Supercross San Diego

Barely moving through a quarter of the season of the 2010 Supercross series, this year has been fraught with injuries and unbridled competition. As Supercross heads to Round 5 at San Diego, there is one thing you can count on; expect the unexpected!

With the headlining rivals, James Stewart and Chad Reed, both sidelined for an undetermined period of time, there's a whole new pack of young blood seeking their places on the podium.

The sensational rookie Ryan Dungey has already made a mark on the podium and snagged the number one spot in point standings. He's a refreshing young face in the 450 class with raw talent to back him up. However, his success has been anything but easy with aggressive competitors nipping at his tires.

Mistakes like last weekend's crash at San Francisco could very well earn him a spot on the injured reserves and leave opportunity for riders like Ryan Villopoto and Josh Hill to move in. After last weekend's race, Josh Hill was asked if he was surprised to see Dungey crash. "No, I wasn't surprised at all. Just look at '08, he made mistakes like that every week."

Sounds like Dungey will definitely need to bring his new A-game if he expects to maintain the Supercross lead after San Diego this coming weekend.