By Chase Stallo and Jason Weigandt
Before we get into the main events, we’ll touch on some injury news. Ken Roczen aggravated a previous ankle injury in un-timed qualifying. No official announcement on his return has been made. Josh Hill had a bad crash in practice and was taken to a local hospital. He missed the main as well. In 250SX, Matt Lemoine tried to ride practice with a broken finger he sustained earlier this week, but had to pull out early. Arnaud Tonus also missed the main after receiving an IV. He thinks he is dealing with an illness, but is not 100 percent sure.
It's hard to believe Ryan Dungey has never won Daytona until now, but he's finally gotten one of the last things on his list out of the way. Once he got a good start, the win seemed inevitable, but early leader Andrew Short put up and incredible fight, and Dungey took heat from a bunch of riders right behind him. Eventually the diesel got rolling though, passed Short, and pulled away. In his fifth try at the Daytona Supercross by Honda, he was a winner. "I was a lot more comfortable tonight than I have been here before," he said.
Dungey says the plan for the week was to mix in a Daytona-style section with the existing supercross track at Aldon Baker's place, but there was so much rain from the previous week that the supercross track wasn't really useable. So they built an entire track in the black sand and practiced in ruts all week. Surprisingly, Ryan didn't change his bike much at all, keeping his regular fork setting and softening the shock a bit.
Eli Tomac had to overcome a bad start, but he did so emphatically. He charged to the front around the mid-way point and finished second behind Dungey. "It was a little bit of a bummer to be behind there at the start,” he said in a team statement. “I wish I could've given the front guys a little more of a run, but second place is better for me from my past experiences at Daytona. It was good to get up on the podium."
Blake Baggett normally hauls at Daytona, but he admitted his wasn’t sure how it would go this time since he’s never ridden a 450 outdoors before. To try it, he went to Milestone this week and “couldn’t find a bump” so that didn’t help. Turned out he had no reason to worry, because his usual strength at Daytona came to the forefront (he won last year’s 250 East race) and he rode a solid 20 laps to come away with his first career podium on a 450.
Trey Canard went down at the start, and then rallied back to sixth. Trey told us he had a good start, but someone must have barreled into Broc Tickle, who then ran into Trey, which took them both down. Twenty first to sixth is a heck of a charge, but he was still pretty frustrated after the race. It’s clear Trey had the speed to potentially win the race, so that stings.
Cole Seely was good, really good. He was making a run at Dungey for second for awhile and while Dungey was dealing with Andrew Short. He got next to Dungey and they battled through three corners, and Seely tried sticking to the inside in the turn before the finish and went down. “I either needed to be more patient and wait, or just be less patient and have gotten around sooner,” said Seely. “I was going for the W!”
Chad Reed also had a crash while in the middle of that crazy fight at the front, his back end came around in the first turn. He dropped back to around tenth at one point but battled back.
Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki’s Broc Tickle keep his top ten streak alive—now at five straight—with a brilliant come from behind performance Saturday night. After going down in the first turn and starting dead last, Tickle worked his way to twelfth by lap 10. He then got by Josh Grant and Andrew Short to sneak into the top ten with a tenth. Tickle is now tenth in points, two behind Andrew Short.
Speaking of Short, the veteran had another great ride in Daytona—even if it didn’t end of the best of notes. Short got the holeshot and held Ryan Dungey, among others, off for seven laps before finally relinquishing the lead. Although he struggled down the stretch—finishing twelfth—Short was impressive in the early goings.
Smartop/MotoConcepts Mike Alessi was in the mix with Short early in the race—even applying some pressure. Unfortunately Mike went down hard later in the race and was unable to finish. There is currently no word on Alessi’s condition. We will keep you posted as we know more.
Marvin Musquin is officially on fire. He’s won two straight—three of four—and stretched his points lead to twelve over Jeremy Martin. “When I was younger, winning Daytona in the US was a dream of mine,” stated Musquin. “To win today for the second time in my career makes me so happy. This track was so much fun and I’m having a good time battling for this championship. My fitness is good and I’m not tired after putting in a hard fifteen laps and that feels good.”
GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle has begun the season with four straight podiums, and is now within one point of Martin for second. Bogle held off Martin after he pulled close and looked strong at the end of the race. "It definitely is a pretty good habit," Bogle sad. "I'm never going to complain about a podium. Obviously, I'd love to be winning. There's no better feeling and we're working every week to get that. We're making progress every week and I'm getting closer, so I'm happy."
A bad start really hampered Jeremy Martin’s chances in the 250 class. He told us that he hit a hole right out of the gate and his front end bounced right back up, and then he lost all of his drive. From there he put in a hard charge to get to third, and then even started closing on Justin Bogle for second, but after a few mistakes, his charge stalled and he was left to settle for third.
