Suzuki's Ryan Dungey needs to make up 12 points if he's to defend his AMA title this weekend.

Defending AMA Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey remains hopeful that he stands a chance in this year’s title chase, sitting third in the standings entering Las Vegas’ season final this weekend.

Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Dungey charged through the pack to from fifth to take third place in Salt Lake City’s penultimate round last Saturday night, and now sits 12 points off title favourite Ryan Villopoto ahead of the finale.

“It was a pretty good weekend,” said Dungey. “We made a lot of changes to my RM-Z to adapt to the conditions here in Salt Lake. My Rockstar Makita Suzuki team did a good job finding areas we could improve.

“I had a pretty good heat race and got out to a pretty decent start in the main and just started to put in laps. I felt good, but I just wasn’t matching the lap times and was losing a lot of ground.”

Heading into Vegas this weekend, Dungey knows he needs to win if he;s to stand any chance of capturing a second straight crown.

“Overall, we did the best we could and we just have to put this away and learn from it and look forward to Vegas next weekend and try to go for a win,” he added.

“I like Vegas. It’s a little more slippery and takes good throttle control – I’ve done pretty well there.”