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Ryan Dungey prevails for the second week in a row

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Rookie Ryan Dungey won for the second week in a row in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.

Dungey, the top qualifier, has two victories and a runner-up finish in the first three races of the AMA Supercross Series.

He won the AMA Supercross race at Chase Field in Phoenix the previous Saturday night and was second in the opening-night race at Angel Stadium.

Dungey had to come from behind to win at Angel Stadium, passing for the lead on Lap 13 and pulling away over the last six laps of the race. He finished more than three seconds ahead of Josh Hill, the second-place rider. James Stewart, the reigning AMA Supercross champion, was third.

“It was a fun race,” Dungey said. “It was a close race and clean. Twenty laps is a long time. The track got really rough. I’m really looking forward from here on out.”

Dungey passed Hill for the lead in the race on Lap 13. Stewart took an early lead and was in front until Lap 5. He was passed by his teammate, Hill, on Lap 6. The top three riders -- Hill, Stewart and Dungey -- were rarely separated by more than 1.5 seconds for the first part of the race.

“This is what I’ve been working for,” Hill said. “Lap 2, I ran out of gas. I was trying so hard.”

Dungey padded his lead in the AMA Supercross standings. Ryan Villopoto, who began Round 3 of the AMA Supercross Series in second place, finished seventh. Andrew Short finished fourth in the Anaheim race, followed by Kevin Windham.

Stewart has been nursing a variety of injuries he suffered in the race at Phoenix. He injured his shoulder, wrist and ankle in two crashes in that race.

He did not attend the rider introductions before the race at Anaheim, saying he needed time to rest before the race started.

“It makes it a lot easier when you’re out front,” said Stewart, who won the opening-night race at Angel Stadium. “They [Dungey and Hill] rode hard. I didn’t have anything for them.”

Stewart battled with Dungey and Hill throughout the race. He made contact with Hill a couple of times during the race, but it didn’t seem to affect his ability to race.

“It doesn’t matter,” Stewart said. “I come out here to race every weekend, hurt or not. No matter what everybody says, I gave 100%.”

Jake Weimer won the AMA Supercross Lites-West race, his third win in a row.

Weimer led from start to finish and built a nearly six-second lead at one point in the race. He won the season opener in Anaheim two weeks ago and followed that with a win at Phoenix.

Wil Hahn finished second, followed by Trey Canard.

Ryan Morais, who began the race in second place in the Lites-West series standings, did not start after crashing in his heat race.

Blake Wharton, the third-place rider in the Lites-West standings, had to win the last-chance qualifier race to start the main event. He finished eighth. Joshua Hansen finished fourth and Cole Seeley was fifth.

haddockts@aol.com

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