TYLA RATTRAY
RATTRAY MOVES INTO AMA MOTOCROSS SERIES LEAD WITH SECOND PLACE AT HIGH POINT

There is this thing about sport – what starts up as a hobby can easily develop into an all-encompassing passion and then, if you are dedicated and talented and, yes, lucky enough, it can become a career. The thing is, the higher you move up in the hierarchy, the steeper the ladder gets. The participants at the very top display skills that the normal amateur participant can only but dream about. With motocross it is the same. Maybe even more so. The physical, dangerous nature of the sport, the financial – and athletic requirements of life and the top and many other factors combine to ensure that only the select few will taste ultimate success at the rarified levels of top class American – or world championship racing.

Tyla Rattray has already proven that he could ride to the very top in the latter, and in his third season in America, he has provided ample evidence that he has the goods to ride at the top level in the AMA series as well. At the close of proceedings of the third round of the AMA motocross championship series at High Point Raceway, he joined a very, very elite club – that of riders who have held the red plate for the lead in both the AMA- and world championship series.

If ever there was a rider with his feet firmly on the ground, it is Tyla Rattray however. He will be the first to tell you that the season is long yet and championships are not handed out in June. What he has done, though, was to prove that consistency is an important an attribute as raw speed in the racing game, and that he who will be champion had better bring the challenge of the unassuming South African into consideration.

Having started our story back to front, let us roll the clock back a bit and check how the weekend unfolded. After the rough, sweltering hell that was Freestone Park two weeks before, those riders less equipped for conditions that move to the crazy scale of rough as the day goes along, were happy to get to the Mt. Morris -based venue, where the track was much friendlier and consistent throughout the day. Tyla disposed of the qualifying formalities with ease, and grunted his four stroke Kawasaki machine to the second fastest time, a shade over a half a second behind team-mate Blake Baggett. This was to be the shape of things to come, but more about that anon.

During the 2010 season, Tyla had vowed to work on his starting technique. At this level of racing, it really does help a lot to get away with the front group and not have to wade your way through a pack full of snorting bikes, heaving bodies, and roost that gets fired at you with battlefield-like intensity. He has done just that, and in the last few outings you would inevitably see the #28 bike make its appearance in the leading group right off the bat. In race one, Tyla started in fourth position. By lap 3 he had moved into third position after having disposed of Nico Izzi. Team-mate and championship leader Dean Wilson came knocking a few laps later, and a battle royale ensued between two of the fastest cucumber-coloured objects on the planet. Wilson finally found a way round, and with the arm-pump monster having dropped in for tea at the Rattray address, Tyla had to let it slack for a while to get the rhythm flowing again. He recovered towards the end of the race and hauled in local hero Darryn Durham on the very last lap to claim his first race podium spot for the day.

An even better start in race two saw the Monster Energy- backed machine surge to a holeshot. Some of the customary early-race bump and barge forced him to recover from a near miss though, and dropped him to third. By lap 3, he had settled into a smooth, albeit very fast, rhythm, and Cole Seely had no reply to his attack. Baggett was on a mission of his own up front, but suddenly Tyla saw clear air ahead as Baggett had an altercation with the effects of gravity. Tyla settled into the lead and made the most of it, but Baggett had certainly donned his Blazing Saddles action suit on the morning. After remounting, he moved to the front again like a man on a mission and nothing short of an interstellar weapon of mass destruction was going to match him for speed on the day. Tyla kept it sane and rode to second in the race, which also netted him second overall for the day.

The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad was yet again well represented on the podium, and when Tyla's seven point advantage over team-mate Dean Wilson on the day came into calculation, the official marched over to the South African with the red plate in hand. He enjoys a two point lead over Wilson, which is marginal, and testament, if any is needed, of just how competitive this year's championship is panning out to be.

Despite his success and the happiness over the series lead, Tyla's words after the race proved that he harboured no illusions about the size of the job still at hand. “I am pretty happy with the result today,” he said. “Baggett was just incredibly fast, so I focused on riding my own race. I am happy with the points lead, but the championship is very tough and this is not the title yet. There is a lot of hard work still ahead of us. The opposition is strong, particularly so from my team-mates, but I am focusing on my own game and go for the best possible result at every race.”


TEAM SUZUKI
DUNGEY SECOND AT MOUNT MORRIS MX

Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki used the power of its Yoshimura-equipped Suzuki RM-Z450s to tackle challenging conditions at the Rockstar Energy High Point National in Mt. Morris on Saturday.

The weather was fine for the first moto at the notoriously-fast High Point track but a quick downpour hit just before the start of moto two, leaving the track extremely muddy and slippery. Ryan Dungey rode strong, grabbing a convincing second in the first moto, battling the tough conditions for a third in moto two and ending the day with a second overall. Team mate Brett Metcalfe suffered a couple of bad starts but was able to fight his way to an eighth-place overall finish.

Dungey was strong all day, with solid morning practices and great starts in both motos. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider pulled the holeshot in moto one but a little bobble put him back to second. Dungey proceeded to pilot his RM-Z flawlessly for the next 16 laps and cross the line for a convincing second-placed finish. In moto two, Dungey powered his Suzuki out of the gate again in second; however, a couple of miscues in the slick conditions put him on the ground and he fell back to sixth. Dungey pushed his RM-Z450 hard for the remaining 12 laps and was able to come away with a third-placed moto finish and second overall for the day. Dungey has moved into third place in the Championship points race.

"It was a good weekend," said Dungey. "I had a couple good practices and we were good going into the two motos. I got the holeshot in the first but had a little bobble and got passed but was able to get back to second. I lost some time in those first few laps. All in all, I felt good. My Rockstar Makita Suzuki team made some changes on my RM-Z for the second moto, but it rained really hard just before the start, so the track was really muddy, slick, and very technical. I got off to another good start but fell twice in the beginning but was able to catch up for a third and a second place overall. It's a good step in the right direction. We just gotta keep plugging away and improving in the areas that we can and be consistent and put ourselves in a good spot to be there in the end. Next stop is Budds Creek and I really like that track. I was able to come away with the overall last year there and I'm looking forward to another good result."

Team-mate Brett Metcalfe started the day with the sixth fastest time in the morning practices aboard his Suzuki RM-Z450. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider suffered from a bad start in moto one but worked his way to 12th at the end of the first lap. Metcalfe was able to fight through the field to capture an eighth-placed finish. In moto two, Metcalfe was caught up in a first turn pile-up and essentially started from the back on the field. He charged as hard as conditions would allow in order to work his way up for a 10th-placed finish and an eighth-placed overall for the day. Metcalfe sits fifth in championship points.

"It was a pretty tough day for me at Mt. Morris," said Metcalfe. "I didn't get the results I wanted and I had two bad starts at a track where it's really important to get a top five start in order to be in contention for a decent overall finish. It was just one of those days where things just didn't happen. I feel like I rode strong and my Rockstar Makita Suzuki worked great and my team did a great job getting my bike dialled in. It was a rough day, but we still came away with some points. We know what we have to do moving into Budds Creek. I'm looking forward to Budds - It's a good circuit and I really like it there. I'm looking forward to going there and redeeming myself with some better results."

The Rockstar Makita Suzuki team's next event is the fourth round of the 2011 AMA Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday, June 18th at the Budds Creek National in Mechanicsville, MD.