Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Vuillemin Cards Top-10 Finish in Houston SX
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Dungey finishes fourth in SX Lites
Round 7 – AMA Supercross Series
Houston, TX
Texas Reliant Stadium
Feb. 16, 2008
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing’s David Vuillemin enjoyed a top-10 finish in AMA Supercross for the second weekend in a row, this time on Saturday night at Houston’s Texas Reliant Stadium. The Frenchman rallied after crashing hard in his heat race and took the win in the Last Chance Qualifier. In the 20-lap main, Vuillemin got a rough start but soldiered on aboard his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 to bring home an impressive 10th-place finish. Vuillemin’s Supercross-class teammate Mike Alessi is still recovering after breaking his collarbone last week at the San Diego round and did not race.
In the AMA Supercross Lites class, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey will be taking off a few months as the next and final round of the class will not be held until late April. In the weekend’s race, young Dungey was again extraordinarily fast in practice and in his heat race, where he took the win. In the 15-lap main, Dungey got the holeshot and was battling for the lead when he crashed twice. In spite of this, he still charged hard on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 to bring home a strong fourth-place finish.
David Vuillemin:
“In my heat race, on the first jump I had a big crash and went over into the other lane. I hurt my back and my neck. I rode around a few more laps to see how I felt, then I pulled out of the race and went on to the LCQ, which I won. In the main, I was all the way on the outside of the gate for the start and that is a really bad spot. As a result, I didn’t get a good start and I just tried my best to catch up to the guys up front. I ended up in 10th, which is a pretty decent result, especially considering how hard I crashed in the heat race. Fortunately, I didn’t break anything and I’m just a little bit sore. I will be ready for next week in Atlanta.”
Ryan Dungey:
“This weekend started out pretty good. We were fastest in the first practice session and then I won my heat race. In the main, I got a great start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 and got the holeshot. I got passed but then I took over the lead again. Then, I made a little mistake and went down. I tried to push and catch those guys in front and went down again. At that point, I just put my head down and tried to get as many points as possible. I admit I’m a little disappointed with how things have gone in these last few races. But we’re still in the hunt for the championship and that’s what counts. We have a lot of time between now and the last round in Seattle, so I’m just going to focus on doing my program and being positive.”
