By: Samuel Reiman
Ryan Dungey took his 33rd career 450SX win Saturday night at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. It was his second win of the season in the 26th and last race to be held at the Georgia Dome.
One of Dungey’s top championship rivals, Eli Tomac, finished in second place behind him, while the second-placed rider in the points – Marvin Musquin – placed fifth.
As for the Kawasaki rider, Tomac had been running down the defending champion Dungey in the closing stages of the race, but it was too little too late after he had completed the first lap in ninth position.
Blake Baggett rounded out the podium in third after holding off Husqvarna rider Jason Anderson on the final lap.
Dungey took the holeshot for the 450SX Main Event as he set out to try and stop Tomac from taking his fourth win in five races. Mike Alessi and Baggett were right behind him at the end of the first lap, while Tomac and Musquin were stuck back in traffic. Alessi soon started to drop out of the top five, moving Seely up into a podium spot. Shortly before the halfway point, Tomac disposed of Seely for the final step on the podium.
Tomac then caught and passed Baggett before setting his sights on Dungey, setting fast lap after fast lap but he was unable to seal the deal. With the win, Dungey extends the points gap to 25 over teammate Musquin.
Meanwhile, a new rider will be sporting the red plate in the 250SX East class for the Toronto Supercross after Zach Osborne picked up his first career win in his 49th race.
In the Main, Jordon Smith took the holeshot ahead of Dylan Ferrandis, who went down in the sand section on Lap 1. Not much later, Osborne worked his way up into second after a battle with Alex Martin, and then soon got by Smith for the lead. Smith then dropped back into the clutches of his teammate Martin, but then the two collided and Smith went down. This allowed Yamaha rider Colt Nichols to move up into third, rounding out the podium behind Osborne and Martin.
Meanwhile, the points leader coming into the race – Joey Savatgy – found himself in the middle of the field for most of the main, ultimately finishing in fourth position.
450SX Results:
1. Ryan Dungey
2. Eli Tomac
3. Blake Baggett
4. Jason Anderson
5. Marvin Musquin
6. Cole Seely
7. Chad Reed
8. Justin Brayton
9. Josh Grant
10. Dean Wilson
250SX East Results:
1. Zach Osborne
2. Alex Martin
3. Colt Nichols
4. Joey Savatgy
5. Jordon Smith
6. Luke Renzland
7. Adam Cianciarulo
8. Fredrik Noren
9. Kyle Peters
10. RJ Hampshire