This weekend in Indianapolis, Ryan Dungey was the fastest Lites guy on the track—the whole time. It all started in his qualifier, were he pulled the start and never looked back. Then he went into the main event, pulled the holeshot again, and slowly inched away from Ben Townley for his second win of the season. But don’t think Townley didn’t keep him honest. After countless early attempts to overtake Dungey, it just didn’t seem like it was Ben’s night. Dungey rode smart, and pretty much put in a perfect race. (On another note, DC called down to Florida to tell RC the results and he was really stoked his teammate and training buddy went 1-2, then he climbed into his car to go after his new career in car racing.)
Branden Jesseman was on the box for the second week in a row. A lot of people probably thought last weekend was a fluke win, but Brando rode a strong race, and he later told us on the webcast that he was really sore from his crash last week—he could only go riding once during the week because he body needed some rest.
Here’s something to think about: what if Jesseman had gotten, say, 20 points at St. Louis instead of not qualifying? He would be right in the thick of things for this championship!
And here’s a nod to Jesseman’s teammate Justin Brayton. After finishing sixth three times, he charged up to fifth this weekend. Once again the PPG/Motoworld Racing.com Yamaha squad had the best “team” finish with a third and a fifth. Paul Lindsey is on a roll, and he even won the trophy this weekend at the Road 2 Recovery event held on Friday night. Way to go, Paul!
Finally there is Ryan Morias, probably the feel-good story of supercross right now. The word in the pits is that this guy doesn’t even have a signed contract with Yamaha of Troy right now! Sure, he’s a half-dozen years behind his expected arrival as a contender—funny things happened on the way to the top—but you won’t find one person in the pits (except maybe his direct competitors) who isn’t pulling for him to win this championship. The kid comes from around a ninth-place start and works his way up to fourth to extend his points lead. Five races down and he hasn’t made a single major mistake. (Also, go to www.supercross.cc.com later this week to read my weekly column “Farber Asks” to see what people think of Ryan Morais’ chances to win the Lites East Region championship.)
My hard-luck award goes to Darcy Lange. The Canadian has the speed, the bike, and I know he wants to get his first win, but he has to get out of the first turn so he has a legitimate chance to put some points on Morais and go after the championship!
