Weekend Wrap
Published: 01st February 2010
Author: Sean Lawless
Heading into San Francisco for round four of the AMA SX series the front runners in the 450cc field take a giant step closer to the title with the news that defending champion James Stewart is pulling out of the season with a busted wrist.
Series leader Ryan Dungey’s been doing pretty
good even with Stewie to contend with but at Sam Frank’s Disco he makes a meal
of his heat race, crashing while hunting down Andrew Short meaning he goes to
the Main Event with just 11th gate pick.
Despite this he rips the holeshot and by
the halfway mark – with Ryan Villopoto and Josh Hill holding each other up in
second and third – the Rockstar Makita Suzuki man has a nine-second lead. Then,
as he accelerates for a triple, Dungey appears to get his boot caught up in a
rut and as he takes off he’s dragged off the back of the bike. Amazingly, he
hangs onto the bars, soaks up a heavy landing and is able to pick up his bike
and continue in the lead.
His rhythm’s shot to s**t though and he’s got no front brake or clutch
so Villopotato, Hill and Davi Millsaps all get by. But fourth at the flag is
still a pretty good outcome from what could have been a season-ender…
“I felt confident in the heat race but I
had a little tip over so I tried to regroup,” explains Dungey. “I came out and
got a great holeshot in the Main and then I
caught my foot and threw it away. I salvaged it for fourth, which is not too
bad. I'm thankful that I'm all right and healthy.”
So the win goes to Villopoto who closes to
within two points of Hill in second who in turn narrows the gap to Dungey to 11
points. It’s still early days in the series and almost anything can happen
between now and Las Vegas
in May.
In the Lites class Jake Weimer rolls up in San Francisco on the back
of a three-race win-streak but it’s brought to an abrupt end by Trey Canard who
pushes the Monster Energy Kawasaki man back to second. Third goes to Star
Racing Yamaha’s Brock Tickle whose 16-year-old British team-mate Max Anstie
grabs another top 10 finish with eighth.
KTM’s Tommy Searle, the other top Brit in
the Lites championship, sits out San
Francisco with a shoulder injury.
Taddy wins in Barcelona (Jonty Edmunds)
Back over the pond now and to Spain where Barcelona plays host to the fourth and final
round of the Indoor Enduro World Cup.
Unbeaten so far in the series, Taddy
Blazusiak has already done enough to secure the title but that doesn’t mean the
Pole is going to take it easy.
But in the first final of the night his
win-streak is ended by David Knight. Taddy bounces back to win the second final
before Ivan Cervantes ends the series on a high.
“I got a bad start in the first final - I
got a lot of wheel spin as I left the start which costs me,” says Taddy. “I was
pleased with the way I rode though as I came from outside the top 10 to second.
The second final was perfect. I got the holeshot and everything went well. The
final race was a bit of a mess. I had a few difficulties with some riders but
the most important thing was taking the overall win which I did.”
-
-
Email to a friend | More News Stories |
