VOL. 51 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 26, 2014 P41
time, the course was in surpris-
ingly good shape and, despite
the cancellation of the morning
LCQ race, all of the motos went
off without a hitch and dust even
appeared by the final motos.
>>450 NATIONAL
Getting It Done
Even though Roczen pretty much
had a lock on the title coming in,
the young German star admit-
ted to some nervousness in the
final stages of the second moto,
knowing the title was almost in
his pocket.
"I was so excited and nervous
at the same time and couldn't
actually push any faster and just
wanted to cross the line to earn
the championship," he said.
"I am so thankful to my family,
friends and my team for their
dedication to help me achieve
this goal. I am so happy."
Roczen didn't act nervous at
the beginning of the day after
turning in the second-fastest lap
in timed qualifying, giving him
second pick in the first moto. He
then survived a scramble at the
start of the first moto to move up
to second early in the opening
lap with teammate Dungey right
behind him.
The two Red Bull KTM riders
then began a battle that would
last the entire moto and swapped
the runner-up position multiple
times. Dungey eventually kept
the edge and took second and
Roczen third. This trimmed Roc-
zen's points lead from 20 2018
going into the final moto of the
season.
With Dungey still focusing
on a possible title win, he com-
mented after the opening race:
"I know that Kenny has a pretty
good [points] gap on me but that
doesn't stop me from trying my
best at every race. I'm happy I
could get on the podium in the
first moto and I'm excited to re-
turn and give it my all in the final
moto of the season."
Roczen and Dungey were
again second and third at the
start of their second race but a
determined Dungey made the
pass on his teammate quite early
and carried that position to the
flag. He was second overall to
the day's winner, Canard. In con-
Briefly...
"The first half of the season I basi-
cally kept it the same," said Dungey.
"When you feel strong you can do
a lot with the bike, meaning even if
it's not perfect you can still muscle
it around and do well. But you can't
go wide open for 12 rounds, two mo-
tos per weekend. There are times
you're not going to feel great, and
those are the days where you wish
the bike would handle better. But
overall, we're not champion for no
reason. The team and my mechanic
and I have put in a lot of work and it's
good to see that pay off. But that's
the deal; as long as you're strong
and you go hard, the bike works, but
as soon as you back down a tiny bit
that's when it could bite you."
After the race, Eli Tomac talked
about being selected to the Moto-
cross of Nations team on September
27-28 in Latvia with Ryan Dungey
and Jeremy Martin. "I think we have
a really good team with Dungey and
Martin," Tomac said. "I'm going to
take a week and a half off or so and
go home. Then I'll come back swing-
ing and try to bring the trophy home
for the USA."
It took much longer than expected,
but Trey Canard (41) finally captured
his first 450 outdoor win.
