VOL. 53 ISSUE 21 JUNE 1, 2016 P51
450MX
ROCZEN DEFLATED
Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dungey
has to be used to this by now.
Every year, it seems, he begins
the outdoors behind the eight
ball. Look at this record, starting
with his rookie 450cc season
in 2010. That year, defending
champion Chad Reed won the
series opener while Dungey
went 10-6, but Dungey went
on to win the championship. In
2011, Dungey DNF'd moto two in
Texas and ended up losing the
title to Ryan Villopoto by just 12
points. In 2012, James Stewart
got off to a hot start, winning
the first four motos, but Dungey
went on to win the title. Last
year, Eli Tomac won the first five
motos, but Dungey went on to
win the title.
And now, in 2016, Roczen,
the 2014 champ, has so far
won three out of four motos
(though he should be 4-0). On
his Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John'/
RCH Suzuki, Roczen was plainly
dominant at Hangtown and again
at Glen Helen. But he didn't win.
Roczen came from behind
to snatch the lead from Dungey
with less than 10 minutes to go
in moto one, and then promptly
put almost 15 seconds on
Dungey, only for a piece of data-
acquisition equipment to break
loose from his KYB air forks and
deflate his front suspension with
three laps to go.
Ken Roczen (94) ran down leader
Dungey and began pulling away
when his forks lost air pressure
with three laps to go.
