Supercross champ Ryan Dungey took the overall win and led the KTM dream team of Jeffrey Herlings and Marvin Musquin to the manufacturer’s win in the first ever SMX Cup at the Veltins Arena in Germany on Saturday night. Dungey pocketed 50,000 Euros as best individual and team KTM took another 50,000 as winning team.
Honda were second from Kawasaki. KTM were so dominant thanks to Dungey winning, Herlings second overall and Musquin third overall.
On a track that was billed as an indoor motocross rather than a Supercross, Dungey didn’t master the rutty conditions as many had expected him to and he failed to win a moto.
The American was no match for start-to-finish winner Tim Gajser in the opening moto with American Zach Osborne third. Second time out it was French duo Romain Febvre that won from Musquin, with Dungey third.
And in the final outing, Dungey holeshot but was caught by Herlings who was just inside the top ten on the opening lap.
Herlings set the fastest laps of the race as he closed in on the AMA champ and went round the outside of him when he bobbled in a tight corner. Herlings was elated to win the moto, after he’d crashed in both of the first two motos.
Herlings went down in moto one when Febvre fell and wiped him out. And he crashed exiting the first turn in the second race and had to come back through the pack to fifth.
Herlings said: “In the first moto I was struggling a bit. Second moto I holeshot and went down, and came from last to fifth. In the last one I came from eighth and I passed the best of the best. I’m pumped! It was a good event and I showed my capabilities at the end.
“It was a great honour and pleasure to ride with the king like Dungey! And also with Marvin and team boss Roger De Coster.”
Dungey said: “It’s the first race ever here and it’s great to win it for KTM. It’s an awesome team and it’s so close to KTM in Austria. The track was difficult. It was choppy and rough and took a little bit to get used to!”
Musquin said: “It was difficult as we had Supercross suspension. I had decent starts apart from in the first moto when I got pushed out.“
It looked like Gajser was the man to upset KTM’s day as he ran away with the first moto but second time out crashed hard while in the lead. He got back on and started to pressure third place Dungey but fell again, landing hard on his shoulder. He ran near the front of the final race but was obviously not as his best and dropped to fifth. Febvre came through to seventh place, ruining his bid for overall glory.
Tommy Searle was the only Brit in the event and his 9-9-11 finishes helped Kawasaki to the final podium place.
