Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Dungey Cards Podium Finish in Phoenix SX Lites Race

Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ryan Dungey brought
home an impressive second-place finish in the exciting Supercross
Lites race on Saturday night at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
After winning the season-opening Anaheim round last week,
Dungey followed that up by winning his sixlap qualifying race. In
the Lites main, he got a great start on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki
RM-Z250 and led a number of the race’s 15 laps before finishing
in second place. With this finish, 18-year-old Dungey continues to
lead the Lites class championship points chase.

In the Supercross class, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mike Alessi got
a great start on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450, taking the
holeshot in the main. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, the 19-
year-old rider hit a Tuffblock and rode several laps with a banner
attached to his bike. In spite of this, Alessi continued to charge
hard in the 20-lap main event, and brought home a sixth-place
finish. Teammate David Vuillemin struggled a bit in the Supercross
main but still managed to capture as many points as possible.

Ryan Dungey: “I was happy with practice today, I was about a
half-second faster than everybody else. I felt good in the races,
too, though I had a hard time putting the track together. It got
really slick, but I did my best to try and make it work. I made a
couple of mistakes, and I think those kept me from winning. But
I’m going to work on that and try to not make those mistakes
again. The race itself was a great show and it was good to give
the fans such an exciting race. It was a dogfight, we were back
and forth and everybody was going at it. Overall, it was good to
walk away with the points lead. Now, we’ll just take it one race at
a time and come back stronger next week.”

Mike Alessi: “The day started out pretty good -- the Suzuki RM-
Z450 was working great, the Bridgestone tires were hooking up, I
felt good and had a good flow. I was pretty happy with the first
practice but in the second practice, I hit a hay bale and did a big
endo, taking a handlebar to the thigh. It hurt pretty bad so then I
just tried to survive the rest of the session. I had a good heat
race, finishing fourth, but the main was awesome. I got the
holeshot, and ended up running third for a few laps. Then, I hit
that same Tuffblock I hit in practice and gave up a lot of spots. I
ended up in seventh, made it into sixthand was just inching up on
fifth, but couldn’t do it in time. Now, I’m just looking for a top-five
finish next week or maybe a podium.” full story on
teamsuzuki.com
pics from transworldmotocross.com & from racerxill.com