Photos by: Chase Yocom

In the first three rounds of the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, with HRC / Honda’s Ken Roczen in the field, Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey went 2-2-1 and he and Kenny were in a league of their own. The popular consensus after Kenny went out injured at Anaheim 2 was that the #1 would continue that trend and, without Kenny, begin to pad his career stats with more wins.

Instead, Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac and Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin caught fire, and over the next four rounds the #1 would go 3-2-4-3 and find himself getting hunted down and passed late in races by the #3 and the #25. 99% of the field would celebrate those results, but for Dungey, it was out of character. Even still, Dungey would head into round eight in Atlanta with a solid 16-point lead in the 450SX Championship.

In Atlanta last weekend, like in Minneapolis a week before, the tight and quickly deteriorating circuit would make the start more important than ever. Ryan, being the Champion he is, ripped the holeshot in the main event. With Eli buried around tenth and Marvin way back in 13th early in the race, Ryan set the pace from the front and slowly edged away from Blake Baggett in second. While Ryan rode clean consistent laps at the front, Tomac was living on the edge and closing on Ryan while carving through the field.

To the victor, comes the spoils.
To the victor, comes the spoils.

As the 20 minutes plus one lap wound down, though, the green bike was closing and closing fast, but he just did not have the time. Ryan would hang on for a 1.5 second win over Tomac and stretch his 450SX points lead to 25 points over Musquin and 27 points over Tomac. Tomac’s fastest lap was six-tenths of a second faster than Dungey’s and his average lap time was two-tenths faster despite him being in traffic while Ryan had a clean track, but starts are a huge part of the game at the moment.

After Ryan’s much needed win, he sat down and answered questions for the press in Atlanta.

Ryan Dungey, big victory. Your points lead now is 25, and you get the heat race win. You get the holeshot. They call it points racing, you got ‘um all. I just wanted to say, it looks like your riding tonight looked like it was more comfortable. Did you guys find anything on the bike this week?

Yeah, I mean little things. Little bits and pieces—nothing crazy. I got back to Florida and this was actually my first full week where I kind of got to chill out and that always helps. I got to ride with the guys at the track and it was nice. Things kind of slowed down a little bit for a change. I think the changes we made during the week really related to tonight and it really benefitted us. That was nice. It doesn’t always happen that way. The track was gone tonight. Like Eli said last weekend, it was survival. It was pretty nasty and rough. It was nice to get out front and open a little bit of a gap. I seen where Eli was, tried to manage it, hit my marks and get a win. So it was nice.

Ryan using every inch of the Atlanta circuit.
Ryan using every inch of the Atlanta circuit.

In your wish list for future tracks, is a wall jump followed by a sand section going to be on the list?

That was pretty nasty (laughs) It would have been better it we were doubling into the sand. You seen a guy roll over the top, and a lapper…he don’t know. It was like outdoors—it was crazy. I’ve still got sand everywhere (laughs).

 

When it does get down to the concrete is anything you guys can do to adjust or do you just find edges? Or do you move around?

That was interesting. There was coming across the mechanics area and doing the left-hand turn. I never changed my line because there was no rut to sit in so I just kept taking the line. I could feel my tire spinning but once I got through it… There were some shallow spots out there, for sure. That’s how it is. There’s no down time. Eighteen laps the 250s do. We’re doing 24, I think. Anyways, It’s just a lot. If you take 20 more riders and every lap is times 20, that’s 20 more passes. So like last week there was 26 laps, that’s 120 more passes. That’s just us. They had 19 laps—the 250s—that’s another 100 passes. The tracks are breaking down a lot. I feel like we need more time to do a little more fixing. We were going through the whoops, were skimming them all day and we’re jumping them at the end. There’s not enough time to do any work. The tracks are nasty. It really is, but it’s racing.

Ryan launching into the most hated sand section ever.
Ryan launching into the most hated sand section ever.

Have you had to almost change the way you ride because the tracks are breaking down? Does it almost change the way you manage the last few laps of a race?

A little bit. It’s not so get out front and try to find a smooth line. The first few races I’m searching for a smooth line and there’s not one. I kind of learned a little last week being behind Eli [Tomac]. Whatever line he’s in, he just mashes it. It don’t matter. Quit looking for a smooth line, ’cause there’s not one, you know. Just get out and wherever you’re at try to, and I searched around a little bit. I think we all try to find the best line and sometimes you don’t find the best line. But at least you know what you’re going into. You’re really trying to hunker down and go, even if it’s rough.

 

It’s been a little while since you had a win this season. Eli’s had some pretty good momentum going I believe the last three of four. How important was it for you right around the halfway mark to kind of halt his momentum and get another win?

These guys are going good, all year. Then Marvin [Musquin] gets a win there. The intensity’s there if you look at the lap times, Eli’s had us good on the practice times by a little here and there, but it’s tenths separating us. The tracks are really relatively basic. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just makes for close racing. So it’s really hard to get that break away. You have a tough go here and there. We got a bad start in Dallas and we got fourth still. So it wasn’t like they were disastrous races, they’re just a little bit off the front. You try to adjust and these guys almost better you. You can’t look at them as bad things. They’re competitors but they challenge you to be better, so try to take it in a positive and a positive feedback. Last week was tough to accept, but it’s like, what am I going to do? You’re either going to go forward and move forward and give it your best or you’re going to sit and have a pity party. We choose to move forward.

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.