What really happened in Texas was that we learned the old lesson again that there's a reason why they run all of the races. And we can add to that, too: There's a reason why the races run to length.
Ryan Dungey was gone in the second 450 moto, until his bike gave it up late in the race. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Let's start in the 450cc class, where Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey was a lap and a half from his first overall win of the season, and from leaving Texas still tied atop the points standings with Chad Reed, but instead he left in fourth place in the points standings.

Texas was turning into exactly the opposite of Hangtown for the pair of riders. At Hangtown, Reed won the overall with a 2-1 while Dungey was second with a 1-2. At Freestone, Reed took down the first moto in a pretty dominant fashion, but Dungey was putting the hurt on him - and everyone else - in the second moto. Dungey had Reed on his tail at the beginning of the race, but Reed was barely keeping pace before he fell. He still got up in second, as the two of them were checking out from the rest of the field, but Dungey could've just cruised it home.
Dungey's bike quits (first photo), then he pushes it off the track in the insane Texas heat.

However, after the two-to-go sign came out, Dungey made it more than halfway around before his bike quit. The word we got was that his fuel boiled and there was some sort of vapor lock preventing the engine from pulling any more fuel into the fuel-injection system.

Just like that, he went from a 25-point moto to a zero-point moto and is now 28 points behind series leader Chad Reed. Even though it's extremely unfortunate, the fact that it didn't happen to anyone else in the front of the pack shows that it could've been prevented, and it's not just racers who win championships.

He's got his work cut out for him to make up that kind of a points deficit, but it's far from impossible. He managed to get in the championship chase indoors after his chain derailed early on, and that championship only has 425 points available, whereas outdoors there are 600. It's not over yet for Dungey. One or two more of these kinds of events, though, and it could be.

In the 250 class, we saw how one mistake could ruin an entire day. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Blake Baggett looked pretty dominant at Hangtown and carried the points lead, and that confidence, into Texas. He took the lead at the start of the first moto and was pulling away quickly when he went down and reportedly hit his head.
Blake Baggett (57) already had this much of a lead only a half a lap into the first moto, and it grew from there, until he went down on the third lap, and his day got worse from there. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

He got up and fought his way back forward to ninth place, but he was feeling really under the weather between motos. He reportedly threw up in his helmet during the sighting lap for the second moto, and although he started near the front, he simply wasn't in the kind of condition he needed to be, and he faded to 16th at the finish. It was a gutsy ride that earned him five points he wouldn't have had otherwise, but it's easy to wonder what the long-term ramifications will be.

Luckily for him, we have a weekend off this week, so he has a full two weeks to recover and heal up before High Point. But it's likely that we won't know until then whether or not there are true long-term consequences for his Texas fall.