Dungey Wins Muddy Creek Motocross

Shan Moore | June 1, 2013
Ryan Dungey

Blountville, TN, June 1, 2013 – Ryan Dungey won the inaugural running of the Built Ford Tough Tennessee Motocross National held at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, Tennessee – round three of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. The FMF/KTM rider took the overall victory with a 3-1 moto tally, taking advantage of a mistake-filled second moto by series point leader Ryan Villopoto.

A huge and enthusiastic crowed attended the event, witnessing the first national MX to be held in the southeast in nearly two decades. The Muddy Creek staff rewarded them with a great track and good racing, complete with deep ruts and tight turns and technical obstacles.

Villopoto was impressive, as usual, in moto one, edging out MotoConcepts Suzuki’s Mike Alessi and Team Honda Muscle Milk Racing’s Justin Barcia to grab the holeshot at the start of the 30-minute plus two-lap race.

Barcia pushed Villopoto for the first half of the moto, but was never able to pull even with the Kawasaki rider, although he closed within a few feet of him several times. Villopoto finally broke away late in the race, taking the win by 9.5 seconds over Barcia.

Dungey rounded out the podium another 10 seconds back from Barcia, while Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart came out on top of a race-long battle with his European counterpart, Rockstar Energy Racing Suzuki’s Clement DeSalle, to take fourth.

Alessi rode a solid race to finish sixth, beating out the morning’s fast qualifier Josh Grant and his Toyota JGRMX Racing Yamaha.

Barcia grabbed the holeshot to start moto two, edging out Villopoto. Wanting to get around Barcia as quickly as possible, Villopoto push a little too hard and made a mistake in one of Muddy Creek’s deep ruts and lost the front end, putting the Washington rider on the ground. By the time Villopoto got going again, he was all the way back in 16th place. Meanwhile, Barcia maintained control out front, ahead of Dungey, Stewart and Alessi.

Alessi managed to pass Stewart on lap two to move into third, a position he would hold until lap 11, when Villopoto took over the spot after making an amazing run through the pack. However, on the next lap, Villopoto laid it over again and dropped back to sixth after allowing Team Honda Muscle Milk Racing’s Trey Canard and Alessi back around.

Up front, Dungey had been chasing Barcia for the lead and the KTM rider finally made a pass on lap 12 to take over first, dropping Barcia to second with Canard in third. The first five spots remained the same over the final five laps with Dungey taking the moto win over Barcia, while Canard, Villopoto and Alessi rounded out the top five.

While Dungey got the overall win with his 3-1 performance, Barcia ended the day in second with a 2-2 tally and Villopoto finished third overall after going 1-4.

Villopoto still holds onto the coveted red number plate for maintaining the series point lead, holing a 10-point lead over Dungey in the standings 143 to 133. Barcia sits in third with 114.

Results

450 Motocross

1. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 3-1

2. Justin Barcia (Honda) 2-2

3. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki) 1-4

4. James Stewart (Suzuki) 4-6

5. Mike Alessi (Suzuki) 6-5

6. Clement Desalle (Suzuki) 5-9

7. Kevin Strijbos (Suzuki) 14-7

8. Trey Canard (Honda) 20-3

9. Andrew Short (KTM) 12-10

10. Broc Tickle (Suzuki) 13-11

 

 

 

Shan Moore | Contributing Editor

Moore covers all facets of off-road racing for Cycle News – from AMA Supercross and Motocross to GNCC and National Hare Scrambles events.