VOL. 50 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 27, 2013
air forks which many of the teams
are using. But the outcome of
that struggle would come progress.
"At both places [Budd's Creek
and Spring Creek] where we
struggled it was the same thing,"
Villopoto said. "We needed the
same change. We needed to
make our bike a little stiffer and
do things a little bit different. We
were able to do that and it improved us at every place."
The other Ryan, who also
has been strong all season, finished second to Villopoto in the
championship and once again at
Elsinore. One DNF at RedBud,
however, really put him in a hole.
But Dungey admitted that the factory Kawasaki team had a good
program. He credited the differ-
P115
Briefly...
those teams is the Rockstar Energy Drink squad, which has finalized
their program for 2014. The team is
for sure switching from Suzuki to
KTM and will retain the services of
Davi Millsaps. According to team
manager Dave Gowen, Millsaps
has been riding the bike for about
a week now and is very happy with
it. "He's adapting to it well and says
that it feels a lot like the Suzuki, but
with more power," Gowen said.
He also said they have also signed
Joey Savatgy and will again support Jason Anderson. Millsaps
will, of course, ride 450s, while
both Savatgy and Anderson will
swap back and forth between the
250 and 450 in the Supercross
series. Blake Wharton will not be
with the team next year.
The MyPlash/Metal Mulisha/Star
Yamaha team is also pretty much
finalized and will be going with
young talent in 2014 with current
riders Cody Webb and Jeremy
Martin. It will also support upand-comer Anthony Rodriguez, a
top amateur racer from Venezuela
who has been off the radar lately,
as he has been dealing with some
injuries. The team is also courting
Aaron Plessinger who was the
B-class star at Loretta Lynn's this
year. Word has it that Plessinger
will remain in the amateur ranks
for another full year, competing at
Loretta's in 2014 before going pro.
Kyle Cunningham will not return
with the team next year. Unfortunately, the 2014 season ended on
a sour note for him. He broke his
foot, which will require surgery, in
the second moto at Elsinore.
The Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs
continued on next page
