250 Words: San Diego Lites
Earlier this season all we could talk about in this column was how cool, calm and collective Ryan Dungey was. The Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider rode smooth, fast, and calculated and didn’t let pressure get to him. He rode like a veteran—we even compared him to Jeff Stanton! Three races into the series and it appeared the Minnesota native was well on his way to his first championship as a professional, and DC even wrote, “In a short regional series like Monster Energy Supercross, it’s going to be impossible for anyone to catch Dungey unless he misses his flight.”
“Northwest Airlines, paging Ryan Dungey….”
The wheels started to come off the Dungey freight train in the muddy San Francisco SX where a series of crashes relegated him to seventh. The following week in Anaheim saw another derailment and an 11th-place finish, and this past Saturday night Dungey again crashed and crashed and crashed, somehow managing to salvage a sixth-place finish sans helmet visor. He wasn’t able to salvage the points lead, though, and is now two-points behind the hottest rider in Monster Energy Supercross: Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence. #338 was clearly the fastest Lites rider in San Diego. In fact, after practice Lawrence was the fastest rider out of everyone, setting a faster practice time than all of the AMA Supercross riders—including Chad Reed!
Lawrence now has the most wins in the West Region Lites, but more importantly, he knows he can win. With two races left and two points separating them, the next flight either misses could cost them the title.
Results:
1. Jason Lawrence (Yam)
2. Thomas Hahn (Kaw)
3. Robert Kiniry (Hon)
4. Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
5. Justin Brayton (KTM)
6. Ryan Dungey (Suz)
7. Austin Stroupe (Kaw)
8. Wil Hahn (Yam)
9. Michael Lapaglia (Suz)
10. Billy Laninovich (Hon)
11. Chris Blose (Suz)
12. Gavin Gracyk (Hon)
13. Zach Osborne (Yam)
14. Jeff Northrop (Hon)
15. Michael Willard (Hon)
16. Justin Keeney (Hon)
17. Jake Weimer (Hon)
18. Michael Blose (Suz)
19. Carlos Gonzalez (KTM)
20. Tiger Lacey (Hon)
21. Dan Reardon (Hon)
22. Matt Lemoine (Yam)
