Red Bull KTM Factory rider Ken Roczen finished 4th overall at the thirteenth round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series held at Edward Jones Dome while his teammate Ryan Dungey battled alongside him but suffered a last lap crash that caused him to lose a few positions and finish 9th for the night. Ryan Dungey was placed in the first heat where he launched off the line to grab the holeshot and lead the pack around the first lap. Unfortunately, the race was red-flagged for a fallen rider and the riders were sent back to the gate to restart. On the restart, Dungey earned a 5th place start. He picked up one position early on and then spent the final lap in a three-way battle for 2nd place. He banged bars with Justin Barcia and Weston Peick and came up just short of making the pass and finished 4th to qualify into the main event.
KTM factory teammate Ken Roczen lined up for the second heat and pulled a 3rd place start off the line. He maintained his pace and finished the race in that same position in order to easily qualify to the main event.
When the gate dropped for the main event, Roczen was able to pull off a 6th place start while Dungey got stuck mid-pack. Roczen made critical passes on his KTM 450 SX-F to move toward a podium position in the first half of the race and was sitting in 4th at the halfway mark. Dungey followed suit and came up from his 11th place start to check-in at 6th place by lap twelve. Dungey made a pass on Justin Brayton to move into the top five and continued to carry his momentum working toward the leaders.
Dungey was able to reel in his teammate on the final lap and began to pressure for the position through the final rhythm section. Unfortunately, Dungey made a mistake and crashed while trying to battle for the spot and lost a few positions while recovering. He rebounded from the crash to finish the race in 9th. Roczen held his position and finished 4th overall.
“I really liked the dirt used on the track tonight”, stated Roczen. “It didn’t get too deep or rutted but was still challenging and fun to ride. The whoop section was a little tricky and the lappers were hard to get around toward the end of the race. My result wasn’t quite what I hoped but definitely not the worst outcome either, so I’ll take it.”
Next Round: April 5, 2014 – Houston, TX
Results 450SX class St. Louis
1. James Stewart (USA), Suzuki, 15:58.685 min (20 laps)
2. Ryan Villopoto (USA), Kawasaki, +2.570 sec
3. Justin Barcia (USA), Honda, +7.696
4. Ken Roczen (GER), KTM, +8.708
5. Trey Canard (USA), Honda, +23.387
Other KTM
8. Andrew Short (USA), KTM, +38.318
9. Ryan Dungey (USA), KTM, +45.147
Standings 450SX class after 13 of 17 rounds
1. Villopoto, 268 points
2. Dungey, 233
3. Stewart, 232
4. Roczen, 215
5. Justin Brayton (USA), Yamaha, 196
Other KTM
7. Short, 166