Ryan Dungey and Marvin Musqin give Red Bull KTM its third Monster Energy AMA Supercross sweep in the last four rounds.
With 17 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series wins to his credit prior to the 2015 Daytona Supercross by Honda, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey had never won a Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series 450cc main event before Saturday night’s big show at Daytona International Speedway.
That can no longer be said. In what turned out to be the third Red Bull KTM main event sweep of the 2015 season, Dungey put together his most dominant performance yet in front of a healthy crowd of supercross and Daytona Bike Week fans, storming to victory in the 20-lap main event on the long, rutted and physically taxing Ricky Carmichael-designed track. Dungey appeared to be absolutely unstoppable as he took the lead on lap nine and built a massive cushion over second place before cruising across the finish line just over seconds ahead of GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac. Dungey’s former team, Yoshimura Suzuki, also had reason to celebrate as two-time former Daytona 250cc East Supercross main event winner Blake Baggett finished a career-best third in the 450cc main.
Dungey’s win and another rough night for his main rivals also added to his point lead in the series. RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki rider Ken Roczen did not start the night program after once again aggravating his injured left ankle in practice, and his supercross title hopes are now all but over. Team Honda HRC’s Trey Canard once again suffered a terrible start and had to charge the entire race, coming from second-to-last to sixth, behind teammate Cole Seely and TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire’s Chad Reed.
In the 250cc East Supercross class, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin held up his end of the KTM broom to give the Orange Brigade their third sweep, adding to KTM double wins in Dallas and Atlanta. Musquin’s win was his third in four rounds of the series.
450cc Main Event
BTO Sports KTM’s Andrew Short came away with the holeshot in the main event, followed by Smartop/MotoConcepts Suzuki’s Mike Alessi and Dungey. Then came a gaggle of riders, including Baggett, Seely, Reed and Toyota/Joe Gibbs Racing Yamaha’s Weston Peick. Canard, meanwhile, suffered a poor start and wound up colliding with RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki’s Broc Tickle. Both riders fell to the ground in the first turn, and their bikes appeared to become entangled, leaving Tickle last and Canard second-to-last before they got going again.
Alessi challenged Short for the lead over the big triple and assumed the front spot at the end of the pit-side straightaway, only to have short cut back underneath him in the right-hand turn that led into the whoops. Dungey kept his cool in third place despite handling pressure from Baggett, who won the Daytona Supercross two times as a 250cc rider. Seely was also still in the mix, and he made a pass on Alessi for third place on lap two. Seely was then able to put pressure on Dungey for second place.
Seely, who appears to be improving each week, managed to slip past Dungey by knifing underneath him in the 180-degree right-hander after the start-finish straight on lap five, but Dungey fought right back by taking the inside line in the next left-hander. Seely then crashed while trying to get back under Dungey in the immediate right-hander that followed. The mistake dropped Seely to seventh place, behind Reed and Eli Tomac, but Seely would quietly make his way back inside the top five before the race was over.
The race intensified even further on lap seven when Alessi crashed, bringing out the medical flag. Dungey was trying to set up Short for a pass, only to have to abort the attempt. That allowed Peick to close up on Dungey.
However, when it was time to go, it was time to go. Dungey went around the outside of Short in the right-hander at the east end of the track on lap seven, and he immediately pulled away, disappearing into the Daytona night. Peick got around Short for second place on lap nine. Reed was running right along with them, lurking in fourth place until a low-side ruined his chances for a podium finish.
Baggett and Tomac then moved up to fourth and fifth place respectively. Tomac was extremely aggressive, and he was able to get past Baggett and Short in the same corner to take over third place, with Baggett passing Short for fourth at the exact same time.
Out front, Dungey was putting on a flawless display of how to dominate the Daytona Supercross by Honda, running over 10 seconds ahead of Peick, who soon found himself busy with the flying Tomac and Baggett duo on lap 13. Tomac put away Peick right away, but it took Baggett another lap to get by the Yamaha rider, and that would allow Tomac to get away and secure second place. After such a strong first half of the race, Peick’s energy level seemed to taper off at the end, and he succumbed to Reed, Canard and, on the final lap of the race, Anderson.
Dungey simply would not be denied, however, as he crossed the finish line well ahead of Tomac to score his 18th career Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series 450cc win, which ties him with the great Kevin Windham for 10th on the all-time AMA Supercross winner’s list.
“It [winning Daytona] feels good,” Dungey said. “Everyone was talking out it all day, and I just had to do my best. I wasn’t worried about it. If I we got the win, awesome. If we didn’t there’s a bigger picture we’re looking at. But tonight was awesome. I’ve neve won this race, and it’s just really special.
“We had to battle for it,” Dungey added. Shorty was riding really good in the beginning, and I was surprised. I had to get around him, and it almost cost me, but we got the win, and it feels really special.”
Tomac said that this was an exciting Daytona for him.
“I got scrambled back at the start,” Tomac said. “I honestly don’t know what happened, but I was just like a whole bike length behind the guys. Once we got going, it was just a track you had to ride loose on. There were lines out there to make moves on guys, but it was such a technical track, you had to wait to make a pass. I got into second and held on.”
Baggett said that his third-place finish is just one step toward improving his weekly results.
“We’ve just been working on it, and now a podium,” Baggett said. “Now we’ve just got to go back indoors and try to match it up.
