WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 52 ISSUE 18 MAY 5, 2015 P83
Supercross fans still showed
their enthusiasm for the sport by
packing the 35,000-plus seat
Sam Boyd Stadium on another
typically warm May evening in
the Nevada desert. Titles on the
line or not, they got to see some
good racing and KTM, once
again, ruling the podium with
Ryan Dungey coming away with
the 450 main-event victory and
Musquin the Shootout win.
THE REAL FIGHT
OF THE CENTURY?
Just down the road on Tropi-
cana Boulevard at the MGM
Grand Arena (former site of the
U.S. Open, having since been
replaced by the Monster Energy
Cup), Manny Pacquiao and
Floyd Mayweather were putting
on the gloves for the "fight of
the century," but another fight of
the century was brewing at Sam
Boyd Stadium between Dungey
and Eli Tomac, the top two riders
of the 2015 Supercross Cham-
pionship. Like they have done
a few times before this season,
Dungey and Tomac got out in
front right away, with Dungey,
on the Red Bull KTM 450
SX-F Factory Edition, leading
Tomac, on the GEICO Honda
CRF450R. Championship or
not, this is what the 35,241 fans
came to see. Unfortunately, like
so many of previous Dungey and
Tomac engagements, this one
wouldn't last for long. Just as the
crowd was buckling up for what
was surely going to be a wild
20-lap ride, ended all too soon
when Tomac tucked the front
end of his Honda approaching
a turn and went down, which
was immediately followed by a
collective gasp of disappoint-
ment from the large crowd. Like
most of Dungey and Tomac's
previous encounters, this one
ended all too soon—well before
the checkered flag—with Tomac
Briefly...
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha team
were testing at Glen Helen Raceway;
he said he was feeling good on the
bike and preparations for the out-
doors were going good up to that
point. "We're pretty much running
our same settings that we had last
year, so it's been fairly easy," Mar-
tin said. When asked how he feels
wearing the number-one plate, he
shrugged his shoulders and replied,
"Not any different, it's just a number,
it's not any different than running
number six."
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing's
Blake Baggett finished out his
rookie 450 Supercross season with
his 13
th
top-10 finish, closing out the
season fifth in the championship.
And Baggett was truly a rookie in the
class. Baggett went into the 2015
Supercross Championship hav-
ing never raced a 450 before and
is looking forward to the outdoors,
where he won the 250 title in 2012.
Baggett and crew says that outdoor
testing is going good, but getting
suspension dialed in has been a
bit of a challenge for Baggett who
weighs just 138 pounds. That's not
much for a 225-pound bike produc-
ing 60-plus horsepower.
This year's Vegas track w as liked by
most of the riders, saying it was long
and challenging and had better dirt
than usual. The long lap times (in
the one minute, 10 second range),
however, was a bit too long for the
TV schedule, so a small section
was omitted after practice. It only
reduced lap times by a couple of
seconds, but when you add up all
the laps over the course of the night,
it was enough to get everything
squeezed in for TV.
continued on next page
