Steve Cox | October 23, 2016
Marvin Musquin Wins Red Bull Straight Rhythm: Now in its third year, the Red Bull Straight Rhythm continues to evolve. The first year, it was held on the NHRA drag strip at the Pomona Fairgrounds, under a scorching sun. Last year, it was moved to the half-mile dirt oval usually used for horse racing (but used for AMA Flat Track as well), still under a very hot sun. This year’s event was pushed back a couple weeks later in October, and was held in the evening, which dramatically improved the heat for fans and racers alike.
Marvin Musquin Wins Red Bull Straight Rhythm
While fan turnout seemed about the same as it was in the last couple of years, the Straight Rhythm struggled to get a hold of enough racers to fill the 450cc and Lites classes, with the Lites class featuring only eight racers total.
That being said, both Red Bull-backed KTM teams—the TLD/Red Bull KTM 250cc team as well as the official Red Bull KTM 450cc factory team—were on hand, and almost completely dominant.
In the Lites event, the TLD team (Mitchell Oldenberg, Jordon Smith and Shane McElrath) qualified first to third, and Smith had the unpopular job of taking down legendary Ronnie Mac in the first round before Smith ended up losing to teammate McElrath in the Semi-Finals. Smith went on to defeat Josh Hill (on the electric Alta Motors machine) in the third-place race.
Oldenberg raced his way by Hill in the Semi-finals to face off against McElrath in the final, where third-place-qualifier McElrath managed to take Oldenberg down for the win.
In the 450cc class, the Red Bull KTM team of Marvin Musquin, Ryan Dungey and Trey Canard qualified first, second and fourth, with immensely talented, part-time racer Josh Hansen qualifying third. In the Semi-finals, Hansen shocked the Pomona Fairgrounds by taking down Dungey in their first of three runs.
Dungey managed to barely hold off Hansen in the next two runs to move into the final, sending Hansen to the third-place race.
On the other side of the bracket, fast-qualifier Musquin made quick work of new teammate Canard in the Semis, sending Canard to face Hansen for third. Hansen completed his inevitable upset by defeating Canard for third place, and then Musquin and Dungey squared off.
Although Dungey stayed close, he was no match for Musquin in the finals. Musquin is the 2016 Red Bull Straight Rhythm champ.
“It’s really cool,” Musquin said. “Without real whoops this year, the racing was really close. It was tough. You really had to be perfect down the whole track to beat most of these guys.”
Click HERE for full video of the 2016 Red Bull Straight Rhythm.