Baggett, who struggled to get into the top ten in both 250 motos. After his win a Budds Creek, it seemed like Baggett was set to turn things around, but he was not on his game this weekend.
Overall, a rough one for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Tyla Rattray was said to have taken a handlebar to the body in practice, and didn’t race, and Adam Cianciarulo went down on the first lap of the second 250 moto while running third. He came back from last to 15th.
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Check out THE MOTOCROSS OF 40 NATIONS
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
The 2013 FIM Motocross of Nations at Teutschenthal, Germany, hosted teams from a record forty countries. Here’s how it played out for each of them. Page 90.
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Good Ride JS7
Too bad we didn't get to see Dungeys crash. Instead we saw a plane crash.
Agreed Jason, no dispute about how fast Villopoto was at Red Bud..he had it dialed! Dungey looked good in hanging with him until his bike got tired of the beating, then through him down and pinned him for a three count. James finally put two moto together, good for him he could use a confidence boost going into the break..if he can string a few more together JS could end up passing Tenacious Trey for 4th in the standings.. Grant moved into the top ten..Mookie is right there and if Nicoletti can pick it up they could all wind up ahead of some pretty big names..
Tomac is a beast on a 250 ..Roczen is smooth and smart...I predict a battle between those two at the Shoe..Congtats to Martin, the Department of Youth has a new leader, with tracks like Washougal, his home Spring Creek and Unidilla coming up don't be surprised if he finds the podium again soon..
Not much talk about Reed and going 13-10 ya have to wonder what does the future hold for him? I didn't expect him to challenge for any wins, or even any top 5's, but I never, ever envisioned this. After hearing of an illness, it seemed that was the reason but now we're past the halfway point and things seem no better. Will Honda stay involved with him even if he chooses to continue on after this year?
Great job Jeremy 77 and Scott. Keep it up.
If people keep hounding RD to hang with RV as CR was trying to do a couple of years back, in SX (or try to go faster as someone said last week as the reason for his mistakes) then he is going to start experiencing the injuries that come with it. He needs to just ride to the edge of his comfort zone (which is on a different level than anyone other than RV) because problems with bikes happens to everyone at one time or another but if you are sitting at home in a cast, and the other guy breaks. Guess what?
I just hope both the Ryans and Eli stay healthy enough to race the Des Nations, we need some redemption from last year and I dont see anyone coming close to that team. Imagine the numbers RV could have put up had he not been injured in the past. That guy is an animal!!
@Preston--What about the rest of the guys ?? Good rides for most of them too.. Especially RV..
Best fireworks I saw all weekend was Justin Hill's motor explode. I would hate to think Mitch was sandbagging his customers, I admire his will to win and accomplishments but with the HP Troy Lee found in house and the Yoshimura Honda bikes, it is a legitimate question. Mike Brown was positive his bikes slowed down when he was a title contender several rounds in on his privateer Honda in 05. Go big red!! So happy Eli stays home at FC!! Guess the Abomb has yet to detonate, Go Cooper!!!! Rookie of the year is all you.
@UPSMan--Dont forget the GEICO Honda teams results sure picked up once they started doing their motos in house.. And I think Brown was the one who started all the speculation about it.. But it sure seems funny how these other teams can compete now without Pro Circut doing their engine work..
RacerX, will there be a re-air of the the 2nd moto (well actually first airing) on TV this week?
Good Ride M stewart
Great ride Josh Grant---Trey Canard--Justin Barcia and Justin Brayton.. Even if Preston/Crybaby wont say if you are white..
Everyone always talks about RV pushing the edge and saying that he couldn't keep riding like that without crashing, and what happens? Mr. Consistent tries hanging with him and rides the edge and throws it away. RV doesn't need to know what his edge is, he knows Dungeys and where he will crack.
Anybody know what happened to the LAP times of Southwick could not find them.
persona the Ryans both ride close to the edge the talk about RV riding the edge and the chance of crashing, mainly because of his aggressiveness, but a crash can happen to anyone at any time..that is what makes motocross so unpredictable..I don't think Dungey cracked, just showed he is human and made a mistake..
