Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
AMA Supercross Motocross
SX: It Starts Here
Ryan Dungey and James Stewart can still have their say in this year's title fight, but they need to make some changes… starting fast.
Chris Martin  |  Posted February 22, 2012   Iowa City, IA
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 8 of the Monster Energy Supercross Championship from Atlanta, GA will air LIVE on SPEED Saturday, February 25 at 7:30pm ET. #SXonSPEED

They say it's not how you start but rather how you finish. Well, this season in Monster Energy Supercross, how you start is how you finish -- at least in terms of earning a legitimate shot at victory.

Following an opening four weeks that featured four different winners, the 'most competitive season in history' has taken on a considerably more one-sided feel as of late.

Defending champion Ryan Villopoto now boasts four of seven possible wins and the only man who had provided him with a consistent challenge for checkered flags, Chad Reed, crashed heavily while in the midst of doing precisely that last weekend in Dallas and will be forced to watch from the sidelines for the remainder of the '12 campaign.

Despite 11 rounds still remaining on the championship slate and a relatively slim 13-point advantage for RV1, this title fight has suddenly taken on the feel of a one-man show.

However, it doesn't need to remain that way. '09 champ Ryan Dungey is the aforementioned rider within striking distance (at least in the points tally), while James Stewart still owns the sort of skills that would allow him to rack up victories in bunches the way he needs to in order to become a factor once again before the year is out.

As always, the starts are the key to the hopes of both Dungey and Stewart, if for opposing reasons.

Dungey can be counted on to show up every week and eventually find his way onto the podium. However, continued second and third-place results will likely only see his title deficit grow. Minus the type of start that would propel him in front of Villopoto or at least provide him with a carrot to chase (and attack), Dungey simply doesn't have the pace or the aggressiveness to both tear up through the pack andchase down his Kawasaki-mounted rival. He either needs to rectify his launches and start taking a few chances here and there, or continue as he has and keep his fingers crossed in hopes that at some point Villopoto will make a crucial mistake (a strategy that is not without its merits but one that simultaneously puts the KTM pilot in a reactive position and decreases the odds things will actually work out as desired -- Villopoto likely needs to be pressured into that sort of error).

Stewart, meanwhile, has pace and aggression in spades, but apparently not the patience or the luck to avoid a trip to the ground while desperately working his way up through the field following a poor start. Even a decent start might be enough to allow the JGRMX man to go to work on Villopoto, especially since the champ may now be slightly more vulnerable on a week-to-week basis, feeling a bit more comfortable with his championship standing following the elimination of Reed from contention.

Even if last week's drama suggests a lack of it going forward, this championship chase isn't done yet, even if Villopoto manages to avoid a repeat of disaster on the scale of last year's Jacksonville calamity. However, it's now up to Dungey and Stewart to make it happen by upping their games considerably, and that starts with… well, their starts.
cmartin's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Martin

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.