2013 KTM MXers, Ryan Dungey At RedBud And More – The Weekly Dirt: July 11, 2012

Welcome to The Weekly Dirt, the place to go each Wednesday to catch up on the latest happenings in the realm of off-road motorcycling. This week, we go around the country to catch up on the weekend in racing:

The 2013 MX bikes continue to roll out, and we’ve been busy getting initial impressions and settings done out at the track. The latest machine to be released is the 2013 KTM 450 SX-F, which we rode this week at Competitive Edge MX Park up in the high desert of California. The bike is hugely changed from the 2012 KTM 450 SX-F, although you’ve already read how this machine performs thanks to the cues it took from the 2012.5 KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition (that’s the Dungey replica bike). The testing team over at our sister site, www.motocross.com, put together a cool first impression video of the bike. Check it: http://www.motocross.com/features/first-ride-2013-ktm-450-sx-f/ - Chris Dension

James Stewart went 6-3 for third overall. Photo by Shan Moore.

James Stewart made his return to racing action at this past weekend’s RedBud round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross series, which brought a lot of attention to the Fourth of July weekend race. As you most likely already know, Stewart missed Budds Creek and the second moto of High Point due to a wrist injury he suffered in the opening moto at Lakewood, Colorado. The Yoshimura Suzuki rider was fast in practice, qualifying just .2 of a second behind Ryan Dungey, but when it came down to racing, Stewart admitted afterwards that he is just back to where he was at the start of the season.

In the first moto, Stewart ran in second on the opening lap behind Dungey, but a small spin-out, another bobble, and a stalled engine later and he found himself back in sixth and well off the pace.

After making set-up adjustments between motos, Stewart came back to post a solid third place finish in the second moto, well behind runner-up finisher Mike Alessi and a long gone Dungey.

Surprisingly, Stewart didn’t seem all that upset after the race.

“Sometimes you just got to be realistic, and I think after what happened at Thunder Valley, you have to get back in the swing of things,” said Stewart. “I haven’t been able to ride that much, but it’s alright. We’re not all the way there yet; I think the bike is working great, we made some changes at the house before the race and again after the first moto. But for sure, I’m not where I was at the start of the season, but at the same time I think it’s better to be racing than to not be racing. I’m not too bummed because I know I’ve got a lot left.”

As for Dungey, the Red Bull KTM rider now has four-straight overall wins in the series, including eight consecutive moto wins, and he now owns a healthy 72-point lead in the standings over Alessi.

The next race at Spring Creek should be interesting. Stewart won the first four motos of the series before his injury in Colorado. Will the extra week of training get him back to where he wants to be?

For more on last weekend’s race, go to http://www.motocross.com/uncategorized/what-really-happened-redbud-motocross/ at Motocross.com to check out the details.

Paul Whibley took an impressive win in Ohio.

Josh Strang returned to GNCC action at the John Penton.

Monster Energy Athlete Paul Whibley scored himself a bit of breathing room in the GNCC series points standings by taking an impressive flag-to-flag victory at the John Penton GNCC, round nine of the Grand National Cross Country Series in Millfield, Ohio.

With the win, the Am Pro Yamaha rider extended his lead in the standings to nine points over series rival Kailub Russell, who calls the Millfield course his home track.
Whibley continued his string of great starts by grabbing the holeshot and leading the XC1 field around the motocross track and into the woods for the first time to start the three-hour race. It would be a lead he would eventually stretch to two minutes by the end of the race.

Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi, Rory Mead, ran second for most of the race, although he eventually gave way to Russell in the final hour as Russell ended the day in the runner-up spot, with Mead in third, followed by Andrew DeLong and Jason Thomas.

Last year at this very track, Whibley and Russell went head-to-head for the entire distance of the race, with Whibs taking a last-second win when he passed Russell for the lead with just 30 yards to go in the race. This year, there was no need for last minute heroics as Whibley totally dominated the field.

“I had about a 20-second buffer over the first half of the race,” said Whibley. “Mead was running second and he kind of closed in on me at the halfway mark, maybe to within five seconds of me. I started pushing a little harder after that and pulled out to about a three-minute lead heading into the final hour and then I just put it on cruise.”

2010 GNCC champ Josh Strang made his return to GNCC with help from WP USA/RidePG.com and his FMF/RPM/KTM Racing Team Maxxis, finishing just outside the top five in the XC1 Class. Strang grabbed a mid-pack start and eventually made his way through the pack to settle in behind Bach and DuVall, but wasn’t able to put himself into contention in the lead group.

AmPro Yamaha’s Jordan Ashburn battled with Strang in the first half of the race, but dropped the pace in the last hour, ultimately finishing seventh behind Strang. JG Offroad/American Honda’s Nate Kanney put in a solid ride for eight, while Garrett Edmisten and Mark Fortner rounded out the top ten.

With four races remaining on the schedule, Whibley leads Russell by six points in the series standings, 228 to 222. Meanwhile, Mead sits in third with 177 points.

EnduroCross Adds Women’s Rounds
The 2012 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Championship already includes a five round series for women. Those five rounds were strategically selected to avoid conflicts with other major race series and allow all of the top female riders to compete for the championship. Due to popular demand from both riders and fans, a women’s class will be added to the three events that did not already include it; Ontario, California, Denver, Colorado and Everett Washington. They will be non-points awarding events but will allow female riders to compete in their own class. Ten participants are necessary for a separate race, just like the other classes.

“The spectators have really embraced the women’s class and the riders have really stepped up their skills” stated Eric Peronnard, the creator of EnduroCross. “We had several riders and fans asking if we would have the women’s class at the remaining rounds so we decided to add the class to the three events that were not already planned”.

After three of the five points awarding events, Maria Forsberg is currently leading with 81 points followed by Louise Forsley at 76, Chantelle Bykerk at 64, Kacy Martinez at 55 and Rachel Gutish at 44.

The following five 2012 GEICO AMA EnduroCross rounds are part of the Women’s Championship and the remaining three rounds will include a non-point paying women’s class (ten riders needed to include a separate race):

For more information, go to www.EnduroCross.com.

2012 GEICO AMA EnduroCross Schedule

- Shan Moore, Rogue Reporter

That’s a wrap for this week. Keep tuned in to www.dirtrider.com for more killer content!