NEW BERLIN, NY – Despite plenty of hype surrounding the return of San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart, Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey proved that he’s still the man to beat in the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship by turning in an impressive 1-1 performance at round nine of the series at Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, New York.Stewart, who hasn’t raced since sustaining a wrist injury in February, set the quickest qualifying time in practice, turning a 205.839, which was nearly a half second faster than Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short, and almost a second faster than Dungey. However, Dungey grabbed the holeshot to start the opening moto and slowly started to pull away, leaving Stewart and Belgian rider Clement Desalle to fight over second. Desalle, a GP rider who is currently second in the MX1 standings, ran in second for the first few laps, but was passed by Stewart on lap six. However, Desalle, who is riding for Rockstar/Teka Suzuki in a guest appearance in the U.S., retaliated with four laps to go, moving into second when Stewart started to tire. At the finish, Dungey took the checkers with over 12 seconds to spare over Desalle, while Stewart finished third.After displacing Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short on lap six of moto two, Desalle led four laps before Dungey took over, pulling away once again to an easy victory. Desalle held on for second, while GEICO Powersports Honda’s Brett Metcalfe claimed third. In the meantime, Stewart pulled into the pits after completing just four laps.The win was Dungey’s eighth consecutive 450-class win, and it catapulted him to a 111-point lead in the series standings heading into the Southwick round in two weeks. Desalle was second overall with a 2-2 score, while Metcalfe rounded out the podium after going 5-3.
“I got a good start in Moto one and put myself in position to lead laps and take the win,” said Dungey. “I wasn’t thinking of the overall (in Moto 2). I just race to win every time out. Clement (Desalle) surprised me. It’s not easy to come over (to the states) and do well. It was good for him and good for us to have a competitive moto.”Dungey is just one win away from tying 10-time AMA Motocross champion Ricky Carmichael for the most wins ever by a rookie.
In the 250 division, Trey Canard went 1-2 to claim his fourth straight victory.In the opening moto, GEICO Powersports Honda riders completed a sweep of the podium, with Canard leading teammates Blake Wharton, Justin Barcia and Eli Tomac to the finish. However, in the second moto, after leading the first 14 laps, Canard gave way to a late-moto charge by Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel, who went on to win the moto.Poucel crashed hard in the first moto and did not finish, allowing Canard to pick up valuable points in the series standings, however, with his second moto win, Pourcel still maintains a 16-point advantage over Canard in the series standings with three rounds to go.
“I saw Pourcel down in the first moto and I was surprised,” said Canard. “Sometimes it happens and I just tried to do my best to take advantage. To walk out of here with a 16 point deficit instead of 38 feels great. In the second moto I made some mistakes and Pourcel was able to catch me but I knew I had the overall.”Barcia finished second overall (3-5) with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson in third (6-3). After a crash resulted in a DNF for the first moto, Pourcel rebounded to finish seventh (38-1).
450 Class (Moto Finish)
1. Ryan Dungey (Suz) 1-1
2. Clement Desalle (Suz) 2-2
3. Brett Metcalfe (Hon) 5-3
4. Andrew Short (Hon) 4-5
5. Kyle Regal (Hon) 8-6
6. Ben Townley (Hon) 7-9
7. Kyle Chisholm (Yam) 9-8
8. Justin Brayton (Yam) 11-7
9. Josh Grant (Yam) 6-14
10. Tommy Hahn (Suz) 10-11250 Class (Moto Finish)
1. Trey Canard (Hon) 1-2
2. Justin Barcia (Hon) 3-5
3. Dean Wilson (Kaw) 6-3
4. Tyla Rattray (Kaw) 5-4
5. Blake Wharton (Hon) 2-9
6. Eli Tomac (Hon) 4-6
7. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw) 38-1
8. Martin Davalos (Yam) 10-8
9. Matt Lemoine (Suz) 8-12
10. Wil Hahn (Hon) 14-11
