Roger DeCoster (left) and Ryan Dungey (right) have now won seven National Championships together. Photo: Hoppenworld
Heading into the 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, the 450SX Championship was once again considered wide open. With a new crop of rookies, a young group of up-and-coming superstars and a couple of two-time 450SX champions trying to reclaim the spot back from Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey, it looked like it would be a tough ask for Dungey to repeat. Here we are, though, sixteen rounds later and the quiet Minnesota native is once again hoisting a Supercross championship trophy over his head. Ryan Dungey is your 2016 450SX AMA and FIM Supercross Champion.
It was a bittersweet—heavy on the sweet side—that saw Ryan win his first-ever back-to-back championships, but in the same night, his all time record of thirty-one podiums in a row came to an end with a fourth in the main event. After the race, Ryan and his team manager Roger DeCoster—better known as “The Man”—got together for a championship interview with a few of us from the Supercross press. Check out what Ryan and Roger had to say after their championship night below.
Ryan, it was weird to see you fist pumping at the end of your podium streak, but there was a bigger picture. Talk about the Championship and what the year was like.
Ryan Dungey: The goal from the very beginning coming into this year was obviously to defend another title. I was able to win last year, and I wanted to repeat it and back it up again. It was going to be a challenge that I hadn’t done before; I hadn’t consistently won. That was the first goal we started chasing, but then came the preparation and getting ready for the season. As the season started, Anaheim 1 was a little rough, but right away we were able to start gathering some wins consistently and get on the podium, which was good. Obviously fourth place tonight isn’t the goal—the goal was the Championship—but the podium streak, I was definitely going after Cole Seely just to try to get on the podium. A lot of people got to remember that it’s been a fight. Mentally, battling week in and week out, a lot of riders have been challenging us, different riders across the whole season.
Other riders, the pressure’s kind of off and they can go out and ride the way they want to. Not that the pressure’s building up for us tonight and that’s why we got fourth. I definitely gave it my best and did what I could, but I wasn’t going to do anything stupid either. I was going to race hard and get to the front as best as I could. Like I said, the goal was to get the Championship. It’s nice to be able to have a little cushion to wrap it up one round early. It was consistent across the board the whole season. Fourth place, if that’s our worst finish up until round 16, I don’t think that’s that bad, but at the same time, the accomplishment of the Championship being done is nice, and it’s good to have that done. Now we can go to Vegas and move into outdoors and really focus on what lies ahead too. You want to win the Championship, keeping the focus on the practice during the week, on myself at the races and trying to execute the plan of attack that we have. The Championship weighs on you. You want to win and you want to wrap it up, but I knew I had to focus on right here, right now. It’s good to have it wrapped up.
This is now your third Championship and I know you’re going to hear this question a lot, but as you get older, how does this rank against the others you’ve won?
Ryan Dungey: I would say the sweetest was ’15 and ’16. Last year, getting the first Supercross championship with KTM was big, but this one even has its own good points. I feel like we were stronger this year and we were able to win more races consistently. We were battling for a winning position every single race right from the beginning, so that was encouraging. I mean, jeez, every championship is sweet in itself. The first one was awesome because it was 2010 and my first one. It was my rookie year. The second one was with KTM. It took some years to get it, but we got her last year. Then to be able to defend it [was great]. Each one has their own exciting points and meaning.
You have one more milestone now. You’re at eight wins in 2016. The ninth win would be a career high for you. How important is that maybe going into Vegas? Is it something to think about?
Ryan Dungey: For sure. It would definitely be nice to cap the season off with a win, and we’re going to do our best to do that. It’s also encouraging to know that we have won nine already. We just got docked that one race which brings it to eight, but in the records books speaking-wise, it’d be nice to get nine—not for the record books, but for me personally. The thing I don’t underestimate is each race’s importance, too. Each win is also important.
Roger, compare 2015 Ryan Dungey to 2016 Ryan Dungey.
Roger DeCoster:He definitely made a lot of big steps, I feel. He has gotten better every year. At the beginning of the year, it’s always really tough because everybody, their hopes are at 100 percent or more. Ryan was strong from the very beginning and carried it all the way through. To be this consistent the way he has been, that takes a lot of preparation and dedication and staying focused through time, you know. It’s easier when you can relax a little bit in the middle of the season and then come back, but he has been there every race, every race. Even in the last few weeks, he battled hard with Kenny when he could have followed and still be fine in the Championship points. I feel that this is the best Ryan Dungey we have had.
