Former champ Ryan Dungey wins supercross race at Angel Stadium

Ryan Dungey won his first supercross race of the season Saturday night in the series’ third and final season stop at Angel Stadium.

Dungey, the 2010 champion in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, took an early lead and never relinquished it during the 20-lap main event.

Davi Millsaps was second, Justin Barcia came in third and James Stewart finished fourth in front of a crowd of 41,294.

Reigning series champion Ryan Villopoto, who had won the two previous races, finished eighth on his Kawasaki.

Millsaps also maintained the lead in the series’ current title standings by 14 points over the second-place Dungey.

Supercross is the stadium version of motocross, or off-road motorcycle racing. Dungey struggled just to reach the main event because his KTM bike suffered an unspecified mechanical failure during his primary qualifying heat.

Dungey then had to finish first or second in a “last chance qualifier” heat, and he finished second to get into the main race.

“That could have been the end of the night right there,” Dungey said of his bike’s early problems. “I’m glad it happened in the heat when we still had a chance to make up for it. It’s easy to get discouraged, but this feels good.”

In the sport’s second-tier “supercross lites” division, KTM rider Ken Roczen won the 15-lap main event, with Martin Davalos finishing second and Eli Tomac third. It was the second consecutive victory for Roczen, a German rider who now lives in Murrieta.

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