New challengers; same results for Dungey and Canard.
RyanDungey and Trey Canard had a day that they will probably never forget. This daywont just stand out because they won because they have been doing that forweeks. This day will stand out because they won on the day that theannouncement was made that they would each represent the United States alongwith Andrew Short at the Motocross-of-Nations event as “Team USA” later this season.I know that every other rider on the starting line had extra motivation to beatthe Team USA Riders.
RyanDungey was prepared to take on all comers as he claimed the holeshot in motoone of the 450 class. Dungey immediately began to work to get away from thefield and was probably more than a little surprised to see that the rider insecond place for most of the moto was the #463 of Belgian GP rider ClementeDesalle instead of the big #7 on the front of James Stewart’s Yamaha. Everyonein attendance knew that Stewart and Dungey would battle, they just didn’tconsider that they would never battle each other but would both have theirhands full with Desalle.
Dungeyused his smooth style to gap the field while Desalle and Stewart battledthroughout the moto. Stewart made an aggressive pass on Desalle to claim thesecond position for a few laps only to hand the spot back to him after tippingover in an off camber turn. Dungey rode off to another moto win ahead ofDesalle, Stewart, Short and Metcalfe.
AndrewShort claimed the holeshot in moto two but was quickly passed by Desalle on his450 Suzuki. Ryan Dungey quickly made his way past Short and closed the gap onDesalle. Dungey and Desalle battled for several laps before Dungey was able tofinally win the battle and grabbed the top spot for moto two. BrettMetcalfe worked his way past Short for third position while Kevin Windham usedextra motivation to catch and “aggressively” pass Team USA’s Andrew Short onthe last lap to secure the fourth spot in moto two.
RyanDungey finished first on the day with 1-1 moto scores ahead of Clement Desallewith 2-2 scores. Brett Metcalfe grabbed the final spot on the podium with 5-3moto scores while Andrew Short and Kyle Regal rounded out the top five.
Trey Canardcontinued his winning ways in the 250 class by following Monster EnergyKawasaki’s Dean Wilson into the first turn of moto one. Series points leaderChristophe Pourcel worked his way to the front of the pack before crashing anddamaging his bike badly enough that he was forced to sit out the remainder ofthe first moto.Dean Wilson assumed the lead for a short while only to be passed(taken out) by Geico Powersports rider Justin Barcia. Canard followed Barciapast Wilson and eventually worked his way into the lead only to be challengedby yet another Geico team mate in Blake Wharton. Wharton pushed hard but wasnot able to pass Canard for the win. The moto ended with Canard in first,Wharton in second and Geico Powersports Honda rider Justin Barcia in third.
The startof Moto two of the 250 class looked almost identical to moto one with Wilsongrabbing the holeshot just ahead of Trey Canard. Canard made short work ofWilson and pulled out a large gap on the field. The ride of the day came fromChristophe Pourcel when he was able to come from outside the top five toeventually take over the second position almost 9 seconds behind Canard.Pourcel put on an amazing charge and slowly reeled in the the leader. Canardseemed almost stunned to see Pourcel run him down but still put on a lastcharge to maintain second in the moto and claimed the over-all for the day.
TreyCanard finished first on the day with 1-2 moto scores ahead of team mate JustinBarcia who had 3-5 moto scores. Monster Energy-Kawasaki rider Dean Wilsongrabbed the final spot on the podium with 6-3 moto scores. Tyla Rattray andBlake Wharton rounded out the top five.
Theseries heads to the northeast next week and the world famous Southwick sandcourse. The riders and machines will both be tested in the unforgiving soilnext Saturday. Check back here for full coverage of the Championship battles.
