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AMA MX: The Holeshot - Budds Creek
Ryan Dungey is running away with the championship and it doesn’t look like anyone can stop him.
Brandon Short  |  Posted June 19, 2012   Mechanicsville, MD
Red Bull/KTM's Ryan Dungey (Photo: Hoppenworld.com)
As if Ryan Dungey's performance at High Point the week prior wasn’t dominant enough, the Red Bull/KTM star went out and won by over 30 seconds in each of the motos this past weekend at Budds Creek. In doing so, he effectively set himself apart from the rest of the field in the championship, possibly for good.

After extending his overall victory streak to three and his moto win streak to six in Southern Maryland, Dungey holds a 54-point lead over second-ranked Mike Alessi. With at least one full round of a cushion between himself and his competitors, it’s looking a lot like the beginning of the end for the 450 Class title fight, and we haven’t officially hit the halfway point yet.

Dungey is dialed in on his KTM and he’s riding even better than he did during his championship-winning rookie season in 2010. After being tested throughout the entire summer by Ryan Villopoto and Chad Reed a year ago -- in addition to going up against a very formidable challenger in James Stewart to start this season -- Dungey has improved his speed and skill outdoors, which only makes his current dominating position that much more ominous.

Being forced to battle head-to-head with Stewart at Freestone, knowing that he was fast enough to look for a way past the 2008 champ but never making that move, pushed Dungey to dig deep and find a new level of intensity. It’s unfortunate that Stewart went down just a week later and wasn’t even a presence at Budds Creek, because otherwise we may be looking at one of the more thrilling two-rider title fights in recent memory.

Instead, Dungey has already done his part to lay claim at the 2012 title and with Stewart now sitting seventh in points, 120 points out of the lead, it doesn’t look like that will change unless some serious bad luck strikes the points leader.

With a two-week break from competition ahead, the industry is hoping that Stewart will return at RedBud, arguably the single biggest race of the season. I heard that there are no broken bones, which bodes well for a little rest and relaxation heading into the second half of the season. It was easy to see that Stewart is enjoying being back out on the motocross track and he is getting along very well with the Suzuki, and I can only hope that’s enough to bring him back up to full speed to put some pressure on Dungey.

While not a serious threat to Dungey, Mike Alessi isn’t getting enough credit for what he’s achieving on the non-factory MotoConcepts Suzuki. At second in the standings, Alessi is beating every factory team and rider in the series except for Dungey, which says a lot about his outdoor acumen. Alessi has been aggressive and he’s benefitted by leading some laps. While he doesn’t have the pace to keep up with Dungey for a full moto, he’s still posting incredible results and should be acknowledged for proving capable of running up front without factory equipment.
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