Supercross title race tightens in Arlington as Roczen tops Dungey
Ryan Dungey’s run to another Monster Energy Supercross 450 SX title isn’t going to be an easy one.
Ken Roczen is making sure of that.
Roczen topped the defending series champion Saturday night at AT&T Stadium for his second win in the last three stops of the series. Roczen, who is second in the point standings, gained three points on Dungey and is 23 points out of first place.
We were pushing it. I’d make a mistake, and he’d make a mistake. It was cat and mouse the whole time.
Ryan Dungey on trying to catch Ken Roczen
“It was great to get that one,” said Roczen, who has finished in the top three in five consecutive races. “Ryan was running really good. The track was tricky. Overall, it was a good race. We won it and that’s what we’re going for. It happened tonight. I was just trying to hit my marks.”
Dungey led the first lap, but the two riders were side-by-side on Lap 2 with Roczen taking the lead, and he led the rest of the 20-lap race. Roczen won by 1.410 seconds, but Dungey made it tough. He closed within a second with four laps to go, but he wasn’t able to complete the pass.
Dungey has finished first or second in every race this season.
“We were definitely pushing there at the end,” Dungey said. “We were pushing it. I’d make a mistake, and he’d make a mistake. It was cat and mouse the whole time. Overall, second’s not bad. We’ll take it and move on. Second is something to be proud of.”
Jason Anderson, who came into the event third in the standings, finished third in the race.
It’s awesome to be back up here after a couple of bad weekends.
Cooper Webb on winning the 250SX race
Dungey may have known it wasn’t going to be his night in his heat race. Roczen bested him in that one too, winning the heat while Dungey finished third in qualifying for the main event.
In the 250SX race, Cooper Webb won for the fourth time this season and moved into the point lead in the West Coast Division of the series. Webb passed Christian Craig on Lap 12 of the 15-lap race and pulled way for his 10th career win.
Joey Savatgy came into the race with the points lead and was the leader on Lap 1. But he crashed and his bike ended up landing on his helmet. He got back up and finished 10th, but dropped to second in the standings, 11 points behind Webb with the series taking a five-week break before the next race. Alvord’s Mitchell Oldenburg finished fifth.
“I got off to a good start and was pretty far inside and Craig was riding awesome and putting some solid laps down,” said Webb, the defending series champion. “I was catching him a little bit later in the race, and I tried to pull away, but he was right there. It’s awesome to be back up here after a couple of bad weekends.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Supercross title race tightens in Arlington as Roczen tops Dungey."