Roger, you’ve won this title a lot with various teams you’ve worked for. How is this guy compared to other guys you’ve worked with? As far as how hard he works and every single detail you guys work on?
Roger DeCoster: I think I have to rank him number one as far as the dedication, and day in and day out. [Jeremy] McGrath was awesome. Ricky [Carmichael] was awesome. His dedication [Ryan Dungey] that he has at every race, every day of the week, is really exceptional.
You were mentioning earlier in the year about coming into the season strong. Guys have come on strong late in the season now, but you were ready from the start. How hard is that, ’cause that stuff is happening October, November, December. How hard is it to get that stuff right at that time of year?
Ryan Dungey: I think, like Roger said, last year we kind of started behind a little bit and it was by round five we got the points lead, and that worked out to our advantage. From there, confidence built and we were able to build on that lead. This year, right away at round two, we were in the points lead. That was the deal. We wanted to build on that—obviously consistency—and throughout the whole season it was tough. It’s not like we could relax. Yes, we could relax tonight and just roll around and get 14th, but I didn’t want to do that. Like Roger said, it’s one thing when you’re not in the points. You can kind of take a step back and regroup, then come back and make a full swing, but for me, it was like week in and week out—and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The goal is to get better. Having Aldon [Baker] for the training side, I didn’t have to worry about any of that stuff. The work was being put in, but at the practice tracks, there’s pressure without the race stress. We have Marvin [Musquin] and Jason [Anderson], so it’s a battle at the practice track, but then you come to the race and it’s a battle as well. I feel like this season I was able to kind of find out more about myself, too—times where I felt challenged, where I felt tired and I was trying to find that motivation. I had to really dig deep. I don’t want to say, “I”, but I just found myself in situations where I had to find that deep desire within me to go out and keep doing it. In the end, you prove a lot to yourself. You win another race and another championship. The testing went good in the off season. The preparation went good. We’re healthy, and there’s a lot of little things that go into this day.
Roger DeCoster: A lot work, a lot of discipline—five or six months, day in and day out—goes into it. I know how much this guy likes to eat. (laughs) We go to dinner together. Aldon has him on this program. He can only eat so much, and he’s always hungry. (laughs) You have to protect the plate a little bit.
I think people forget. We see you on weekends doing well, but when you’re the guy everyone’s targeting every hour of every day, every week. You can’t have a bad day even on Tuesday.
Ryan Dungey: Right, and that’s the thing. There’s so much riding during the week. The preparation, the focus, it has to be there; you can’t afford to be tired. We all find ourselves tired from the training and stuff, but you can’t afford to lose your focus a little bit because it will bite you out there on the track. It’s discipline: October, November, December, and mainly November and December. I’ve got to thank Jason and Marvin, because it was a battle. They come down to test, and there were times when they were faster or I was faster, but it was a battle every single time we got out on the track. It was fun. When we got to the race, we had already experienced that pressure from chasing and from somebody pushing. It’s a lot of maintenance, a lot of riding, but the biggest thing is keeping the perspective, the enjoyment. Roger’s been really good with helping me. I don’t have to do this, I get to do this, and we get paid to do what we love, both of us. Not that it’s about the money; I’ve never done it for the money. It’s more about the passion and the enjoyment and keeping the fun and the love of the sport. And not being afraid to fail. There are a lot of points in my career that I was struggling. I do believe there are still a lot more better days ahead of us, better years too. We’ll keep trying to build.
In the dream scenario, how many more years do you want to do this?
Ryan Dungey: Right now, just one contract at a time. But as long as I’m in it at 100 percent and I can race and battle at the top, then I’ll be here.
 
How about you, Roger? How many years?
Roger DeCoster: At least as long as he rides!
Is there going to be a celebratory meal? Can you go nuts one time?
Ryan Dungey: Oh, yeah. Got to let loose a little bit. They’ve got something planned for us tonight. We’ll have some fun with the team.
Roger DeCoster: He gets a couple Oreos today. [Laughs]
