Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey raced back from two crashes to finish sixth in Saturday night’s fifth round AMA/ FIM Supercross at San Diego - and keep his series lead intact.

Dungey started off early grabbing the fastest time in practice by almost a second. The gauntlet was thrown down and the other riders were left trying to figure out how to make up eight-10ths of-a-second.

He lined up for heat two with a slick track and deep ruts facing him. At the start, it was Dungey into the first turn, but coming out, Kevin Windham cut inside him for the lead exiting turn one. Dungey had to settle into second for lap one. The track was really tricky and both Windham and Dungey were being a little careful. Dungey applied pressure the whole race and passed Windham on the next to last lap and rode to the win.

"I was being patient," explained Dungey. "Kevin was riding really good and I waited for a mistake. He lost traction coming up to the triple and that gave me the momentum to pass."

The rain was off and on and by the time the Main Event rolled around. The riders had to be very precise as the ruts were deep and cross-rutting was a distinct possibility. A little track maintenance was done before the start of the Main and the surface was responding well. A downpour swept through the stadium 10 minutes before the start of the race just to add some drama, but by the Main, it was a pretty good track and the San Diego fans were rewarded for their dedication.

Before the start, the track crew scraped the start and moved some dirt around in an effort to improve conditions. At the start, Dungey's Suzuki RM-Z450 charged out in the lead snagging the holeshot but quickly fell going into the first turn.

Team manager Roger DeCoster explained the incident: "In the Main, Ryan got the start but in the first turn he hit a slick spot... the track crew had moved some dirt around and Ryan hit a slick spot with loose dirt on top of hard dirt... both wheels let loose at once and he went down."

Uninjured, Dungey picked up his bike and got going. He started out after the crash almost dead last. More importantly, his radiator had been "holed" in the mishap causing coolant to rapidly pour form the damaged component. He now had to charge forward and try to pass roughly 17 riders. Before the first lap was over, another challenge faced Dungey. Trying to make a pass, he fell over in a corner, losing even more valuable ground.

Once back up and running, Dungey put his head down and started picking off riders one by one. Even with steam coming from his motorcycle, Dungey never gave up and by the mid-way point he had passed his way up to 10th place. But there was still a long way to go and his bike was now rapidly running out of coolant.

By the flag Dungey had passed his way all the way up to sixth place! What made the accomplishment even more memorable was the fact that there was no coolant in his bike at all for the last half of the race. The bike steadily lost power as it was grossly overheated, but somehow finished; a testament to the durability of the Suzuki RM-Z450 engine.

DeCoster was philosophical about the finish: "We have the points lead and it's a long season. Ryan is clearly fast, and there is still a long way to go".

"That was a difficult race!" added Dungey. "I was feeling good and was excited for the Main, but after I fell down it was a lot of work to get towards the front. It's a long season though and we did a good job minimizing the damage. It's good to leave San Diego with the points lead still in hand and I look forward to Anaheim Three."


Supercross results: 1 Davey Millsaps (Honda), 2 Josh Hill (Yamaha), 3 Ivan Tedesco (Yamaha), 4 Ryan Villopoto ((((Kawassaki), 5 Justin Brayton (Yamaha), 6 Ryan Dungey (Rockstar Makita Suzuki), 7 Thomas Hahn (Suzuki), 8 Grant Langston (Yamaha), 9 Nick Wey (Kawasaki), 10 Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha).

Series points (after 5 rounds): 1 Dungey 105, 2 Hill 101, 3 Villopoto 95, 4 Millsaps 82, 5 Tedesco 77, 6 Brayton 72, 7 Short 69, 8 Windham, 9 Hahn 56, 10 Stewart 51.