Ryan Dungey and Marvin Musquin dominate the Monster Energy AMA Supercross action at the Edward Jones Dome.
There was a time when calling Ryan Dungey “consistent” was more a back-handed compliment. Pitside pundits liked to argue that winners won, and Dungey’s riding style emulated his mild-mannered personality a little too closely. Never mind his 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross title, Dungey was just too darn nice to win consistently.
Any pundits in the Edward Jones Dome may have headed for the exit early tonight, as Dungey, Marvin Musquin and the Red Bull KTM squad had another “consistent” evening during round 13 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series in St. Louis , Missouri. To put it mildly, they demolished the field, sweeping the main events for the fourth time this season.
You want more consistency? Fine then: It was Dungey’s sixth win and 12th consecutive podium finish in 13 rounds of racing; he only missed the box at the series opener, where he finished fourth. It was Dungey’s 20th career premier-class supercross win, which places him alongside Jeff Ward on the all-time supercross winners list…Jeff Ward! Meanwhile, Musquin scored his fifth 250cc East win in seven rounds, putting him in excellent position to land his first career AMA supercross title. Oh yeah, and neither man has finished worse than second in the entire month of March. How’s that for consistency?
450cc Main Event
BTO Sports KTM’s Andrew Short barely edged Dungey for the holeshot at the start of the 25-lap 450cc main event, but Short’s run at the front ended quickly and in spectacular fashion when he got sideways in the opening rhythm section and bailed off his machine just before it smacked into the face of the last jump in the lineup. Short appeared to tumble violently, but the force of his impact was attenuated when he hit one of the Tuff Blox before he actually hit the stadium floor. He quickly got to his feet, but his KTM was seriously damaged in the crash, putting a premature end to his night.
Dungey faced an early challenge from two of the sport’s rising stars, Toyota/Joe Gibbs Racing Yamaha’s Weston Peick and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, who ran second and third respectively. BTO Sports KTM’s Justin Brayton was fourth, just ahead of TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire Kawasaki’s Josh Grant and RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki’s Broc Tickle.
Tomac ran seventh early, but he was clearly on a fast pace as he shot underneath Brayton and Tickle on one corner and charged after Grant, who had already displaced Brayton to take over fourth place on lap two. Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely also worked through traffic early to latch onto Tomac’s rear fender and move into sixth place.
Dungey had 3 seconds on Peick by lap five, with Anderson about a second back, but Tomac and Seely were still charging forward. Both Honda riders got around Grant on lap six. Tomac had a tougher time with the determined Anderson, however, and that allowed Seely to close up on Tomac again as the race reached its halfway point. Anderson then stepped it up and passed Peick for second place, his highest on-track position in a main event since he scored his runner-up finish at the season opener at Anaheim in January.
Tomac was making excellent time by making a quad jump out of the end of the rhythm section just before the split-lane section, and he used that to close in on Peick and then pass the Yamaha rider for third place in the right-hander at the end of the split lane on lap 10. Tomac then used the same maneuver to zap Anderson for second place in the exact same spot with seven laps to go.
Tomac ran 7.5 seconds behind Dungey with five laps to go, and the Honda rider showed that he had a good pace going as he just about cut that gap in half, but Dungey was smooth and strong from start to finish, and he beat Tomac to the stripe by 3.9 seconds to collect his sixth win of the season, with Anderson hanging on for third to collect his second career 450cc supercross podium finish. Afterward, Dungey was clearly pleased with his performance.
“Last weekend was good, second wasn’t bad but I was a little disappointed at the ride [in Detroit],” Dungey said. “We gained a lot of ground, and everything was good, but I really wanted to get a start tonight—that was my key—and just put it down on the track as best as I could. It feels good, especially getting my sixth win. We’ve got a lot of racing left, four rounds, but this is a good win going into the break, and I’ll keep building.”
Tomac certainly had nothing to be ashamed of, as he made his way from seventh on the opening lap to second at the finish.
“It was a battle from the very start,” Tomac said. “I was behind Nick Wey going into the first corner, got shuffled back a little bit and that point it was just all work going forward. I had a good battle with Jason [Anderson] for a quite a few laps. I almost had a pass on him, but he got me back, and that was at a point in the race where…I don’t know, it was a shuffle. I just had to reset and attack again. But I guess second place is all right, and we’ll keep fighting for that win.”
Anderson said that he felt he has the speed to run up front since the series opener, but he has been hampered by poor starts. Tonight he got one.
“It’s coming around,” he said. “I knew my Husqvarna was competitive, and I just wanted to put it back up on the box. It’s great to be back up here.”
250cc Main Event
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin took control of the start to lead the rest of the 22-rider field across the stripe that marks the holeshot when the main event got underway, but Musquin wasted no time in slipping underneath Martin in the second turn. Martin tried to fight back in the whoops, but Musquin held a half bike-length lead into the following right hander. However, Musquin drifted up high on the berm, and Martin retook the lead.
Musquin then chose the inside lane in the spit lane section of the track and was able to erase the gap to Martin. Although Musquin’s lane left him to the outside of Martin in the next right-hand corner, Martin gave Musquin just enough room to squeeze past him on the outside and retake the lead just before they reached the finish line jump. It was the last time the lead would change hands in the race.
