Going for the W: Texas Pespective
Friday, June 3, 2011 | 1:25 PM
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PrintBy Steve Dye
There was nothing in the pre-race discussion of numberplate backgrounds that prepared anyone for the surreal sight of a dejected Ryan Dungey pushing his (now lost) red plate to the pits... with the most successful mechanic in motocross trudging alongside.
Reaction from the scattered Freestone crowd ranged from stunned silence to vocal disbelief: "I've been to six tractor pulls, four state fairs, two calf-ropes, and a hog-matin', and I ain't never seen nuthin' like that."
At the same time, a day that started with visible assertions of willful determination from Chad Reed ended with the TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Honda again atop the podium and suddenly solely in control of the points chase.
Unlike 2010 (when he failed to get another victory after his opening win at Hangtown) it didn't take long for Reed to grab victory number two.
Photo: Simon Cudby
On the heels of a season opening win that some heralded as the second coming of the 2009 outdoor champion -- and others dismissed as an anomaly, ala last year's season Hangtown win -- Reed came into Texas prepared not just to weather the heat, but to bring it.
After indulging in a little red plate gamesmanship in practice, elsewhere documented, Reed rolled to the starting line all business. And when the gate fell for the first moto of the day, Chad dropped the hammer and then swerved right like he was channeling Jeff Emig, circa Steel City '96.
It was on.
Dungey had lined up to the inside of Chad, and to say it didn't work would be to say Texas was a little windy that weekend. Full-on, stiff in the breeze flag-flying banner-ripping windy... no, it didn't work. Ryan along with everyone lined up to the inside of Reed not named Christophe Pourcel got pinched off hard going into the first turn.
And that -- save another 31 minutes or so, a stellar ride by Christian Craig and another inscrutable outing for Pourcel -- was pretty much the race. Chad exited the first corner in fourth, spent a lap dispatching with Jake Weimer, and several more displacing the mercurial early leader Craig (and Pourcel, who ran up front for half the moto before sitting out the other half). But the race was Reed's from the start.
Dungey came out not much better than mid-pack, moved quickly to get into the top ten, and rallied into fourth even before Reed moved up from third -- only to slip back from the eventual leader as Chad posted his fastest laps late in the race.
Ryan gated much, much better in the second moto, and had the lead early in the first lap. He also had Reedy right up his tailpipe, with both riders gapping the field.
When Reed pitched it away 10 minutes into the second moto, he was unmistakably going for the win. What's more, after a fairly brutal looking front-end push to high-side, Reedy remounted quickly and set his fastest lap of the race. It wouldn't be quite enough to catch Dungey, who seemed as impervious in his second moto lead as Reed had in the first.
Except that it was enough. Reed and Dungey had both brought the heat to an already sweltering Texas track... unfortunately, too much of it wound up near Ryan's fuel tank.
In the waning moments of the fourth 450 moto of the 2011 outdoor season, it looked like Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey would split up the available 50 points like loot from a heist -- with preseason favorite Ryan Villopoto relegated to running lookout for a second successive week.
Instead, it was Dungey who got robbed. The defending champion dropped all the way from leading the race and the series to trailing some 29 points in this new title chase.
Reed leaves Texas with a 21 point lead over Villopoto.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Chad leaves Texas with a 21 point lead over Villopoto, three moto wins, two overalls, and his strongest season start of his long career in the premier class.
Dungey escapes with eighth overall after a lost moto that seemed a lock. Last year Dungey finished eighth overall in his first race, and won his second... at Freestone, kicking off a string of moto wins. He had another in the bag, but not in the tank.
Both Reed and Dungey were going for the win, and thus far, it's easy to see the 2011 season shaping up as a battle between the 2009 and 2010 champions. Still, two rounds don't make a season. The week off before going into Mt. Morris will allow more of the supercross weary -- read Ryan Villopoto -- to regroup, go test, and get ready to come back swinging in the eastern swing of races that more often set the tone for the rest of the season.
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Good recap and perspective.
good write up, Makes me want to ride again, well not really but I am ready to see this season unfold! awesome stuff!
love the highlight on Reed's move right. that was pretty cool to watch and seemed quite effective...
So glad to see the written craft of stevey_d back on the site. Nobody does it better! Magnificient recap, with profound analogies...exquisite work! I hope to see more throughout the summer!
