Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 13, 2013 best of the rest and his performance in New York solidified his third-place status in the overall points. ''Obviously, I wanted to win here, but the Ryans are killing it," Barcia said. "I'm still learning the 450 and I'm making progress with each race. I'm getting stronger and better and I'm feeling more comfortable with the big bike." Ryan Dungey struggled from the get-go at Unadilla, fifth fastest in qualifying and over twoand-a-half seconds off Villopo- to's pace, the Red Bull KTM rider was definitely not up to speed. And while his first moto was vintage Dungey, solid and clean and second to Villopoto, his second moto was nowhere near what he is capable of. After getting off to a poor start, Dungey fought with Josh Grant for most of the first half of the race, and then once around Grant, he came out on the short end of a fierce battle with Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jake Weimer for third. The end result was a 2-4 performance for third overall. My Own Race: 33 JOSH GRANT 5TH O/A (5-5) 450 Josh Grant has picked up his game over the last few races and in Unadilla the JGRMX/Toyota Yamaha rider turned in one of his best performances of the year for fifth overall. "This is one of those tracks that I always seem to do well at, but I dread coming to," said Grant. "It's like, 'dang, it's Unadilla this week, put your armor on,' but it turned out well again. I started inside the top 10 in the first moto and made two decent passes and then kind of settled in behind Andrew Short for most of the moto. It was kind of hard to pass since the track developed into kind of one line and I ended up finding a good spot to pass him just before the uphill to get into fifth, and I just cruised it on in from there. The second moto was similar, I started just inside the top 10 and moved up behind Brett Metcalfe on the first lap and I got around him on the second lap. I ended up running just ahead of Dungey for seven or eight laps, and he ended up getting by me about halfway into the race. Dungey got into a battle with Jake Weimer after that, which let me catch back up to both of them. I made a mistake, though, with two laps top go and fell down and cut my arm. Luckily I had a big enough lead on Metcalfe that I could hold on to take fifth." 24 BRETT METCALFE 7TH O/A (10-6) 450 Brett Metcalfe took advantage of a break in the Canadian Championships to ride Unadilla. The former factory Suzuki rider recently clinched this year's Canadian MX title and was in the States hoping to secure a ride for 2014. He went 10-6 in his two motos for seventh overall. "We struggled all day and just couldn't get a good bike setup," said Metcalfe. P49 Briefly... In the first moto, Trey Canard had engine problems and had to retire. In moto two, the Team Muscle Milk Honda rider got caught up in the first turn crash then sent him flying over the handlebars spectacularly. He got up quickly and was okay, but the same couldn't be said for his bent back. He had to replace his front wheel, which put him a lap down on the leaders. It was literally a pointless day for Canard. "It's been so long since I rode a track like this, it was so deep and muddy, and we just weren't prepared for that. We just haven't had that experience all year. I was fighting it all day, but we finally got it worked out in the second moto and I guess under the circumstances a seventh is okay." 20 BROC TICKLE 8TH O/A (8-9) 450 34 JUSTIN BOGLE 6TH O/A (10-4) 250 It was all about the eights for Ram/RCH Racing Suzuki Team rider Broc Tickle at Unadilla. He's also eighth in the 450 standings. "A solid day today," Tickle said of his seventh top-10 overall finish of the outdoor season. "The track was really gnarly. "The track slowed way down because of the rain. The only thing that I could have done better is been a little more aggressive the first minutes [in moto one]. I may have been able to get a top-five [finish] if I would have played my cards right. I tried to be more aggressive in the first half of moto two. I didn't break that great from the gate but had some decent corners to put myself in positions to make some moves. It was really hard to pass. I felt like I was running a fifth-place pace but just couldn't pass guys. If you searched too much for a different line, you put your bike at risk and I didn't want to get off the beaten path. It was just really tough to pass today." GEICO Honda's Justin Bogle was content with his 6th overall in the 250cc class and even more content with his second-moto fourth. "The track was very difficult today," Bogle said. "I struggled all day until the second moto. I qualified 15th and ended up 10th in the first moto. But I closed it off with a pretty good second moto, so I can't really complain too much. The track definitely kept you on your toes. It was a hairy one."

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