Bogle, meanwhile, had suffered a terrible start and was stuck back in eighth place, behind Savatgy, Dakota Alix, Kyle Cunningham, teammate Jordon Smith and Anthony Rodriguez. Bogle was able to get past Smith on lap five; Smith high-sided in a berm and caused quite a traffic jam as other riders came piling into the same corner, made contact and crashed. Bogle also found his way past Rodriguez, but that was as high as he would advance in the main event, losing more ground to Musquin in the points race.
“We had a great track and great dirt, and obviously the weekend before, in Detroit, it was a little hard, so I like when it’s tacky like this,” Musquin said of the racing surface. “It gets a little technical and rutted, so that’s my style, and obviously for the start it was better, too, nice grip. I had a great start in the heat, a great heat, and I was having so much fun. Then, in the main event, I wanted to get the holeshot, and I did exactly the same mistake as last weekend—I moved before the gate dropped. I was like, ‘No way!’ and then I saved it. Sorry for Justin Bogle, because I messed up his start, but that’s racing. That’s the way it is.
“I pushed really hard for the first turn, and I’m not sure if I got the holeshot or not,” Musquin added. “Then Jeremy was in front of me, and I make a quick pass, and it was really cool to battle with Jeremy. He was revving, so I could hear his bike right behind me, and I made a little mistake in one of the turns, so he passed me back. It was a cool race, and also it was good to see him back on top. To get that win is really important for the championship.”
Although Martin lost touch with Musquin, the round one winner had good reason to be satisfied with his return to the podium.
“I think there are a lot of positives,” Martin said. “I got my first holeshot, and that’s a big plus. I did a lot of work this week. It was a good night. I was hanging in there with Marvin, and I feel like I was starting to inch up on him, and the unfortunately we ran into some lappers and he was able to get away. So, there’s a lot of positives to take away from tonight, and I’m looking forward to the break and coming back strong in New Jersey.”
Savatgy once again finished third, but although it was his second visit to the podium in as many weeks, he was clearly not happy with his result.
“I didn’t get a good start,” Savatgy said. “It’s frustrating. We had the speed today. It’s just frustrating when you know you had the speed and not getting out of the gate. It’s something I’ve got to work on. For whatever reason, I’m struggling right now. I don’t usually struggle with starts. I just didn’t get away with those guys, and they got away. It’s kind of hard to latch on them when they’re on a different lane. But it is what it is. I’ll take it and learn from it. We’re back up here on the box, which is always good. I’d like to be up higher obviously, but it’s good. I’m in one piece and healthy. Just [going to] go to California, get ready for some outdoor [motocross] and keep working.”
Musquin’s win, combined with Bogle’s fourth-place finish gave the KTM man even more of a cushion in the Eastern region standings. Musquin now sits 20 points ahead of Bogle, 169-149 with two rounds remaining. Anything can happen, but Musquin clearly has attained the luxury of clinching the title by finishing 16th or better in the final main event of the season regardless of where Bogle or anyone else finish.
The AMA 250cc East Supercross Series now goes on hiatus while the West boys return to action for two consecutive rounds when the entire series resumes following a two-week break in the schedule. The East series will return for its eighth and final round April 25 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series
Edward Jones Dome
St. Louis, Missouri
Results: March 28, 2015 (Round 13 of 17)
450cc Main Event
1. Ryan Dungey-KTM
2. Eli Tomac-Hon
3. Jason Anderson-Hus
4. Cole Seely-Hon
5. Weston Peick-Yam
6. Josh Grant-Kaw
7. Davi Millsaps-Kaw
8. Chad Reed-Kaw
9. Broc Tickle-Suz
10. Blake Baggett-Suz
11. Kyle Chisholm-Kaw
12. Nick Wey-Kaw
13. Phil Nicoletti-Yam
14. Nick Schmidt-Suz
15. Ben Lamay-Hus
16. Adam Enticknap-Hon
17. Tony Archer-Kaw
18. Justin Brayton-KTM
19. Killian Rusk-Yam
20. Ronnie Stewart-Suz
21. Kyle Partridge-Hon
22. Andrew Short-KTM
250cc Main Event
1. Marvin Musquin-KTM
2. Jeremy Martin-Yam
3. Joey Savatgy-Kaw
4. Justin Bogle-Hon
5. Anthony Rodriguez-Yam
6. Jimmy Decotis-Hon
7. Luke Renzland-Yam
8. Kyle Cunningham-Hon
9. Jace Owen-Hon
10. Kyle Peters-Hon
11. Dakota Alix-KTM
12. Daniel Herrlein-Hon
13. Jordon Smith-Hon
14. AJ Catanzaro-Suz
15. Zack Williams-Hon
16. Colt Nichols-Hon
17. Mitchell Oldenburg-Yam
18. Taylor Potter-Hon
19. Preston Mull-Yam
20. Levi Kilbarger-Yam
21. Shawn Rife-KTM
22. Justin Starling-Yam
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