In what was a record-breaking night of success for KTM, Red Bull rider Ryan Dungey topped the podium at Angel Stadium at the weekend to win the Main Event.
Until Saturday night, the Austrian manufacturer had never seen two of its riders place first in both the 450 and 250 classes in one night of Monster Energy Supercross; the new record aside, Anaheim 3 saw plenty of thrills and spills on the hard and unforgiving So-Cal dirt.
Team Dungey fitted an air spring to the KTM machine, only to have the setup completely fail at the gates of the rider’s qualifying heat, forcing Dungey to retire to the pits.
Unfazed, the Minnesota native wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Chaos struck in the first corner of the Last-Chance Qualifier race in the form of a pileup that involved pretty much everyone – almost everyone.
Dungey popped to the side of the crash scene and sped out in front to finish second in the race, going straight to the Main Event.
From the commentary box, former superstar Ricky Carmichael twice emphasized how slippery and testing the track would be as well as the importance of throttle control, as a light shower of rain fell just before the 30-second board went up.
“Millsaps [Davi] has really, really good throttle control and this track is ‘gonna be really slippery,” Carmichael said as the riders cruised around their parade lap of the course.
One turn into the track, Chad Reed slipped on the hairpin bend and Davi Millsaps tore off to hunt down Dungey early on.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s new recruit James Stewart made notable progress, holding a 2.9 second gap between his yellow machine and Ryan Dungey. At lap 8, Stewart overtook Millsaps.
Millsaps (Rock Star Energy Racing Suzuki) fought back at lap 14, only to finish 2nd ahead of Justin Barcia (Muscle Milk Honda, 3rd).
Brushing aside his suspension meltdown as a merely “a little malfunction”, Dungey was justifiably thrilled with his win.
“The LCQ [Last-Chance Qualifier] – that was a squeeze,” Dungey told Erin Bates post-race.
“This is a good step in the right direction,” he said.
Much like the bigger bikes’ event, the 250 round saw a typical round of crashes and dashes expected at an Anaheim event.
Joey Savatgy (J-Star/JDR KTM) held his own out in front for half the race, only to be left behind by Eli Tomac (GEICO Powersports Honda) two laps later.
Staying consistent, Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen grabbed the lead in lap 10 and kept it that way until the end in front of Martin Davalos (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, 2nd) and Eli Tomac (GEICO Powersports Honda, 3rd).
Anaheim 3 was Ken Roczen’s second win in a row after his top spot in Oakland last week.
Two-stroke fans were treated to a round of KTM Super Minis featuring ‘Danger Boy’ Deegan, the son of Supercross, X-Games and Crusty Demons legend Brian Deegan.
The youngster finished second place, and according to his dad’s Facebook page, is keen to “come back to win next year”.
The series enters its final race on Californian soil next week; down south near the border, down San Diego way.
Points tables top three:
450
250
Content by TSM Editor Paul Savage
