Photo by: Simon Cudby

Sometimes it is hard being the quiet assassin type. So far in 2015, Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey has secured the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross 450SX Championship (his second) and the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450MX Championship (his third), and heading into the 2015 Monster Energy Cup, you would barely know the #5 was racing.

Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart was making his return from an unprecedented sixteen-month suspension, and Chad Reed was making his debut on his new Monster Energy/Yamaha. The majority of the hype was surrounding the #7 and the #22. What really surprised me, though, is even after Ryan’s 2015 accomplishments and eight 2015 Supercross main event wins, just 15% of the public voted for Dungey to win the MEC in our poll while 40% voted for Stewart—who didn’t race a Supercross or motocross event all year. While this kind of thing might affect a lot of riders, it just seems to come with the territory for a workhorse like Dungey.

To be fair to the fans, the Monster Energy Cup has not always been overly kind to the multi-time National Champion. In 2011, Ryan was solid with a 3-2-2 night, but Ryan Villopoto was simply untouchable that night. In 2012, Dungey is best known for having to hand shift his bike in the air over the triple but still managed another second overall. In 2013, he was locked in a battle with RV2 and thought he won the first moto before figuring out he had missed the required Joker Lane. Dungey settled for his third-straight second overall on that night. In 2014. Ryan was breaking in a new KTM and simply did not look like himself. This would be his worst MEC finish: a fourth overall.

When the final three motos worth of points were tallied at this year’s Monster Energy Cup, neither Stewart nor Dungey won the 2015 Monster Energy Cup—that honor belonged to RCH/Suzuki’s Ken Roczen—but Ryan was, like he always is, right in the thick of the fight. In the end, Ryan went 2-5-2 on the night to claim his fourth second overall finish in the first five years of the event. I’m sure Ryan takes the second place finishes in stride, but you can also be sure he wants to win one of these before he calls it a career.

Behind all the girls, on the left, that's Ryan Dungey on the Monster Energy Cup podium. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Behind all the girls, on the left, that’s Ryan Dungey on the Monster Energy Cup podium. Photo by: Hoppenworld

After the race, I joined a few other journalists on the podium to talk to Ryan about his 2015 Monster Energy Cup, his upcoming off season and the event as a whole. Unlike the Dungey of a couple years ago, he gave us a candidly open, six-minute conversation on those subjects. This is a whole new Ryan Dungey, and he has become someone we really enjoy bench racing with. You can hear what Ryan had to say to us in his “Race Rewind” interview below.

Ryan, what was the stat yesterday in the press conference about how many second place finishes you’ve had?

Oh, three, and now we make it four. (laughs) It’s okay. This is a fun race. I definitely don’t enter a race I don’t intend to win, but considering the off season, the off time, resting and three weeks off of the bike, I’m happy with the way things are moving. It’s a good place to see where we’re at, and we’re making a little progress. It’s not Supercross, but it’s good to go racing and to keep that feel going. Now it’s another two months until we race again at Anaheim 1, but we’ll use this to build both myself and the physical, the mental side and the bike preparation as well.

 

You’re looking stronger on the bike. Does it feel that way to you too?

Yeah, it does. The intensity feels better and things are really firing much better. That’s with Aldon [Baker] and with a year under our belts. Now we can keep building. There’s definitely a lot more improvements to make, for sure, without a doubt. We come into this race, and I don’t think any of us are 100% peaking like we are at Anaheim 1, but it’ll be good to have a little more off time and really come out firing and swinging at Anaheim 1.

In main event two, Ryan Dungey (#5) was in a heated battle with Trey Canard (#41) and Davi Millsaps (#1). Photo by: Hoppenworld
Ryan Dungey (#5) was in a heated battles with Trey Canard (#41) and Davi Millsaps (#1) all night long. Photo by: Hoppenworld

You’ve had some really tough Monster Energy Cups in the past. Was it at least satisfying being in this one heading into the third main event?

Yeah, for sure. I knew the chances were good. Obviously Kenny was a couple of points ahead of us. Ken was riding good tonight, and second place is respectable too. I’m not down about it. I’m going to use this, not be bitter, but be better. I’ll use this to grow.

