Photo by: Simon Cudby
Driven, self motivated, fast, tenacious, smooth, calculating, consistent and “The Diesel” are just some of the phrases thrown out to describe Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey. When you put all those words into one man, they equate to a six-time National Motocross and Supercross Champion. The man is as cordial and approachable as it gets off the track, but on the track, he is the epitome of a quiet assassin.
Nothing the #1 KTM does on the track leaps out at you as game-changing and he is far from the flashiest rider in the paddock, but there’s no denying he is one of the gnarliest men to ever throw his leg over a dirt bike. Ryan’s twenty-three 450SX wins—;8th overall on all-time 450SX wins list—is impressive, but what he does better than any man in the history of the sport: he stays healthy. Ryan’s start percentage in his 450SX career is 95% and his podium percentage is at 74% in the 450SX class. When you add that to his relationship with the fans and media, you have every team’s dream rider.
Last weekend at Anaheim, Ryan did not qualify on pole or even have the fastest lap in the main event, but he once again executed a perfect twenty-lap main and left round three with back-to-back wins and a thirteen-point lead in the 450SX Championship. After the race, we caught up to Ryan at about midnight in the pits to talk about his Anaheim 2 SX. Check out what the #1 had to say below.
Ryan, back-to-back wins now, that has to be a good feeling this early in the year. Talk about your day.
It was a good day, with practice going really well. We had to make some adjustments going into the practices before the night show, but I felt comfortable with the bike setup. The track was really tricky tonight, and long. Also, the heat race really helped us out tonight with getting a good start in the main event. We had the fastest heat race of the night, which gave us the first gate pick in the main. We were able to line up on a good gate with a good straight rut on the outside of the gate. There were a lot of gates that had ruts that were harsh.
Finding a nice straight rut is always nice.
Yeah, ours was real straight and smooth, so that was good. Ultimately, the start was really helpful. Davi [Millsaps] lead for a few laps, and I was able to pick up on some things he was doing and that was really nice. Once I was able to get into the lead, I was able to open up a little bit of a gap. Then it was all about just trying to hit my lines and hit my marks. And, it was nice to get another win. We work hard for that, so those are good.
How was it battling with Davi out there tonight? You put two pretty aggressive moves on him before getting around him. Aggression is definitely a new part of your game, and I like it.
I definitely wasn’t going to go in and hit him; I wasn’t definitely low enough. With Davi, it’s been a while since we’ve battled, so it was good. I was just trying to race the track, though. A lot of these guys are going good, so it’s even more important to be on top of our game. It’s tough, and it felt good. We try to execute our plan, get good starts, be there in the beginning and then just try to put in good laps.
How were those huge whoops for you tonight? They were by far the biggest whoops I’ve seen in a long while.
Yeah, the whoops were actually big. The good thing we had going for us tonight is there was a lot of moisture in the ground. The track never got too slick. It held a lot of traction.
You have a nice little point gap over the guys that were expected to battle you for the Championship. Obviously at round four, you’re not going to go into a points protection mode, but what’s your plan coming into each week? Will you take a third or a fifth if you’re not feeling it, or is it all about stacking wins right now?
I think the best way to put it is, we work hard to be in the position in we’re in. It’s great to be there and we want to build on that. It’s really early, there’s a lot of racing left and we really need to keep our focus on that—one day at a time. You don’t get to where we’re at thinking about round seventeen; you take it one race at a time.
Wee’re heading to Oakland now, and that’s more a East Coast style track. How do you feel on that dirt and your feeling heading in there?
It’s good, nice moisture, and I’m always really excited about that one.
There’s supposed to be mud there next week, and while I know we hear that every week and we seldom have muddy tracks come race time, do you practice SX in the mud ever just in case?
Yeah, more now today than I have in the past. When the track’s greasy at home now, I do practice in it. It’s one of my not so good areas that we really try to work on. You can develop a lot more comfort.
Thanks again as always for talking, and congrats on a great start to ’16.
Alright, brother, thank you.
