The 450 Class championship battle tightened up even further after Ryan Dungey picked up another five points on Ken Roczen by winning the second moto at Washougal.
The story was pretty similar to the first moto. Dungey had another good start, besting Roczen and Eli Tomac in that department once again. After passing Tommy Hahn and Andrew Short to move into third, Dungey was able to overtake Brett Metcalfe and Justin Brayton – who swept the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award in both motos – to move into the lead by the end of the first lap.
Dungey went 1-1 for his fourth 450MX win at Washougal in five years. (Photo: Matt Rice)
Tomac worked his way up to second on the next lap and found himself within a few seconds of Dungey but just couldn’t run down the Red Bull KTM rider, finishing more than eight seconds behind him. With a pair of second-place moto finishes today, Tomac will finish second overall behind Dungey and winds up on the podium for the fifth time in five races since making his debut in the 450 Class.
Once again Roczen found himself in the top three but could not match the pace of Dungey and Tomac, finishing more than a full minute behind Dungey. Dungey really benefitted from Tomac’s presence today, as having the GEICO Honda rider in between him and Roczen in both motos allowed Dungey to pick up extra points.
Andrew Short extended his streak of top-ten moto finishes to 15 – the third longest streak in the 450 Class behind only Roczen and Dungey. (Photo: Chris Ortiz)
In just one round, Dungey has cut his teammate’s points lead from 24 to 14 points with three rounds left.
Brett Metcalfe had not recorded a top-five moto finish since Thunder Valley but took advantage of James Stewart’s absence to take over fourth place in the point standings after posting 5-4 moto scores.
Metcalfe had his best ride since the opening round. (Photo: George Crosland)
Noticeably absent from the top five in this moto was Trey Canard, who crashed early in the race and had to work his way back up to 11th place from outside the top 30.
There were several notable rides deeper into the top ten. Fredrik Noren, the former privateer who is now filling in for Justin Barcia with Honda Muscle Milk, had his best result of the season in seventh, while a pair of privateers, Tommy Weeck and Tommy Hahn, placed ninth and tenth.
Weeck was also the top privateer on the day, finishing 11th overall with 16-9 moto results.
Weeck captured some hardware for his strong performance. (Photo: Matt Rice)
Dungey – who led all 32 laps of racing today – admitted afterwards that he wasn’t overly focused on the championship race, saying “We’ll let that play itself out.” Still, the stage is set for some drama over the final six motos.
Washougal 450 Moto 2 Results
1. Ryan Dungey
2. Eli Tomac (-8.5 seconds)
3. Ken Roczen
4. Brett Metcalfe
5. Andrew Short
6. Weston Peick
7. Fredrik Noren
8. Justin Brayton
9. Tommy Weeck
10. Tommy Hahn
11. Trey Canard
12. Christian Craig
13. Ben LaMay
14. Killy Rusk
15. Jimmy Albertson
16. Evgeny Mikhaylov
17. Matt Goerke
18. Paul Coates
19. Tucker Hibbert
20. Tevin Tapia
Washougal 450 Class Overall Results
1. Ryan Dungey (1-1)
2. Eli Tomac (2-2)
3. Ken Roczen (3-3)
4. Brett Metcalfe (5-4)
5. Andrew Short (6-5)
6. Weston Peick (7-6)
7. Trey Canard (4-11)
8. Fredrik Noren (9-7)
9. Justin Brayton (8-8)
10. Christian Craig (10-12)