 

You didn’t forget any Joker Lanes this time. (laughs)

No, no, I had that in mind. I don’t think I can, or I hope I don’t think I can forget it after what happened [in 2013]. (laughs)

 

What about the sand section?

That was tricky. I think we all were sweating it a little bit jumping in, because there’s a bunch of lines. It’s squiggly, you kind of lose your balance, but if you landed with the gas on, it wasn’t too bad.

 

You’re coming into that with a lot of speed.

Yeah, you are. You’re coming in third gear tapped. You kind of have to let of the gas and brake. You let the brakes go and kind of coast off the face of that jump. It’s tricky. I was surprised to see the first guy do it, and then we all started doing it. It ended up being a lot faster. I think it was a good half of a second, because you kept your momentum.

By all accounts, the sand section was the gnarliest section on Saturday night. Riders launched 70-90 feet blind into the rolling sandbox. Photo by: Simon Cudby
By all accounts, the sand section was the gnarliest section on Saturday night. Riders launched 70-90 feet blind into the rolling sandbox. Photo by: Simon Cudby

How was the start this year with the elevation?

I think it was fun. It was something different. Obviously, behind the gate is super consistent. The tricky and challenging part was getting that rear tire to, as soon as you get across the gate, to drive down the backside. Obviously, Jason Anderson did a good job of that, winning all three holeshots—he won the truck. We were right there, I think in the top three or four every deal. It was good considering in practice our times were a little bit off. I knew that those guys were going all out, and it wasn’t something they were going to do for ten laps. I wasn’t stressing on it too much, but it’s never the best deal when you, I think I was thirteenth gate pick in the first moto.

 

Is there anything they do specifically for the Monster Energy Cup that you would take and use in the Monster Energy Supercross series?

It’s really kind of hard to say. You could call it a Supercross track, but it’s not a Supercross track. It’s more of a motocross mixture in it. It’s fast, the turns in Supercross are a bunch of 90s [degree turns], 180s and sometimes some different turns, but most of the times you have those rhythms and whoops, and all these things are missing. What I’ve noticed is, it’s one day, guys are going all out on effort and obviously there money is on the line. They’re going for it. It’s kind of a do-or-die situation, and if you make it, good. If you break, it’s not the end of the world either. It raises the intensity, but I think it also raises the confidence level in a lot of riders both in the 250 and 450 [classes].

 

What about the metal grate behind the starting gate? That could almost simplify stuff at a Supercross. If it’s consistent, you don’t have to worry about packing your gate and gate choice is a little simpler.

Yeah, it’s not going to be as crucial to get a good gate position. Sometimes it still will be to set yourself up for the turn but… It is more consistent, but I personally like the dirt for now. I think this was cool because it was consistent, and we drop down too. It was kind of cool. It reminded me of Anaheim 3 actually, and we won that race.

Ryan Dungey (right) finished 3rd overall in the Red Bull Straight Rhythm event last week, but he was the only rider to beat James Stewart (left) in a race. Photo by: Red Bull

Going forward, this off season is going to be a little different for you. Last year, you were getting married and stuff. This year, you go right into training. How’s that going to help you going into 2016?

I think I’ve had plenty of off season, plenty of off time; I feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I’m not going to lie, it was a little different when you sit out for five weeks and you have to get used to kind of relaxing. Then, you gotta come back to the line and you get that adrenaline, that pressure and pumping going. It’s a little uneasy at first, but then the first gate drops and you’re like, “Alright, I remember how to do this.”

 

Do these races help to have before going to Anaheim?

Yeah, I think it was good to get some sort of racing in after the big break I had. Like Red Bull Straight Rhythm last week—that’s not doing laps. This is closer to what we’re going to be doing. It gives you that feel, and you can kind of hang onto that until Anaheim 1 comes around and feed off of that.

 

Does a second place finish earn you like an In-N-Out Burger Double-Double or anything?

Nah.

 

I saw you looking around for Aldon. (laughs)

(laughs) No, honestly I’m really grateful for the check and to make the money. To get second is good, but this race is just so overblown out—it’s all about money. And, anytime I’ve ever done something for money, it backfires on me. (laughs) I’m just racing to race, and we ended up second, so it worked out.

 

Congrats on a great season, Ryan.

Thank you.

Author

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