Cycle News

SUPERCROSS RED BULL STRAIGHT RHYTHM OCTOBER 20, 2018 FAIRPLEX AT POMONA / POMONA, CALIFORNIA P78 like, 'one of us is going home and it's not me!' [laughs] If you know Villo he's always throwing good jabs at ya. You got to throw it back at him. It was good fun. Neither of us are arrogant, cocky guys so when we're giving each other hard times like that, it was just good fun. Here we are, two retired racers, it's like, 'look at these guys! [laughs] Let's see how these two go.' Of course, our programs aren't that seri- ous and not a lot's on the line, so that helps too." "Dunge is an awesome competitor to race against," said Villopoto. "It's cool to see him out here. That's what everyone said about me last year. Maybe now he'll get a 125 and maybe he'll start racing the 125 races [at the Pro Motocross Nationals] and it might get all serious again! Just for four laps! But it's cool to have him here. He wants to win. I would like to win too, but there's nothing riding on it. And he got beat. It's almost better that he got beat be- early 1990s-era factory Yamaha graphics, and bested TLD KTM's Jordon Smith for the final po- dium spot. "Tonight was good fun," said Villopoto. "I ended up one spot better than last year so that was cool. The bike looked good, the gear looked good, what more could I ask for? It was a good night. "I actually thought I was knocked out completely once I raced Dunge, but then they said, 'No, you got to race for third,' and it happened to be Smitty [Jordon Smith]. It was good fun to have that one last chance to get on the podium instead of just ending up fourth." RYAN VS RYAN One of the highlights of the night was Ryan Villopoto versus Ryan Dungey. The two ended up paired against each other in the semifinals for the match everyone, including Dungey and Villopoto, hoped would happen. "I probably would have to say that was my favorite racing all night," said Dungey. "Villo's and actually blew the bike up so that eliminated our spare bike situation. So basically we DNFd because of a bike malfunction on a 20-year-old bike," explained a crewmember. What can you say? Sometimes the party wins. GARED STIENKE It was a disappointing night for "Stank Dog" Gared Steinke, who graced the cover of the Cycle News Red Bull Straight Rhythm event program. The defending Red Bull Straight Rhythm two-stroke champion was prepared to defend his number-one plate, and also pull double duty and take on the 125 class, but he crashed out of the event early in the evening. Steinke got out of shape in the whoops and lost control, managing to front flip himself over the finish-line jump. Steinke walked away from the crash, but was done for the night, having reportedly injured his elbow in the crash. PUNCHED OUT? Were those 300s? There might have been speculation as to the displace- ment of some of the 250-class machines. Even though the class was called 250, it was actually open, so a 300cc engine would be within the rules. In the 125 class, up to 150cc was allowed. Most of the top competi- tors were running 144cc kits. Briefly...

• Cover