The Monster Energy Supercross series left the sunny sands of Florida for the Great White North for round 10 of the championship, where the Rogers Centre in Toronto housed a completely different track than what riders had seen one week earlier. The complicated rhythms and smooth, slick terrain demanded calculating moves and strict throttle control at the Toronto Supercross. While some fell victim to washouts and wild crashes, it was RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki’s Ken Roczen who finessed his way to his third win of the season. The Red Bull Factory KTM duo of Marvin Musquin and Ryan Dungey rounded out the podium (yes, in that order).
Dungey’s third-place finish ended his streak of first- and second-place finishes, but it can hardly be called a disappointment as the defending champion still holds a 34-point lead in the championship, and has yet to finish off the podium in 2016.
The 450SX main event started with a rather spectacular wreck in the first rhythm section when Justin Bogle – who was out to a good start – fumbled a triple-triple and swapped sideways in front of the pack. A handful of riders including factory Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac, Roczen, Musquin, Dungey and HRC Honda rider Cole Seely got away clean, but behind them, the carnage unfolded.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson plowed into the still-tumbling Bogle and was sent over the bars. Tommy Hahn, Weston Peick, Trey Canard, Mike Alessi and Blake Baggett were also caught up in the yard sale, but fortunately no one appeared seriously hurt.
The only rider that appeared hurt at that point was Chad Reed, who was actually ejected from his factory Yamaha in the first turn – before Bogle’s boggle. Reed was slow to get to his feet, after being slapped to the ground, and called it a night. Bogle and Hahn (and later, Kyle Cunningham) also headed back to the pits early.
“That was pure rider error; that was my bad,” Bogle lamented. “Sorry to all those guys. That was not my intention to pull a dumb move like that.”
Tomac was the early leader of the race but Roczen wasted no time in running him down for the lead. Dungey was the next to get by Tomac, followed shortly by Musquin who made a surprisingly aggressive move on the Kawasaki rider. Seely would also find his way around Tomac before the end of the race.
Once Dungey found his way into second, Roczen had opened up a small gap, which he managed to carry to the finish. It was a marked return to the top of the podium for the German, who had fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the previous rounds.
“I simply got a better start,” Roczen said. “I was top-three. We’ve been solid all day. Even in qualifying practice, I mean, I wasn’t the fastest, but I had a good feeling and that’s really all that matters. I knew I could lay it down in the race. It was awesome. I had a few-second lead and toward the end I just wanted to ride safe because the whoops got really sketchy, but man, I’m really happy right now!”
While Dungey would try to retain the runner-up position over his teammate, he couldn’t stop Musquin from making the pass when Dungey fumbled and lost his front-end late in the race. Dungey made a quick recovery to hold on to third, but could not find a way back around Musquin. The Frenchman made the complicated and “notchy” track look smooth as he rode with razor-sharp finesse to match his career-best finish of second place.
Dungey collected third followed by Seely, Tomac and Justin Brayton. Behind them was a trio of hard-chargers – Trey Canard, Weston Peick and Jason Anderson – who all managed to claw their way back into the top-10 after the first-lap wreckage. Jake Weimer rounded out the Toronto Supercross top-10.
Toronto Supercross 450SX Main Event Results:
- Ken Roczen (Suz)
- Marvin Musquin (KTM)
- Ryan Dungey (KTM)
- Cole Seely (Hon)
- Eli Tomac (Kaw)
- Justin Brayton (KTM)
- Trey Canard (Hon)
- Weston Peick (Yam)
- Jason Anderson (Hus)
- Jake Weimer (Suz)
- Blake Baggett (Suz)
- Vince Friese (Hon)
- Mike Alessi (Hon)
- Nick Wey (Kaw)
- AJ Catanzaro (Kaw)
- Nicholas Schmidt (Suz)
- Cade Clason (Hon)
- Deven Raper (Kaw)
- Kyle Cunningham (Suz)
- Thomas Hahn (Yam)
- Justin Bogle (Hon)
- Chad Reed (Yam)
Results>> http://results.amasupercross.com/