Now this is good journalism. Much better than that drivel Weigandt writes.
"Mt. Morris will allow more of the supercross weary -- read Ryan Villopoto" ? ? ?
Were everyone else in the sport relaxing at Cabo on Spring Break?
GO CHAD! GO RYAN DUNGEY !
I may have missed it but, was there an official report released on precisely what happened to RD1's Suzuki? Three DNF's this season SX 1 chain release, SX 2 broken case and MX 3 bike quits. 1 and 2 probably cost him the SX title. Still a long season ahead for MX.
I'm surprised the self-appointed grammar and spelling police haven't come down on the misspelling in the headline. Pespective may be how (Grounds Keeper) Wilson pronounces it, but I think there's supposed to be an r in there. Often writers don't make their own headlines, so I guess they don't know who to blame. Good read though. It is, and is going to be, an interesting season no doubt.
Good article. Interesting as you read deep through the lines...
The bizarre SX season, seems to be duplicated in this MX Season. Lots of DNF, and maybe we find riders in DNQ, others crashed out, different points leader in the series...
This might be another great season!!!!!!
We could do without the anti-South, anti-Texas attitude with the fabricated quote that said, "I've been to six tractor pulls, four state fairs, two calf-ropes, and a hog-matin', and I ain't never seen nuthin' like that." It's fashionable where you're from to take potshots at the South, isn't it?
What the hell is a tailpipe?
You might try writing in an active voice instead of using inactive sentence structure. Examples of inactive sentence structure or passive voice include:
- "On the heels...bring it." Should have started with "Reed..." to make it active.
- "After...business."
- "In the waning...week."
- "And...'96." It's not good form to start a sentence with "And."
- "Dungey had lined up": Try to lose the "had." Not good form to use the word "had" too much or unnecessarily. Maybe re-word that.
-"And that..." There's another sentence starting with "And."
- "high-side" should be "highside."
- The ellipsis between "track" and "unfortunately" doesn't require a space.
- Same with the ellipsis between "second" and "Freestone".
- Double dashes are unnecessarily repetitive.
Word up, G-dog, nomesane, 'slike dis, yo - don't be messin' wit da Sowf. We still beez part of America. Beleedat. I know you be down wit da brutha man, so peep dis: don't make me flip da script no mo doe.
Wow, nice to an A-hole like J-BigAirHeadTime not only giving us continuous racial psychosis, now we get a feeble attempt at an English lesson. That was even weak for for stupid arse wannabe hick. Go put on your Velcro gloves and find your favorite sheep. BaaaDaaaaaddy BaaaDaaddy, BaaaDaaddy. His IQ has got to be off the charts, at least 70 to 75. Smart little boy.
jairtime, get a life. is this english 101? people dont give a shit about you, you hillbilly. This is an mx site,not school you fool.Yooooda man....jackass.
Good story, nice recap. But I do have to question the how the industry presents it'self to us the public. I was in the corner where Reed fell in the second moto. He cross rutted coming over a small mound into a corner and the back end kicked out and he high sided going 4 mph. I don't think he even stalled it. Didn't "brutal" at all.
I was also trackside when Dungey came to a stop. All reports say he ran out of gas. I watched him kick at least 20 times. The last time he kicked the starter froze and he could not kick it down. Don't know about you but if I think I'm out of gas I take the cap off, rock the bike and try to slosh any fuel around, Ryan never took the gas cap off.
Moto is subject to being PC and drama induced, even when it doesn't have to be.
Sorry for any poor english or spelling : )
@Lilnuts
if you run a efi bike out of fuel they are dry no amount of "sloshing" will get it going cause there is nothing to slosh!
Stevie D writes some great reports and stories still. I looked forward to reading his stuff back then at Racer X and missed him when he stopped. Give this guy a job and back into Racer X monthly. I'll have to renew if he starts writing for you guys again. Great to see Stevie D is still out there!
It is apparent to the readers with some intelligence that the writing skills of Dye are vastly superior to the likes of Matthes and Weigandt. But as fans, we should focus on the fact that we get the opportunity to read about our favorite sport regardless of the talent of the particular journalist.
RMZ I'm very aware of how EFI works. My point was, if I even remotely think I'm out of fuel I take the gas cap off and look in the tank, Dungey never did that, just sayin.