The Dallas Supercross offered up what fans have wanted to see all season long—an epic slugfest for the win between two trained, prepared, fast and fierce combatents. Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen and Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey squared off toe-to-toe for twenty laps, gating 1-2 off the line and chasing each other around the tight, twisting Texas track. In the end, Roczen came out on top, a huge win because it shakes the aura of invincibility Dungey was beginning to build. Even in Kenny’s previous win a few weeks ago in Phoenix, Dungey had gotten a bad start, and Kenny gave Dungey credit for closing in on him a bit. This time it was a duel the whole way. Kenny got the early lead, Dungey passed him, Kenny came back, and then led Dungey the whole way to the checkers. Kenny is still down a full 23 points, but this win was certainly significant.
Just last week Kenny said he wasn’t comfortable and struggled a bit in route to a third. What changed? He says a few bike changes made the bike feel more balanced, but mostly he just felt positive and confident, and he carried those vibes around all day. This is all proof, again, of how mental this sport is. But will it make any difference to Dungey, who has been bulletproof lately? We’ll see over the next few weeks.
Dungey rode well as usual, by the way, for the close runner-up finish. This is 23-straight podiums for Dungey. The all-time record is 25, held by Chad Reed. Also, Roczen and Dungey topped the rest of the field by nearly twenty seconds.
That third place, some 19 seconds back, went to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, who finally made some gains with his starts. He told us everyone has been asking him about them all the way up to the head of Husqvarna! He started well in his heat, getting off right behind Mike Alessi and then taking the lead and the win. Anderson told us he normally screws up his heats, so he was happy to get this one. His main event start was better than usual-about fifth—and he pulled up to fourth behind Cole Seely. Anderson eventually got Seely but by then Roczen and Dungey were gone.
Honda HRC’s Seely started slowly during the night, having to go to the semi to make the main. But he gated well in the main and held third for the first half of the race. The track was rough and according to his team, Seely’s shoulder started to get weak and when Anderson caught him, he couldn’t put up much of a fight. Seely had shoulder surgery during the off-season.
Eli Tomac was fifth on his Monster Energy Kawasaki. That probably sounds okay but he wasn’t his normal speedy self, as Seely and Anderson got away from him after they were close early in the race. He ended up about eight seconds back of Anderson.
Oh Marvin Musquin. What could have been! The Frenchman loved the track and was fastest in the first timed practice session, and second to Dungey in the second one. But in the main Tomac bumped him in turn one, and Marvin got up in last. He rode incredible after that, passing up to sixth on a track that wasn’t easy to pass on. Impressive. Another Frenchman rode well. Christophe Pourcel told us early in the year that it would take about seven races to get back in the groove after missing six seasons of supercross. At round seven, he rode much better than he has at any time this year, fighting for positions and holding on for eighth, his first top ten.
Davi Millsaps told us he hurt his thumb a little bit in a crash last week, but it didn’t seem to impact the BTOSports.com KTM rider much. He was aggressive in the main and took seventh.
It was a forgettable day for Chad Reed and Trey Canard. Reed was well off the pace in practice and not much of a factor during the race. Canard crashed while coming through traffic and had to settled for tenth.
Justin Bogle caught some headlines in his second race back from a broken foot. He started third and ran up front early in the main, then fell into a huge battle. Vince Friese made a mistake and came off his SmarTop MotoConcepts machine and it launched into Bogle, taking them both down. Considering Friese’s rep for rough passes, Bogle thought it was a takeout, and tempers got heated. We heard Friese even paid a visit to Bogle’s GEICO Honda truck when it was over.
The GEICO truck was also the center of some drama in the 250 class. Christian Craig was leading the race just in front of points leader Joey Savatgy. Craig moved over in the whoops and took Savatgy down. Savatgy had already left the track by the time we got to his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rig, but his team owner Mitch Payton wasn’t happy. Savatgy got up in last and finished tenth, handing over the points lead. Craig said he was just trying to protect the inside for the corner ahead, and called it a racing incident.
Once Savatgy was down, Craig was free to lead, but Cooper Webb was never too far away. Then Craig made a few mistakes, Webb was on him and then around. This was a huge swing for Webb, who had lost the points lead due to a mechanical and two weeks of small crashes. Webb now carries an 11 point lead as the 250SX Western Region goes into a break. Webb was far from his old dominant self, though, as Savatgy was fastest in qualifying, and Webb even got stuck in the gate in his heat and finished sixth. Things were not trending in the right direction for him, but this really helps stop the bleeding.
