DUNGEY PODIUMS AT DAYTONA SUPERCROSS

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey raced to second place in Saturday night’s ninth round of the AMA/ FIM Supercross Championship at Daytona to keep his championship lead intact.

Dungey put together 20 fast laps in the Supercross Main Event after winning his heat race. He came out of the gate third and had his work cut out for him trying to pass his way into the top spot. By the end of the phenomenal race, on the track designed by Ricky Carmichael, Dungey crossed the finish line in second and holds tight to his lead in the overall points standing. “I felt great, but I needed to get a little bit of a better start,” Dungey said. “I felt great; the team did a great job; and we have a great setup, but I came up a little short. Fitness-wise and bike setup-wise, I felt awesome.”

In the highly-competitive Eastern Regional Lites class, two riders have been dominant this season and one of them is Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Austin Stroupe. Stroupe (pictured) got the holeshot in the Lites Main Event and battled for the entire 15-lap race to stay out front. He ended up getting second, which places him securely in the second spot in points for the class.

Said Stroupe: “I felt good; it was a tough track but I rode to another second place. It’s getting a little old, but hey, I’d rather be here than DNFing. I’m building on a lot of things I’ve lacked over the last two years, so the team is helping me and we’re working together. I’m ready to race every weekend.”

A new addition to the team, Ryan Morais, has been added to race the RM-Z450 in the Supercross class. Morais is contesting the Western Regional Lites class, but on the East Coast races he’ll be aboard the fuel-injected 450. In his first Supercross-class race of the season, Morais battled a few early-race mishaps to finish 10th. He said: “Daytona is always a tough race and I wanted to come out of this race safe and in the top 10. I feel like I could’ve done better, but I’ll build off of it and get better from here on out.”

Supercross Class Results:

1. Ryan Villopoto 2. Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 3. Trey G Canard 4. Kevin W Windham 5. David D Millsaps 6. Thomas K Hahn (Suzuki) 7. Nicholas A Wey 8. Kyle P Chisholm 9. Joshua R Hill 10. Ryan Morais (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)

Supercross Points:

1. Ryan Dungey 192 2. Ryan Villopoto 172 3. Joshua Hill 162 4. David Millsaps 150 5. Kevin Windham 131 6. Justin Brayton 124 7. Ivan Tedesco 117 8. Nicholas Wey 99 9. Kyle Chisholm 82 10. Michael Byrne 80

Eastern Regional Lites Class:

1. Christophe Pourcel 2. Austin Stroupe (Rockstar Makita Suzuki) 3. Dean A Wilson 4. Blake Baggett (Suzuki) 5. Justin L Barcia 6. Ryan Sipes 7. Brett Metcalfe 8. Darryn L Durham 9. Kyle B Cunningham 10. Martin Davalos

Eastern Regional Lites Points:

1. Christophe Pourcel 75 2. Austin Stroupe 66 3. Dean Wilson 53 4. Brett Metcalfffe 50 5. Blake Baggett 44 6. Justin Barcia 39 7. Ryan Sipes 39 8. Nico Izzi 30 9. Vince Friese 29 10. Jake Moss 27