Where Assignments Go to Die 2

First, the racing in Vegas:
Chad Reed did it the right way, winning the race to make sure this season goes down on record as his season. Had he simply finished fourth or so, fans could forever think back to a few positions Windham could have gained throughout the year. And fans would have, because everyone wanted to see K-Dub actually pull it off.

But let's be honest. How many times did Windham actually beat Reed straight up this year? And how unlucky was Reedy anyway? Just look at Daytona and it's pretty clear that Reed left as many extra points out there as Windham did. He really was the man and really deserved the crown, and after winning the race in Vegas, no one will argue that.

Of course James Stewart didn't race this year, but that's another story for another day....

As for the Lites, well, this was Ryan Villopoto's last SX race in the Lites class and he got beat straight up. That just isn't supposed to happen. And I know, James Stewart almost got beat in the shootout in '04 by Roncada, but at least back then we could blame his KX125 versus Ron-Ron's 250F.

Lapped riders eventually jacked Villopoto enough for Dungey to pass him, but before that, Dungey had chopped off a lot of RV's lead all by himself. It was impressive, and now you have to pencil Dungey in as a real contender for the National MX title (two weeks ago, it seemed more realistic for RV to just hammer everyone to get revenge for supercross). But be careful in predicting things based on Vegas. It's always a strange race and sometimes it just breeds one-off performances. Still though, I was shocked to see this happen. It's been a long time since Villo simply couldn't go fast enough to win.

Now watch him go kill everyone at Glen Helen.