250cc Main Event
Heat one winner Musquin got the holeshot, followed by Bogle and heat two winner RJ Hampshire, while Martin suffered another poor start and was buried deep in the pack. Behind, Hampshire came two more Honda riders–Jimmy Decotis and Kyle Peters. Martin tried to rip through the riders ahead of him, passing Martin Davalos and Peters to move into fifth place on lap two.
Meanwhile, Musquin was clicking off methodical laps up front, running over 5 seconds ahead of Bogle, who was another 4 seconds ahead of Martin, but Martin was cutting the fastest laps on the track, and he moved to within 1.5 seconds of Bogle just past the halfway point. However, Martin lost time to Bogle just when it seemed as if he might catch and pass the champion for second place.
The fourth-place battle between Hampshire and Savatgy was the best battle on the track in the final few laps. Savatgy stayed within a bike length of Hampshire and finally made a pass for fourth place in one of the right-handers with two laps to go.
That set the top five riders in the field, and Musquin was once again the class of it, heel-clicking his way over the finish line to win the race with a 5.7-second margin over Bogle and a 9-second margin over Martin.
“It’s a dream,” Musquin said. “When I was a kid, watching videos of the supercross, I mean winning Daytona one day, it was like a dream. Today it comes true and for the second time. It’s huge. I’m really happy, and we had to get that win, you know, for the championship. It’s really, important and it proved once again that it’s Justin Bogle, Jeremy Martin and me on the podium every week. I rode smooth, and when I ride like that I don’t get tired.”
Bogle, who said just last week that he would never complain about finishing on the podium, and now has two runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes in the four 250cc East rounds, said he was happy but not satisfied with where he finished.
“I’m not satisfied unless I’m winning,” Bogle said. “I think all of us are way to competitive for that. I felt good, though. I’ve got a little work to do speed-wise but I think we’ll get it. I’m feeling better every weekend. I just keep grinding and hope to improve—progression over perfection as always.”
Martin said that he wasn’t happy with his performance.
“I believe I’m one of the hardest-working guys out there, and I want to win, and that’s what the team wants, so I’m not happy with it,” Martin said. “But I’ve been in a worse position before. Last year, at the beginning of supercross, I was at rock bottom, and I am far from there. You learn more when you don’t win so that you can come back during the week and be stronger next weekend.”
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
Results: March 7, 2015 (Round 10 of 17)
450cc Main Event
1. Ryan Dungey-KTM
2. Eli Tomac-Hon
3. Blake Baggett-Suz
4. Cole Seely-Hon
5. Chad Reed-Kaw
6. Trey Canard-Hon
7. Jason Anderson-Hus
8. Weston Peick-Yam
9. Davi Millsaps-Kaw
10. Broc Tickle-Suz
11. Josh Grant-Kaw
12. Andrew Short-KTM
13. Kyle Chisholm-Kaw
14. Phil Nicoletti-Yam
15. Nick Wey-Kaw
16. Jimmy Albertson-Yam
17. Ben Lamay-Hus
18. Kyle Partridge-Hon
19. Killian Rusk-Yam
20. Jacob Weimer-Kaw
21. Nick Schmidt-Suz
22. Mike Alessi-Suz
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Point Standings (After 10 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Dungey-224/4 wins
2. Trey Canard-184/2 wins
3. Eli Tomac-159/1 win
4. 3. Ken Roczen-156/2 wins
5. Chad Reed-140/1 win
6. 5. Jason Anderson-140
7. Cole Seely-138
8. Blake Baggett-135
9. Andrew Short-109
10. Broc Tickle-107
11. Davi Millsaps-87
12. Weston Peick-73
13. Justin Barcia-71
14. Josh Grant-66
15. Jake Weimer-63
16. Mike Alessi-48
17. Phil Nicoletti-44
Kyle Chisholm-44
19. Josh Hill-40
Brett Metcalfe-40
250cc Main Event
1. Marvin Musquin-KTM
2. Justin Bogle-Hon
3. Jeremy Martin-Yam
4. Joey Savatgy-Kaw
5. RJ Hampshire-Hon
6. Jimmy Decotis-Hon
7. Kyle Peters-Hon
8. Anthony Rodriguez-Yam
9. Mitchell Oldenburg-Yam
10. Martin Davalos-Hus
11. Kyle Cunningham-Hon
12. Jordon Smith-Hon
13. Vince Friese-Hon
14. Luke Renzland-Yam
15. Colt Nichols-Hon
16. Gannon Audette-Kaw
17. Justin Starling-Yam
18. Dakota Alix-KTM
19. Jace Owen-Hon
20. AJ Catanzaro-Suz
21. Nick Gaines-Kaw
22. Nick Desiderio-Yam
AMA 250cc East Supercross Series Point Standings (After 4 of 8 rounds)
1. Marvin Musquin-97/3 wins
2. Jeremy Martin-85/1 win
3. Justin Bogle-84
4. Joey Savatgy-72
5. Martin Davalos-56
6. RJ Hampshire-54
7. Anthony Rodriguez-47
8. Vince Friese-46
9. Kyle Peters-43
10. Jimmy Decotis-42
11. Matt Lemoine-39
12. Arnaud Tonus-38
13. Luke Renzland-27
14. Gannon Audette-24
15. Mitchell Oldenburg-23
16. Colt Nichols-20
17. Justin Starling-19
18. Kyle Cunningham-17
19. Dakota Alix-12
20. Jordon Smith-9
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