The misfortunes of racing. Having a bike let go or a crash can really hurt a guy while trying to run up front. This was really a bummer for Dungey, but he will continue to push on. Glad to see James up there, but what is it or who is it that will be able to match Villopoto's speed. I thought it was interesting the Grant has been riding with RV, maybe it will help him improve.
A bike will break , someone will crash .. before its all over . whos turn next?
Hey this is motocross everyone rides close to their own edge it is called racing. If you want to roll around go cow trailing or get a bicycle. Sometimes I wonder if some of you dudes ever raced making comments like that and saying oh Dungey needs to push RV more. He can't push RV more when he is at his limit and RV tends to push himself just like RC did.
Funny to see the ad on cbssports for the up and comeing english premier league season and fro askeed weage what team he supports..goe's all silent on broadcast for a few seconds...classic tv.love to explain the off side rule if weage has got 5 hours to spare if he's interested...yer right.
What a race !! Tomac and Roczen are the class of 250's-no doubt !! But give some of these rookies a shot of confidence and this could get good !! Martin looked as fast as any of them for awhile !! RV2 is a winning machine--plain and simple !!! He makes everybody look like they are not even in the same race------except Dungey !! I was on the edge of my seat in moto 2 up untill that moment !! Never was a big Dungey fan--untill now. A race like this one is what makes champions !!
Great ride for Grant. I hope he is on his way back. I like the guy. I also hope Shorty can put two good motos together. For an"old" guy he is doing quite well. Go Shorty!! JS looked good (not great) but I don't think his results at Red Bud are any indication of the rest of the series for him. If it turns out that I am wrong I will own up to it. But with Grant seemingly on the rise JS will have his hands full with not only with Barcia and Canard but now Grant as well. Obviously JS cannot hang with the Ryans so his battle will be with the "tier 2" guys.
Now that RD has nothing to loose it will be fun to see just how hard he will push to try and force RV into a mistake. That's all RD has left.
We're going to need at least a moto DNF out of RV (either a mechanical or a crash) or this series is going to be boring from here on in. If he goes into "safety mode" and lets RD or JS win some moto's .... he has enough points lead he could just ride for 2nd's 3rd's and 4th's (without busting a gut) to win the championship. Although cruising and safely have never been his style. So we'll see what the moto gods dish out the next month or two. But as usual .... things can change in an instant in moto cross. This ain't over yet.
Dungey will make up points at Washougal, RV will crash or have some bad luck at his so called home track, happens every time. RV hates the place just like RC did, it's fast and the soil conditions are always changing thru the day, SKETCHY! to really push on.
@mit12
Dungey did that in the second moto and wadded himself up. Dungey can't pressure RV into mistakes, RV rides his own race and he makes Dungey ride at the pace he sets, not the other way around.
If you watched Dungey before the crash you could see his roll offs had come off the lens and were flapping in the breeze behind him. His goggles were effectively without tear offs which probably led to him hitting that rut. It was definitely a bad luck weekend for him with that happening and the bike electrical malfunction. RV is faster than RD this year...but not by much.
I'll never understand the mentality of some who think that a Dungey can just push harder. I saw the same mentality after halfway in SX where Dungey improved, and people wanted to know why he waited so long to "turn it up". None of these guys are holding back anything, if they could go faster and do better they would be doing it already. Dungey pushing his hardest is why he went down, at Red Bud and at Budds Creek.
Bad luck for the 1 hate to see the champ loose it to a blow up and a freak crash in the same day! Lets get those back dungey it ant over yet!
Weege- Some constructive criticism here, If you have to do promo's for the UFC, go into the crowd and ask how to pronounce the fighters names. If you keep butchering their names they might just find you and go all chupucabra on your arse. Also, I know this is not your call, keep the rider profiles before or after the race. Thank you and have a nice day.
Dungey clearly has the speed and fitness but he doesn't attack or pass like RV and JS do on the first lap, that is the only thing he needs to do differently IMO. How many times have we seen him get passed on the first few turns? Same thing last year when JS was beating him. He always gets shuffled back and has to dig himself out of a hole early. Also, the European riders have always been criticized for taking it easy on the first few laps but I think Roczen/Musquin have been the best this year at attacking early to get out front.