Page 14 - Issue_39

RYAN DUNGEY
450 SX / 2ND
IMAGE /MPG WORDS /ROEWER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Last weekend Ryan Dungey took home a big win giving himself some breathing room in his points lead, sitting an entire 25 points ahead of his teammate Marvin Musquin. Even though he won the race, Eli Tomac was laying down the laps. Qual- ifying second into the night Dungey knows that he was really going to have to work to repeat that Georgia finish. With starts being key, he tried to get a good jump out of the gate but was not successful. After the first lap of the heat race Dungey was sitting back in fifth place a position that wouldn’t send him to the main event. Mus- quin and Bagget were battling out in front of him making it difficult to get around them. Frustrated Dungey found his window and passed both of them sliding into second place. Trying his best to catch Reed there wasn’t enough time in the heat race and the points leader finished his heat race in second. Moving onto the main event Dungey knew the key to the tricky Toronto track was going to be getting that start. Jumping out of the gate Dungey got clipped causing him to fall back almost dead last around the first turn. A rough start to the long race ahead. Not letting the fact that he was in the back get in his head the KTM rider began his ascent to the front. Before the first lap was even over the points leader had impressively made his way into ninth. Passing riders like they were at a standstill Dungey was on fire in the cold Toronto stadium. As he was working his way through the crowd Vince Friese made a mistake that Dungey narrowly missed as he weaved his way into fifth place. The drama continued to unfold, after he passed Cole Seely the Honda rider made a mistake that caused him to T- bone Dungey. Luckily he didn’t go down and was able to pass Seely back. Now up to fourth the Red Bull Factory KTM rider had to get by Blake Bagget and Broc Tickle to even begin chasing down Tomac for first. Bagget hit a kicker that caused him to go over the bars and move Dungey up yet another position. Before the race was over the orange machine worked his way up to second but there wasn’t enough time to catch Tomac. After a really impres- sive ride Dungey lost one point to Tomac but is still holding on tightly to the points lead heading into the next round.
14 GRITMOTO • MARCH 5, 2017