Ah yes, but Dungey is indeed only 18, and he is not completely immune to mistakes. The points leader in the Supercross Class, Chad Reed, attacked the weekend’s mudder in San Francisco with precision and patience. And he won. Dungey, meanwhile, struggled in the mud, and after a series of crashes and off-track excursions, he took seventh on his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki.
Meanwhile his antithesis, Boost Mobile Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence, took his first career win. It was way overdue.
Lawrence is many of the things Dungey is not, for better or worse, but now that he has that win under his belt, it’s not impossible to imagine him reeling off a whole lot more. Yes, Lawrence still 23 points behind Dungey, but he’s never lacking in confidence. Also of note, quietly, Torco Racing Fuels Honda’s supercross rookie Dan Reardon is second in points, four markers further up than Lawrence.
The rest of the class is inconsistent—they’re all relatively young, of course. Broc Hepler came into the race second in points but crashed in the first turn every time he raced. Jake Weimer had another forgettable one, Brett Metcalfe mistook the white flag for the checkered and handed second to Tommy Hahn, who had a brilliant ride on his Motosport.com Extreme Team Green Kawasaki. Maybe the coolest part of the whole night? Timmy’s brother Will Hahn finished eighth, while the Blose brothers, Michael and Chris, also both cracked the top ten.
Ryan Dungey gets a lot of compliments, and the most constant is praise for his ability to ride and act like a veteran. Dungey, now 18, rides with calculated precision, his entourage is led by 40-something legend Johnny O’Mara, and he seems immune to the typical distractions of highly-paid teenaged factory riders. With smarts and focus beyond his years, his 22-point lead in the Western Region Lites class seemed even more massive than it was.
