Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey and Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac are in a heated battle for the 2017 450SX Monster Energy Supercross Championship, and it was a foregone conclusion that Ryan’s Red Bull / KTM teammate Marvin Musquin could become a factor in helping Ryan if the chance arose. That chance arose in East Rutherford, and Marvin did what any good friend and teammate would do in his position: he moved over.

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With Dungey leading and Tomac buried in the pack after a crash while leading, Marvin surprised everyone by passing Dungey for the lead and taking three points away from the #1, but you still knew, despite Marvin obviously having the pace to win, it was not going to finish that way. For the next ten minutes, it was like life at the Baker’s Factory training facility with Marvin, Ryan and their other 450 training partner Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson 1-2-3, but with a lap to go, Marvin made the uncharacteristic, goofy mistake we all saw coming and Ryan went by for the win.

Team tactics have been going on in the sport since the beginning, and I will save the long argument on whether it is good or bad for the sport for another article. The bottom line is that teams spend a lot of money putting themselves in positions to win titles, and if one of their riders is in a position to make it easier on the other, he will make it easier almost every time. Or—like in the instance of Jean Michel-Bayle refusing to participate in team tactics back in 1990—they might park your bike for the day.

For a rider like Musquin, who has fought hard for everything he has earned in his life, it could not have been easy to let this win get away.

After Marvin’s controversial second place finish in East Rutherford, I caught up with him to talk about his race, his new contract extension with KTM, the team tactic question and more.

Marvin, second place tonight in East Rutherford, but some would argue you were the best guy. How are you feeling about tonight overall?

Overall, it’s awesome to get in the position behind the Champ and being able to pass him — and to know I’m capable of getting around him is an awesome feeling. My start was actually pretty good. I wish my first turn was better, but [Chad] Reed got a great start from the outside, so I kind of had to back it off a little bit to slow down in the first turn. This is really important; if you want to be on the podium, you have to be up there. It took me a little bit to get going. Ryan was in front of me and I wanted to pass him, but at the same time, there were a lot of chances to hit him and make him crash. (laughs) Ryan is my teammate at KTM and we work hard to win championships, so I didn’t want to do a bad mistake for him. Then I kind of got lucky. Those guys [Jason Anderson and Eli Tomac] made mistakes, but who knows if Eli would have been able to bring that intensity for the whole time. It was hard to push on that track.

 

Yeah, the track bit its fair share of riders tonight.

Yeah, if you pushed too hard, those ruts would catch you. I was riding smart and smooth and really, really relaxed in my head. I’m really happy about it. We were first and second, and I’m like, “Yeah, I can get around him,” and I showed I could.

 

You looked like you honestly had a lot more speed than Ryan tonight. It reminded me of when you get someone faster than you to get behind and push you on a practice day. You were that faster friend today. You had that kind of speed today.

Yeah, that’s true. It’s an awesome feeling. Thanks. (laughs) Being behind someone and knowing you’re faster is a good feeling. I saw Ryan and I didn’t expect to pass him on the start—on the big sweeper—but actually he said after the race that he let me by because he was not very comfortable. Then he saw some of my lines and was following me and got better.

Whether you like what happened on Saturday night or not, Eli Tomac had the lead and in the end had nothing for Marvin Musquin (left) and Ryan Dungey (right) on Saturday night.

What about this track made it a Marvin Musquin track? You were fastest in both the qualifying sessions in the morning, won your heat race and probably should have won the main. I know it had ruts and you do well in ruts, but this was different. You looked extremely comfortable out there.

Yeah, ruts, really tight turns—you have to turn the bike really quick—and good lines. Before the main they fixed some of the jumps and it was a good thing they did. (laughs) It would have been really dangerous, like the first rhythm; thank you to Dirt Wurx for working on those ruts. Because off the start while you’re in the pack, you don’t want to go through that with ruts. They did a good job, but the ruts came back after a few laps. Also the two big triples, the landings… I don’t know if they didn’t have enough dirt, but the landings were really low for a big triple like that. You go super high, but you are landing hard. I wish they could be nicer landings, so it was a little sketchy, but at the end. I like this track.

 

It was just announced that you are signed with KTM now through 2019. It has to be a good feeling being locked in for two more seasons.

It feels really nice. KTM has been behind me for eight years since they hired me away from the private team NGS / Honda. It was awesome. We have great memories and tough memories, too, to get to KTM because I switched in the middle of the year with Pit Bierer and all those guys in Austria. Signing to come to America was my dream. We had some tough times and some injuries, but in the end, I was able to get a championship on the 250, and now we’re showing good things on 450’s. That’s awesome. For sure we’re going in a good direction.

 

Ten podiums this season with one race still to go. That is a big year for you.

That’s important, you know. I’m definitely pretty far back from the leaders in the championship—I’m third—but it’s important to get some wins and podiums. It’s been a good season.

Marvin and his wife, Mathilde, are seldom without a smile on their faces.

With the way the race played out tonight, the question of team tactics came up in the press conference. Is that a tough question to answer?

Oh, for sure. For sure you would think about it because I was ahead and Ryan won.

 

The cross rut mistake that you made that allowed Ryan to get by was kind of a goofy mistake for you. (laughs)

Yeah, I know, but that’s just the way it is.

Photos: Courtesy of KTM

Author

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