Rockstar Makita Suzuki Fights Through Hangtown

-The Motocross season opener at Hangtown provided a tough track, and Ryan Dungey finished eighth overall for the day and earned 26 points toward the championship.
-Matt Moss made his U.S. racing debut, but was unable to finish the second moto when another racer landed on Moss’ wrist in the eighth lap.
-The Rockstar Makita Suzuki team is now preparing for Round 2, which takes place at the Freestone National in Texas.

Brea, Calif. – Rockstar Makita Suzuki battled its way through the Hangtown AMA Motocross opener on Saturday. With a tough track and hungry competition, Ryan Dungey and Matt Moss fought their way to the finish. Dungey finished eighth overall after going 10-6 in the motos, and Moss had a tough day, finishing 27th in the first moto and was unable to complete the second moto after another racer landed on him.

In the first moto, Dungey was near tenth place coming out of the holeshot. After stalling his bike on the second lap, he fell back in the pack. “Ryan didn’t have the best start off the gate and in the second lap he stalled the bike,” Team Manager Roger DeCoster explained. “That dropped him back to 20 or 21st place, and it took him some time to get back to his rhythm.” Dungey worked his way from the middle of the pack, made up a lot of ground, and was able to finish 10th. Moss, in his first U.S. race, battled with a past wrist injury that limits his range of motion. After getting his bearings, Moss came across the finish line in 27th place.

Moto 2 had a better result for Dungey. Though he wasn’t the first off the line, Dungey pushed his way through the pack with his fuel-injected RM-Z450 and made it to sixth place by the time the checkered flag waved over Hangtown. “I don’t think we got the best setting, suspension and chassis-wise, but we made some adjustments for the second moto that seemed to work better,” DeCoster said. “We need to go back and check our bikes, because I feel like that wasn’t a normal result. We should’ve been much closer to the front than we were, but Ryan finished both motos strong. We’ll go back to work and sort it out and hopefully do better at the next race.” Moss, unfortunately, was not able to finish the second moto after another racer clipped him coming off a jump in the eighth lap, hitting Moss’ previously inured wrist.

Overall, Dungey finished the day in eighth place, earning 26 points toward the championship. Dungey, Moss, and the rest of the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team will take the bye week to work on settings and prepare for Round 2 of the AMA Motocross series at Freestone in Texas.