SUPERCROSS
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
ROUND 5/ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA/FEBRUARY 1, 2014
P56
way, pulled that way. It was pretty
treacherous out there. For me,
I'm just happy to leave here on
the box. Knowing what's in front
of us, third is great for Anaheim."
BREAKOUT?
For fourth-place finisher Justin
Barcia his A3 performance just
might be the jump-start he needs
to get his 2014 season going,
because so far it's been going
nowhere. There's no denying
the Muscle Milk Honda rider has
been fast this young season but
he cannot catch a break – with
much of that due to his inability to
get good starts, which has more
often than not led to crashes
and subpar results. Although he
continued to experience some of
these things at A3, he was able
to put together a strong, start-to-
finish ride when it counted - in the
main - that netted him his best re-
sult of the year. Could this be the
confidence-boosting ride he's
been looking for?
CHAMPIONSHIP DINGS
Both James Stewart and Ryan
Dungey had a terrible night that
put serious dings into their cham-
pionship hopes for 2014. Dungey
suffered a disastrous DNF and
Stewart was a disappointing
seventh. Normally, a seventh
wouldn't be so bad, but Stewart
already has a DNF on his 2014
record and can't afford anything
less than podium finishes.
For Stewart, he struggled with
bike set-up all day and just could
not find any sort of traction on the
Anaheim track. No matter what
he and his team tried – different
tires, suspension settings, etc.
- nothing seemed to work, and
it showed right from the start of
the main event. He grabbed the
holeshot and immediately went
backward – very un-Stewart like.
Rather than being aggressive
out of the chute like he usually
is, Stewart looked tentative right
from the get-go.
Just past the halfway point, the
Yoshimura Suzuki rider was hold-
ing down fourth when Dungey
came calling. That's when the
"The New Dungey" (the more
aggressive one) started jumping
a quad that few were doing and
Justin Barcia
enjoyed his
best finish of
the year.
