It was a great day for the Red Bull KTM factory riders at the Muddy Creek circuit in Blountville, Tennessee on Saturday. Marvin Musquin and Ken Roczen were on the 250 Class podium while Ryan Dungey won the 450 Class of the third round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship – Tennessee National.
Ryan Dungey started his day off well at the new circuit when he turned the fourth fastest time to earn a top gate pick in the first moto. He missed the start and was 10th going into the first corner but then went on the charge to move up to fourth by lap three.
Another two laps later and Dungey made a pass around Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart into third place and began to click off consistent lap times and finished third, admitting he had to work on his starts so he didn’t lose touch with the top riders.
Dungey then leapt off the line in a creditable third behind Muscle Milk Honda’s Justin Barcia and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto in his second moto and when Villopoto crashed in the opening lap, he to move into the runner-up spot. RD then concentrated on closing the gap on Bam Bam and made his move up the inside of an uphill turn to take over the lead. Once out front, he turned the fastest lap of the race and collected the win by an impressive 11 second margin.āØ
Dungey’s 3-1 moto results earned him his first overall win of the season. “It feels great to get a win here,” remarked Dungey.
“The whole team has been working really hard each day to constantly make improvements. I really enjoyed this track today and am glad I was able to put everything together to finally get the results we are aiming for.” To wrap up a great day for the KTM factory team, Dungey’s two European team-mates Marvin Musquin and Ken Roczen scored an overall 1-3 in the 250 Class.
It was Musquin who earned the holeshot in the first moto but quickly found himself in a five-way battle for the lead. By the end of the first lap the riders had shuffled positions and Musquin was fourth and Roczen was second.
Kenny made a pass for the lead in the second lap and then never looked back as he went on to pick up his fourth moto win of the season. Meanwhile, Musquin found his speed and came from fourth to second to finish in the runner-up spot.āØ
In the second moto, Musquin had another great start and was second around the first corner while Roczen was further back in ninth place. While Musquin maintained his front spot, Roczen quickly began picking off riders and had passed GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle for fourth on the third lap before dropping back to sixth after a small crash.
He quickly recovered and was able to get back into fourth before he encountered another issue and ran off the track. Roczen passed Bogle again around the halfway point and then had Zach Osborne in his line of vision. He needed to pass Osborne to have a chance at the overall.
With a few laps to go, Roczen passed Osborne and was headed for an overall win when a mistake saw Blake Baggett slip by and ruin his chances of the top podium spot. Roczen went on to finish fourth and his 1-4 results earned him third overall for the day. Musquin’s 2-2 result was enough to give him his first overall of the season.
“This track really worked for me,” commented Musquin. “Its technical and rutted and just what I like. I just pinned it the first few laps of the second moto to try and gap the field. I knew I needed to finish second to get the overall and I was determined to not let them catch me. I am so thankful to my team for building me a great bike that helped me get a win.”
