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Ryan Dungey was just getting back into the swing of things during practice at the Monster Energy Cup. He put in
his fastest time of the afternoon during the second session by clicking the stopwatch at a 1:06.59. Dungey was
4th fastest overall, about 1 1⁄2 seconds behind Ken Roczen’s pole time of a 1:04.48. The defending SX champion got a decent start during the first moto of the evening, but his attempt to hug the inside through the first corner didn’t pan out as it did throughout the entire 2016 season. He wasn’t able to get the traction he needed in the slippery, hard-packed surface and he lost the drive into the next rhythm section. Therefore, he was parked by Mike Alessi and it forced him into losing valuable ground early on in the race. On the 5th lap, Dungey was able to use incredible race craft in order to get around the holeshot winner of Blake Baggett, breaking past his fellow KTM rider around the outside into the first corner. Dungey salvaged a 3rd place finish and he ended up crossing the finish line approximately 10 seconds behind the winner, Ken Roczen. In the second moto, Dungey had a good battle with Chad Reed on the opening lap, the two of them swap- ping positions back and forth for a couple of corners until Dungey finally made the move stick coming over the scrub jump into Monster Alley. Dungey held onto 3rd place until the midway part of the race when Roczen sent himself over the bars through the rhythm section leaving
the stadium, promoting Dungey to 2nd place. The Red Bull KTM rider took 2nd spot approximately 5 seconds behind the winner, Eli Tomac. Dungey and Tomac were separated by one point headed into the final moto for the overall victory. The third moto was Dungey’s worst start
of the evening, coming through the first corner in 12th place, luckily he was only one position behind Tomac. The two of them battled through the pack at frightening speeds to eventually work their way up to 3rd and 4th place, but they were unable to catch Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin in 1st and 2nd position. Dungey and Tomac took the joker lane on the very last lap, therefore bunching up the lead group with only a half-lap to go. Dungey made an inch-perfect pass on Tomac coming into Monster Alley, but it wasn’t enough to secure the overall victory. The Diesel came away from his return to racing on American soil with an impressive second place finish and showed the world that he hasn’t lost any of his consistency or speed coming into the 2017 SX season.
words/LAKEKILPATRICK
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