It's the 2007 Saint Louis Supercross, the Big Three are all there, and I'm watching Eric Sorby lead the 450 Main. Eric Sorby! After seeing a wild 250 Main (just say No to the name Lites) that I still hadn't fully soaked in, suddenly my world is turned upside down. How could this strange series of events have taken place and what was I doing in Saint Louis when my hometown in Minnesota was still reeling from three feet of snow in a week?

Even though Saint Louis and Indianapolis are not that far from Minneapolis, I had not made it to a Supercross race since the luxurious confines of the Metrodome were unceremoniously removed from the schedule. When Brian Nelsen asked if I wanted to go on a Friday night there, Saturday night back, road trip to the Edward Jones Dome, I jumped at the chance. What we couldn't count on was the travel weather, and that turned out to be not good at all.

This was to be one of the stops of the RC Supercross Farewell Tour. He had raced Stewart pretty tight the week before and was looking to step up to challenge him more this week. After this race, there would only be two more opportunities for him to add to his Supercross win list. Reed was not quite able to hang last week, but was still an easy third and had won two weeks earlier. In addition to that, there's something about Reed and Saint Louis. He had won the premier class on three occasions, including last year's wild race that saw Carmichael break, Stewart taking a long time to restart after a crash, and Reed charging towards the points lead with his first win of the season. Could this be another chance for the so called Perfect Storm, where the Big Three all fight for the lead for the entire race?

More importantly, from a personal or Minnesota citizen point of view, a Minnesota-born rider had won the first round of the 250s the previous week. He was carrying the early championship lead and had plenty of momentum going into Saint Louis. Ryan Dungey continued his meteoric rise to championship contender with a veteran-like ride in his Supercross debut. I felt very lucky that I'd be able to see one of RC's last Supercross races and that there would be a rider from Minnesota that could win the 250 class.

But sometimes, it seems that good fortune needs to be balanced with bad. In this case, the bad thing first took the form of two one-foot-plus snowstorms shortly before the scheduled departure time, resulting in icy white-out conditions throughout our originally planned, East Iowa route. With a re-route to a much longer Wisconsin, Illinois arc, the roads were at least passable, but still treacherous. Brian slowed down, a highly superior option to the one the drivers of the 25 to 40 vehicles we saw in the ditch had chosen (before even reaching Madison!) So many trucks were off the road at such a variety of odd angles that it was improbable how none of them rolled over.

It was Saturday morning by the time we headed into Saint Louis. Going towards the stadium area, the roads in Saint Louis were a bit icy and there were accidents everywhere. Throw in the incomprehensible maze that is downtown Saint Louis and it's a wonder that we arrived at the Dome in time to watch qualifying, and that we managed to restrain ourselves from yelling out the window, "What are you, a complete moron?"

First up were the 250 heats. Dungey quickly worked his way into the lead in his heat and pulled away to a seven-second win over former Gran Prix champion Ben Townley. The pride of anyone who's every sang "Oh Canada", Darcy Lange, continued to show that he's not only a multi-time Arenacross champion, he's showing serious Supercross skills while riding as a replacement rider for the powerhouse Pro Circuit Kawasaki team. He took a two-second win in the other heat over Matt "I'm going to win next week" Goerke.

The 450 heats went much as expected. Carmichael gapped Reed in his heat and Stewart looked smooth out front in the second heat. Minnesota-raised Heath Voss had problems in the first heat and pulled off. He came into the round ranked in the top ten, having rejuvenated his career with a switch back to Honda. There were more problems in the LCQ for Heath. A poor start in the short race doomed his chances of making it to the top two in time. It would seem logical that he would want to maintain his place in the top ten and use his provisional start.

As AMA-muted pugilist, Tyler Evans, was being given the Gas card for third place in the LCQ, he told the crowd he would use his second and final provisional start of the season because, "He came too far not to race." Never known for being a stickler for rules, he must have been dismayed to hear that the higher-ranked Voss decided to use his provisional start and that they only allowed one provisional entry per race.

The storybook path for Dungey looked to continue in the Main. He was away cleanly in third, escaping a first-lap pile-up in the sand section (some thought it looked more like kitty litter). Up front, Lange and Townley were going at it, allowing the smoother Dungey to reel them in. He passed Lange and set his sights on Townley. It all came apart when Ryan hit a nasty cup in a tricky, triple-in, land-on-the-brakes, bowl-turn and crashed. He lost a lot of time but was still in third. On the next lap, he crashed in almost the exact same spot. This time a cup was not the culprit, but a tuff block knocked into the racing line by Lange. It was difficult for me to watch as he could not get the bike started, eventually pushing the bike off the track and registering a DNF. Meanwhile, Townley and Lange were battling for the win on the last lap when Lange hit the same cup that got Dungey. It triggered a nasty endo and the bike savagely beat him into the ground. Townley survived it all to take his first AMA win.

While I was still processing what happened to Dungey, the 450 Main launched off the line with Reed leading Stewart. Carmichael was further back in the top ten. I couldn't see what happened from my vantage point, but suddenly Reed and Stewart were off the track. I would find out later that Reed took exception to Stewart's block pass and took them both off the track and onto the ground.

Harkening back to his glory days when he was fast enough to block the likes of Travis Preston, the ramming Frenchman, Eric Sorby, was out front for the first three laps. Finally, some order was restored. RC moved into the lead, Reed moved up to a distant second, and Stewart was on the move after dropping to last. Stewart went by Reed, cleanly, but RC was too far ahead and would score the emotional victory. Voss moved steadily up after a bad start to finish eighth.

There was plenty to bench race about on the long, thankfully dry, drive home. Could we have witnessed RC's last Supercross victory? Would Dungey bounce back from this setback? (The consensus was a resounding "Yes") How come they don't tell you when there's no bathroom at the next rest stop? There was a lot to ponder, but I'll let history be the judge * of these events.

Originally published in 2007

* If I may be allowed to be the acting Judge of History and answer the questions, it was Ricky Carmichael's last Supercross win, it's safe to say that Dungey bounced back from that particular race, and as of 2024, still no official word back about Illinois Rest Stop Signage.

Excerpt from Tales of Minnesota Motorcycle Racing.   back to Ryan Dungey page