AMA NATIONAL MOTOCROSS RESULTS: DUNGEY DELIVERS A MESSAGE TO THE NAYSAYERS ? I’M FOR REAL

As the season reached its halfway point, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey  kept his dominant run going in the 450 Class, winning his fourth straight race with a 1-1 moto sweep. In the 250 Class, Pro Circuit’s Blake Baggett raced to his third victory of the season and second in-a-row with an impressive 1-1 effort.

In the opening 450 moto, it Dungey holeshot, while james Stewart took over second place. As Dungey pushed to open a gap on Bubba, Stewart went down, allowing Jake Weimer and Justin Brayton to get by. On the following lap, Stewart encountered misfortune again, stalling his bike and falling to seventh. He eventually worked his way to a sixth-place result.

In Moto two, Mike Alessi grabbed the holeshot and led early, but it didn’t take long for Ryan Dungey to take over the top spot and pull away. Alessi, who was involved in a first-turn crash in the first moto, settled into second for the remainder of the moto, while Stewart bounced back to run third. Dungey’s near 35-second win extended his moto winning streak to eight.

Stewie was third, but is now 135 points adrift of Dungey. That is five motos worth of points.

“Having James  back this week was good to add another challenge, and it’s good for the sport,” said Dungey. “We made some more changes to the bike coming into today and I think we’ve made even more progress. My starts were good and I knew getting out front would make life easier, having a whole track to work with. It’s too early to think points, but you’ve got to be smart. With James back, you knew he’d be there, so I didn’t want to downplay him. I just wanted to get a good start and see how things played out.” Dungey extended his lead in the 450 class standings to 72 points over Alessi.

Justin Brayton brought home his first overall podium result of the season in second (3-4), while Stewart finished third (3-6) despite his troubles.

On a side note: Neither John Dowd nor Mike Brown scored any points in their attempt to earn the 25 points required to keep their AMA Nationals numbers for another year.

250 CLASS IS THE BLAKE BAGGETT SHOW

Ken Roczen had his worst day of the series, but still had time to style for awhile. Photo: Hoppenworld

In the 250 class,Blake Baggett needed a pair of come-from-behind performances to take the win. After crossing the line in sixth at the conclusion of the first lap in Moto one, Baggett began a charge to the front of the field. He quickly picked off riders to move into second by Lap 5 and overcame a five-second deficit to pass Geico Honda’s Justin Barcia for the lead on Lap 12 and pulled away.

In Moto two, Baggett put himself in a better position, coming out of the gate in third and working his way to the front of the field by the conclusion of the opening lap. On Lap 2, a mistake forced Baggett to fall, allowing Barcia to take over the lead.

After losing just one spot, Baggett once again set his sights on the lead and managed to take over the position again on Lap 8, holding it through to the finish.

“This track is one of the best on the schedule, its got a little bit of everything,” said Baggett. “There’s no formula to the way I ride. It just happens. I had a pitiful start in the first moto and fought my way through the pack. I got a good start in the second moto and just tipped it over. I looked at lines to see where I could pick up ground and I just took a shot (at the lead) when I had a chance.”  Baggett extended his lead in the championship to 19 points over Barcia.   

Barcia’s pair of second-place finishes landed him second overall, while his teammate Eli Tomac finished third (5-3).

Marvin Musquin ran up front, but got bumped back to fourth at day’s end. Photo: Hoppenworld

RED BUD RESULTS: 250 CLASS
1. Blake Baggett 1-1
2. Justin Barcia 2-2
3. Eli Tomac 5-3
4. Marvin Musquin 4-4
5. Ken Roczen 3-6
6. Wil Hahn 6-5
7. Gareth Swanepoel 9-7
8. Blake Wharton 7-12
9. Jessy Nelson 12-9
10. Travis Baker 11-10
11. Kyle Peters 8-13
12. Tommy Weeck 19-8
13. Jason Anderson 10-17
14. Malcolm Stewart 40-11
15. Jake Canada 13-19
16. Zack Freeberg 17-16
17. Phil Nicoletti 39-14
18. Jacob Hayes 14-21
19. Killy Rusk 34-15
20. Dakota Tedder 15-22
Other notables: 24. AJ Catanzaro; 26. Gannon Audette; 30. Michael Akaydin; 34. Ricky Renner; 36. Hunter Hewitt; 39. Topher Ingalls.

250 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS
1. Blake Baggett…272
2. Justin Barcia….253
3. Eli Tomac….236
4. Ken Roczen…235
5. Marvin Musquin….189
6. Wil Hahn….161
7. Blake Wharton…125
8. Jason Anderson…121
9. Jessy Nelson…109
10. Jake Canada…105

The 450 podium. Justin Brayton made a surprise appearance on the second step. Photo: Hoppenworld

RED BUD RESULTS: 450 CLASS
1. Ryan Dungey…1-1
2. Justin Brayton…3-4
3. James Stewart…6-3
4. Tyla Rattray…4-5
5. Mike Alessi…11-2
6. Broc Tickle…5-9
7. Cole Thompson…7-8
8. Josh Grant…9-7
9. Andrew Short…12-6
10. Jake Weimer…2-20
11. Michael Byrne…10-10
12. Kyle Chisholm…15-11
13. Christian Craig…16-13
14. Bobby Kiniry…8-23
15. Nick Wey…17-14
16. Derek Anderson…13-18
17. Les Smith…36-12
18. Ben LaMay…14-22
19. Kyle Regal…24-15
20. Matt Lemoine…34-16
Other notables: 21. Jimmy Albertson; 24. Kevin Rookstool; 26.John Dowd; 34. Fredrik Noren; 35. Mike Brown; 38. Nico Izzi; 39. Ryan Sipes; 40. Sean Borkenhagen.