Dungey looks to make a point at Unadilla

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August 17, 2012

Dungey looks to make a point at Unadilla

Monroe resident Barcia in running for 250 Class crown; weekend of racing starts today with amateurs

By Courtney A. Erickson Contributing Writer The Daily Star Fri Aug 17, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

Ryan Dungey has a chance to win it all Saturday at the Unadilla Valley Sports Center, but only if Mike Alessi makes a major mistake during the 10th round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

Dungey extended his season points lead on Alessi to 85 last Saturday, when he won the track title at Southwick, Mass., with a 1-2 finish in the 450 Class motos.

Although he earned 47 of a possible 50 points at Southwick, Dungey added just five points to his season lead over Alessi, who went 2-3 in the motos to place second overall.

"There's quite a bit of racing left," said Dungey, who won his 12th moto and seventh track title of the season last Saturday. "We've got three more races, so I think it's really early and we just need to keep taking one race at a time and perform at our best at each individual race."

Unadilla seems to be the right place at the right time for Dungey, who earned the 2010 title at the New Berlin track en route to the overall crown in his first 450 Class season.

Dungey also placed second at UVSC last year to Ryan Villopoto, who will not compete this Saturday because of a torn ACL suffered during a supercross race in April. He won't have to worry about Chad Reed, either, as the 2009 Unadilla champion is also recovering from a crash that resulted in a torn ACL and multiple vertebrae fractures about halfway through the supercross season.

Still, the 2012 championship of the 12-stop tour isn't necessarily out of reach for Alessi.

"All it takes is one mistake, one instance of bad luck," said Brandon Short, the circuit's media manager. "This sport is inherently unpredictable because anything can happen."

Take last weekend, for example.

Alessi won the holeshots in each moto _ making it from the starting line to the track's loop first _ but finished behind Dungey both times.

Dungey didn't win the second moto, though, despite passing Alessi early on.

Dungey dumped his bike on the sixth lap of the second moto, spilling gas and allowing Alessi to regain the lead. He passed Alessi for the top spot two laps later, but Dungey stopped to refuel on Lap 13 to make sure he could finish the race.

Tyla Rattray passed Alessi and Dungey during the pit stop, then held onto the lead for the last four laps. Rattray's victory in the second moto followed a 20th-place finish in the first.

"Ryan is obviously the favorite," Short said of Dungey, who has won the last seven track titles in a row. "He's expected to win at any given moment, but anything can happen. You really never know. It could all happen in one corner and that could be it."

Short added that James "Bubba" Stewart, who won the first two 450 track titles this season, has yet to announce whether he will compete at Unadilla. Stewart has been picking his races since crashing in Round 3 in Colorado. He did not race at Southwick.

Dungey said the key to finishing first at Unadilla is throttle control, finding good lines and anticipating turns.

"Unadilla is a pretty unique track," Dungey said. "It gets real choppy and really rough; kind of that uncomfortable choppy. It's a really harsh feeling, but it's a track that gets dry and slippery, so you have to be really good with throttle control.

"Unadilla is a track where you have to set yourself up before every corner and knowing where you're going to go two or three points ahead before you're going to get there," he continued. "It makes it tough. You have to be good with throttle control and really be on top of your game, so it just takes a lot of focus."

The focus in the 250 Class is on leader Blake Baggett and Monroe resident Justin Barcia, whose stands 24 points behind the top rider with 376 overall.

Baggett narrowly beat Eli Tomac for the Southwick track title by winning the second moto. He went 3-1 in the motos, offsetting a 1-3 run for Tomac and winning the overall title on the tiebreaker, which is based on the better finish in the second moto.

Barcia went 7-4 in the motos and placed fifth at Southwick.

"I absolutely think he is capable of winning the race," Short said of Barcia, who placed third in the 450 Class as a replacement rider at Unadilla last season and has returned to the 250 Class this season. "He rides well at Unadilla and I think he's a little bummed at what happened last weekend. He had some bad luck.

"He's going to have a lot of extra motivation this weekend to do well, particularly because it's his hometown crowd, too," Short continued. "That always amps up riders. That always makes them want to get better. I definitely think you've got to keep an eye on him to potentially win this weekend."

Short said Saturday's pro races at Unadilla should match or possibly exceed last year's announced attendance of 28,240.

"It is truly a tradition in Central New York," Short said. "Fans come from all over the place for this event. It is just a legendary, legendary track. We might have a perfect day for weather on Saturday (partly cloudy, temperatures in the 70s), which would be the perfect setting for Unadilla. I'm expecting a huge crowd. It's definitely one of our biggest crowds every year and I absolutely think that's going to continue."

Short said other New York natives scheduled to race this weekend include Cohocton's Phil Nicoletti and Syracuse's Robert Kiniry in the 450 Class, along with Utica's Mitch Dougherty and Albany's Ryan Blizzard in the 250 Class.

Unadilla's weekend of racing begins today with the first day of the Amateur Summer Classic MX. Amateur racing runs from 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. today and continues at 8 a.m. Sunday.

Saturday's Pro National MX begins with opening ceremonies at 12:10 p.m. The first 450 Class pro moto starts at 12:38 p.m. and will be televised live on Fuel TV, which also will show the opening 250 Class moto live at 1:40 p.m. NBC will air the second 450 Class moto live at 3:10 p.m. Saturday. The second 250 Class moto will be televised live on NBC Sports at 4:10 p.m. Saturday.