Steve Cox | April 29, 2017
2017 New Jersey 450 Supercross Results: It’s hard to describe the pressure a championship competitor is under at the top level of any sport. Some of them have managed to put it into words, but unless you’ve been there, you can’t truly know what it’s like. Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey has been there in the 450cc Supercross Series many times before. His title rival, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac, has not.
At the New Jersey Supercross – the penultimate round of the 2017 Monster Energy/AMA Supercorss Series – Dungey came into the race trailing in the championship for the first time since Ken Roczen exited the series at round three. Tomac – winner of nine main events so far this year – was up by three points.
2017 New Jersey 450 Supercross Results
Dungey was the fastest qualifier in the daytime, and won his heat race – his 6th of the year, and 49th of his career – going away, while Tomac was a little bit off in qualifying, in fourth, and then unraveled in his heat race after passing Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson momentarily for the lead, falling back to fifth place after messing up section after section and then eventually clawing his way back up to fourth to qualify for the main event.
And in the main, Anderson snatched the holeshot while Dungey started third, behind Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Davi Millsaps. Tomac was on them immediately, passed his way by Dungey and Millsaps, and then inherited the lead when Anderson fell out front. Anderson got up eighth, and Tomac led one official lap before he went down in a rutted left-hander and took a very long time to get up. Tomac eventually got back going in 16th.
At that point, Dungey had found his way by Millsaps and then inherited the lead. Dungey led until near the halfway point when his teammate, Marvin Musquin, found his way by for the lead and then Dungey went to school on his lines. Musquin had the race in hand, leading by more than a couple seconds as the laps began to wind down, and then with two to go, Musquin spent a long time looking over at the mechanics’ area on his way by. A lap later, still leading with Dungey now right behind him, Musquin’s mechanic, Frankie, wrote on his pitboard, “1 lap” on the top and “Ryan” below, and then Musquin made a completely unforced and kind of ridiculous-looking “error” in the right-hand sweeper, handing the lead to his teammate Dungey, who took his third win of the year.
Musquin finished second in front of Anderson, who recovered for third.
Then came Millsaps, his teammate Blake Baggett, Motoconcepts Honda’s Justin Brayton, Tomac’s teammate Josh Grant, and then Tomac.
Dungey now carries a solid 9-point lead over Tomac going into Las Vegas next weekend.
2017 New Jersey 450 Supercross Results
2017 New Jersey 450 Supercross Results
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