After six rounds of racing on the west coast, the Monster Energy Supercross series heads east to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With just over a third of the series completed, the title chase has closed up to an even 18- point spread between the top three title contenders in the 450 class, who all finished on the podium at the last round of the west coast swing at Petco Park in San Diego, California.Team Honda’s Trey Canard proved that his win in Oakland was no fluke. The Honda rider challenged Ken Roczen early on in the race and was able to inherit the lead and cruise to his second win of the season and his fifth career 450SX victory.
Ahead of 2015 Arlington Supercross, He sits third in the championship standings with 109 points. Canard will undoubtedly be looking for his second 450SX Class win in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as well. The last time he won in Arlington was in 2011.RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen is gaining ground on championship points leader, Ryan Dungey race by race. The Suzuki rider was able to gain two points on Dungey as he finished second in San Diego, closing the points gap to nine between himself and Dungey.Roczen is having to make up ground in the championship after a 16th place in Oakland pushed him back to second place in the points. The German rider has getting great starts and riding flawlessly thanks to his super smooth style. After having the win snatched from underneath him in San Diego, Roczen will be looking to put his factory Suzuki RM-Z450 on the top of the podium in Texas.Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey put in a solid third place ride in San Diego. Unfortunately for him, the two riders who sit second and third place in the points chase finished in front of him, allowing Ken Roczen to gain two valuable points on Dungey in the points standings. However, it has been Dungey’s consistency that has enabled him to wear the red plate at this point in the championship.His third-place finish at San Diego marked his fifth podium in six races this season and his 62nd 450SX Class podium of his career. While podium finishes are great for the championship hunt, Dungey must aim for wins as he knows that if Canard and Roczen continue to finish in front of him, he will soon have to surrender the red plate to either one of them.Series veteran Chad Reed’s finished a quiet 4th place in San Diego. He finished a distance behind third place finisher, Ryan Dungey, but managed to card another top five finish this season. Reed has the most 450SX Class wins in Dallas-Fort Worth area with four and will certainly be looking to add a fifth this Saturday.The 250SX West Region Championship will take an eight-week hiatus as the East Region Championship will commence this weekend. There are several riders capable of being in the points championship including reigning 250SX East Coast Champion, Justin Bogle. The GEICO Honda rider is certainly one of the title favorite and will be wearing the 1E number plate for the duration of the east coast rounds. Another title contender is Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin.The French rider was absent from the 2014 series with a torn ACL, but was the runner up in the East Coast Championship in 2013. He has several wins to his credit and will be looking to improve on his 2013 championship result by one.Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Martin Davalos scored his first 250SX main event win last year and finished in the runner up spot in the East Coast championship as well after an injury dashed his title hopes late in the season. Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin will be another one to watch. The Minnesota native won the 2014 outdoor national championship in the 250 class and will be looking to transfer that success over into the stadiums for 2015.During last year’s 450SX Class Main Event in Arlington, Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart took the win over Ryan Dungey and Justin Barcia. In the 250SX class, Adam Cianciarulo bested Blake Baggett and Martin Davalos to take his first-ever 250SX victory. Cianciarulo is sidelined with a shoulder injury this year, which will keep him out of action until the first round of the outdoor nationals.450SX Class Season Standings after 6 of 18 rounds: 1. Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, MN, KTM, 127 2. Ken Roczen, Clermont, FL, Suzuki, 118 3. Trey Canard, Edmond, OK, Honda, 109 4. Eli Tomac, Cortez, CO, Honda, 100 5. Jason Anderson, Edgewood, NM, Husqvarna, 85 6. Cole Seely, Laguna Beach, CA, Honda, 82 7. Chad Reed, Dade City, FL, Kawasaki, 75 8. Justin Barcia, Greenville, FL, Yamaha, 71 9. Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, CA, Suzuki, 68 10. Andrew Short, Smithville, TX, KTM, 66
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This week, in the first segment Editor Don Williams talks to us about the new Kawasaki Versys 650 LT. It’s the middleweight ADV style machine that uses the same 650 parallel twin motor as the Ninja 650, so it’s an excellent performer in a user-friendly, good looking package.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my dearest industry friends—now retired Honda PR executive, Jon Seidel. Jon’s fascinating career spans some 30 years with Big Red, and gave him some great experiences with some incredible machines. I was fortunate enough to be invited on many of the press launches that he organized. His new project is documenting and saving many of the old archives from years gone by—and incidentally, if you have anything that may be of value to the project, please contact us by email at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll pass it all on to Jon.
So on that note, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
