Photo by: Simon Cudby – Words by: Dan Lamb
The 2016 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, is fourteen rounds deep and Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey just moved closer to his second-straight 450SX Championship—third of his career—by matching his career-best eighth win on the season. For the third-straight week, the #1 got out front early and again fended off some extreme pressure from the RCH / Soaring Eagle / Suzuki rider Ken Roczen. The way Ryan has fought for the last three wins, you would think he was in a dog fight for the Championship, but that’s not the case. In fact, if Ryan makes it four in a row next weekend in Foxborough, he clinches the Championship two races early.
The St. Louis SX win not only marked the eighth win of 2016 and the 30th 450SX main event win of Dungey’s career, most incredibly, it moved his all time record podium streak up to thirty in a row. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that is arguably the most incredible streak of any kind that this sport has ever seen. The question is, when will it end?
After his thirtieth podium, MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom caught up with the soon to be crowned back-to-back 450SX Champion to talk about his day in St. Louey.
That was a good win for you. How was it?
Ah, good! To get a win here in St. Louis tonight was definitely exciting—especially how the day went. The beginning of the day wasn’t the greatest. It was a different schedule with it being a day race, so we had a little bit different schedule. Track walk was at 7 am, and we were done with practice by 11:30 am. Usually we don’t even start practice until 12:30. It was good, but we didn’t qualify the greatest—which was kind of tough—and we ended up seventh [fastest in timed qualifying]. We got a decent gate pick in the heat race. I ended up making a mistake in that, went down and had to go to the semi. I won out of that, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m glad I got the extra track time. The main event was good. I got a good start and was able to just kind of put some laps down. Obviously, Kenny was right behind putting the pressure on. We went back and forth and it was a good battle. We were pushing it, and he was too; he was keeping things honest. He made a mistake and that allowed things to open up a little bit for me. I was able to manage my lead and get the win, so it was awesome. It was definitely exciting.
This is the third week in a row you and Kenny were 1-2 and battling with each other. How do you keep focused on the moment and not let the anticipation of the pass not overpower what you’re doing? He passed you today again, but you countered right away with a pass back.
Yeah, that worked out for me this weekend, obviously. If you make a mistake, he’s going to be right there, and you know that. You try to do everything you can, but you can’t see his lines. You can only do so much, but you have to keep the focus on yourself. I think that’s very important. Obviously, you hope that you catch on to things if he is doing something better. You have to be aware of different line choices—”Ah this one’s getting a little deep”—and things like that. He came up the inside and I went slow over the deal and didn’t get a good drive. Then, he came up the inside—which was good—and then I squared down and got him back. He had the upper hand and I think tried to take my line, and I was able to sneak underneath. That was good. We were able to retain the lead and keep going. It was a battle, and yeah, when he’s right there, it’s pressure. He’s putting it on, but I try to do the best I can with where I’m at and focus ahead.
Last weekend we talked to you and you mentioned that you would almost rather be in second position in a battle like that. When Kenny passed you, was there any thought of maybe falling in behind and following him?
No, I definitely didn’t want to follow him by any means. I think it’s definitely better to lead. Maybe a few of his line choices were better, but I felt I was able to pick up on a few insides. I kind of could gather where he was behind me by the noise too—if he was gaining or not. This track, you get behind a guy and it’s hard to make a pass. In Supercross, especially with the speed we’re going, it’s hard to get on the inside, but we’re able to make it happen.
We saw that in the heat race today. You went down and could only get back up to seventh. You just can’t get away with those mistakes right now. Speaking of that, it was weird seeing you in seventh. What changed between then and the main? Did you guys make some bike changes today?
Yeah, we did. We made a little change going into the heat, which was better. And I’m glad for two things: I felt like the bike was better going into the main and I got more track time. I felt more comfortable on the bike, and we probably wouldn’t have done that if we went right into the main event. Everything worked out really well.
Yeah, the holeshot in the main helped out really well too. (laughs)
Yeah, geez. We were in a good spot and got out of the gate really good actually and was able to keep her steady.
That was a weird start too. There was a ton of chaos in the first turn. You were probably like, “Oh, thank god”. (laughs)
Seeing the 250 class and the pile up, I was like, “Alright, we got to get there first.”
What did you think of the track tonight? The general thought on St. Louis is that there’s great dirt, but what did you think?
Yeah, it’s good. It gets rutted, and it was shallow. The concrete was showing through in a few spots, but it’s hard. We’re on a 450, and there’s so much power in the bikes; it’s just what happens. It didn’t happen until late in the race, though, so that was good.
Everybody’s been calling you “The Diesel”, but I’m going to start calling you the “The Ice Man.” You’ve had a lot of laps under extreme pressure and you have not cracked. (laughs) Thanks again for your time, Ryan, and congrats on another great win.
Thank you, Chase.
