Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Dungey Wins First AMA Supercross LItes West Coast Championship

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Reed podiums in SLC Supercross

Round 16 – AMA Supercross Series

Salt Lake City, Utah

Rice Eccles Stadium

April 25, 2009

Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ryan Dungey captured his first AMA Supercross Lites Championship by taking the West Coast title at the Salt Lake City, Utah, Supercross at Rice Eccles Stadium on Saturday night. The young rider did what he had to do, finishing fourth on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 to take the championship. En route to the 2009 title, Dungey won four SX Lites races and picked up an additional two podium positions. This championship marks Dungey’s first AMA Pro title.

In the Supercross class, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Chad Reed celebrated another podium position at the Salt Lake City event. The two-time, defending AMA Supercross Champion got the holeshot and won his heat race and then got the holeshot in the 20-lap main event. Reed led multiple laps and was battling for the lead when he came together with another rider. In spite of the incident, he remounted and brought home second place. Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Mike Alessi, unfortunately, had a tough night and did not make the main event. Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Michael Byrne remains injured and did not race. He hopes to be back racing again soon.

Ryan Dungey:

“Winning the championship feels good, it’s been a long time in the making – the past two years have been tough. This whole year, it was a fight. And in the middle of it all, we had that eight-week break to just sit and chill out and think about it. In the end, I’m just super-pumped that we’re sitting here with the number-one plate. We worked hard for it and the whole Rockstar Makita Suzuki team stuck by me and had faith in me. This is something I’ve worked hard for since I was a little kid and I did it from the heart. I think that every time we went out and had an opportunity, every advantage we took control of it. I feel like we gave it our all at every race and at every round we gave 100 percent effort, and did it with commitment and passion and love and faith, and it all came together in the end.”

Chad Reed:

“On the start, I tried to get down in there clean and sneak around the inside. I’ve been working hard on my starts, trying to watch my teammate Mike Alessi and see what he does. We’ve made a lot of changes to the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 to try to make the starts easier and better for me and it’s finally coming around. I got out front and I felt like I was riding good and in a good position. But James (Stewart) got by and I passed him back, but he got back by. I had a look around and felt good about where we were, but unfortunately I had a get-together with another rider and lost contact with James. He’s obviously riding really, really well and it was just difficult to get back up there... But it is what it is and we’ll come back next week at Las Vegas and give it all we’ve got.”

Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race next at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, May 2, 2009.

Chad Reed, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450, #1

2nd Place – Salt Lake City Supercross

2nd Place – Overall Championship Points Standings

Mike Alessi, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450, #800

DNR – Salt Lake City Supercross

9th Place – Overall Championship Points Standings

Michael Byrne, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450, #26

DNR – Salt Lake City Supercross

NA – Overall Championship Points Standings  

Ryan Dungey, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z250, #10

4th Place – Salt Lake City Supercross Lites

1st Place -- Overall Championship Points Standings

AMA Supercross Top 10 Finishers:

1. James Stewart, Yamaha

2. Chad Reed, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing (Holeshot)

3. Davi Millsaps, Honda

4. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki

5. Andrew Short, Honda

6. Josh Grant, Yamaha

7. Kevin Windham, Honda

8. Matt Boni, Honda

9. Thomas Hahn, Kawasaki

10. Ivan Tedesco, Honda

AMA Supercross Lites Top 10 Finishers:

1.   Trey Canard, Honda

2.   Jake Weimer, Kawasaki

3.   Ryan Morais, Kawasaki

4.   Ryan Dungey, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing (Holeshot)

5.   Justin Brayton, KTM

6.   Chris Blose, Honda

7.   Jake Moss, Honda

8.   Kyle Cunningham, Kawasaki

9.   Michael Hall, Yamaha

10.   Ben Evans, Honda