Defending AMA Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey’s fifth place finish in Saturday night’s Seattle round has kept him in contention for the 2011 title.

With just two rounds remaining this season, the Rockstar Makita Suzuki contender finished dropped a position to third in the series but is still only seven points behind leader Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki) with two rounds to run and 50 points still up for grabs.

“All in all, it was a pretty good night,” said Dungey. “I got off to a good start in my heat and ended up finishing third. My Rockstar Makita Suzuki team did a good job all day adapting the bike to the conditions.

“We made a few changes to my Suzuki before the main, nothing too crazy, just a few suspension adjustments to adapt to the ruts. The track was really gnarly tonight. It kinda wanted to just come up and bite you, especially by the end of the 20 laps.

“I got off to a decent start, but I fell down in the first lap and I think I was near last. But at that point, I just put my head down and tried to pick off as many guys as I could and was able to move up and finish fifth.

“Everyone did a great job today. My RM-Z450 ran great and my team adapted it well to this track. Going forward, we have a two-week break and then we’ll get into Salt Lake and will be ready to give it a hard push for the last two rounds.”

Australia’s Chad Reed sits second between Villopoto and Dungey.