VOL. 51 ISSUE 30 JULY 29, 2014 P41
fore the series points leader, and
Dungey's teammate, Ken Roczen
started applying pressure.
Canard isn't an easy man to
pass even if you're faster than
he is, and he didn't make life
easy on Roczen. While Canard
spent the first few laps frustrat-
ing Roczen, GEICO Honda's Eli
Tomac was the man on the move.
Tomac was scored on lap one in
11th place, but by lap four, he had
nearly caught Roczen in third.
"I got pretty worked on that
start," Tomac said. "I thought I
had a good spot on the gate,
but when I did my practice start
for the sight lap, I kind of blew it;
just squirrelly-lined it right after
the gate and it kind of jacked it
for the real start. So, I was buried
and took tons of roost. I think this
is the worst track for roost here
because the dirt is so heavy. But,
you've just got to stay out of it,
like going up Horsepower Hill.
But the track did have lines where
you could get around guys, be-
cause I did make my way up into
the top three or four there pretty
quick."
Roczen finally found his way
by Canard by taking Canard's line
away going into a right-hander,
and about half a lap later, Tomac
made short work of Canard and
set out after Roczen.
The next lap—lap six—with
Tomac's sights set on Roczen,
the two former 250cc rivals both
put in their only 2:13 laptimes of
the moto. The times were nearly
identical, with Roczen recording
a 2:13.213, and Tomac putting
down a 2:13.218.
Roczen managed to hold
Tomac at bay for six laps before
Tomac made what seemed like
an inevitable pass for second.
Dungey was cruising around
out front, and Tomac started
eating into his lead, but he just
couldn't quite get close enough
to make it a race.
