250 Words: Las Vegas

We’ve made a lot of the fact that Ryan Morais was having a Tim Ferry-in ’97-like year, calmly working his way towards a title shot while others bounced on and off the podium. Morais got a clear shot, and his story is one of the best of the season.

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But has anyone considered the idea that Ryan Dungey is having a Ricky Carmichael-in ’97-type tour? The precocious teenager threw away three shots at winning and won four other races. That’s just like Ricky as a rookie.  And while RC lost the East-West Shootout (Windham had his number that night), Dungey looked fast and confident from start to finish.

Now we go outdoors, where Dungey is a question mark, but only because of his tender experience. Will he be this year’s Ryan Villopoto? Possibly, but last year’s Ryan Villopoto will certainly have something to say about that before too long. And then there’s Ben Townley, Jason Lawrence, Josh Grant, possibly Broc Hepler, and my own dark horse favorite: Brett Metcalfe.

While the 450 class looks absolutely over, the Lites might just be the story of summer, and Dungey has positioned himself nicely with what he’s learned (and lost) in supercross. If it turns out like ’97, Roger DeCoster will be The Happy Man.