(Southwick, MA, June 29, 2013) – Ryan Dungey claimed his second win in as many rounds with a strong performance this weekend at round six of the 2013 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship Series at MX 338 Raceway in Southwick, Massachusetts, using 1-2 moto scores to beat out series point leader Ryan Villopoto at Southwick’s final race as an AMA National Championship venue.
Both Dungey and Villopoto were first-turn casualties in the opening 450 moto, with the two riders getting mixed up in a pileup just after the start. Dungey was able to rebound and make a clean first lap on his Red Bull KTM to start lap two in 10th position. Meanwhile, Villopoto suffered another crash later on lap one and the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider was all the way down in 30th heading into the second lap.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart led the first few laps of moto one after grabbing the holeshot, but handed the lead over to BTO Sports KTM’s Andrew Short after suffering a horrendous crash on lap nine.
By lap 14, Dungey had moved within striking distance of Short and made the pass to take the lead on the following lap.
At the finish, Dungey took the win by .6 seconds over Short, with Team Muscle Milk Honda’s Justin Barcia in third.
Villopoto made an impressive ride through the pack to finish the race in fourth, while Brett Metcalfe took a break from the Canadian nationals to round out the top five on his backup Kawasaki.
After over three decades of hosting the world’s fastest riders, New England’s legendary Moto-X 338 facility hosted its final round of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, on Saturday. A massive crowd was on hand as the 2013 season reached the halfway point with the sixth round of the championship at the 35th Annual ChaplinKawasaki.com Moto-X 338 National.
As the field of 40 riders converged on the first corner in the opening 450 Class moto, it was Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart who claimed the Motorcycle Superstore Holeshot Award and quickly established a comfortable margin out front. Behind him, both Dungey and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto, the championship leader, were causalities in an incident in the first corner. Dungey emerged mid pack and climbed to 10th by the end of the opening lap, while Villopoto had to overcome an additional incident on Lap 1 to eventually cross the line in 30th.
Dungey and Villopoto both got clean starts in moto two, with Villopoto taking the early lead ahead of Dungey, with Barcia in third.
Dungey kept Villopoto honest for the first half of the race, however, Villopoto managed to break away with the two front-runners encountered lappers and was over 14 seconds clear of the KTM rider when the checkered flag fell.
Bracia finished third again and was third overall behind Dungey’s 1-2 and Villopoto’s 4-1.
“It’s pretty cool to be the final winner here at Southwick,” said Dungey. “I grew up watching this place on TV and now I’m racing here. To be able to share this with the fans is awesome. The day was awesome. We made some progress and [took] some little steps forward [in the championship]. We could have done a few things better, but Ryan was riding awesome in that second moto. We have to take things from where they’re at and I’m pumped to get the win.”
“The first moto was tough,” said Villopoto. “I had to waste a lot of energy to catch back up, but we had a great start in the second moto. I was able to ride really good [early on] and get a gap.”
Villopoto still holds a 12-point lead in the series standings over Dungey with six rounds remaining in the series.
After three decades of hosting AMA Pro Motocross Nationals, Southwick was not able to come to terms with the landowners to continue holding races a the legendary facility. This year’s race was the last, according to MX Sports.
450 Class
1. Ryan Dungey (KTM)1-2
2. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw) 4-1
3. Justin Barcia (Hon) 3-3
4. Brett Metcalfe (Kaw) 5-6
5. Andrew Short (KTM) 2-16
6. Tyla Rattray (Kaw) 10-8
7. Phil Nicoletti (Yam) 6-13
8. Mike Alessi (Suz) 8-12
9. Broc Tickle (Suz) 11-10
10. Josh Grant (Yam) 13-11
250 Class
1. Eli Tomac (Hon)1-2
2. Ken Roczen (KTM) 3-1
3. Zach Osborne (Hon) 5-3
4. Blake Baggett (Kaw) 2-8
5. Jason Anderson (Suz) 6-4
6. Cole Seely (Hon) 8-7
7. Kyle Cunningham (Yam) 13-5
8. Marvin Musquin (KTM) 10-9
9. Adam Cianciarulo (Kaw) 9-12
10. Alex Martin (Yam) 12-11
