Photos by: Todd Gutierrez

Two weeks ago in Detroit, Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey scored his twenty-seventh straight podium and what we thought was his twenty-eighth 450SX main event win of his career, but those stats were short-lived. After going wire-to-wire for the win, the #1 became the first rider in Supercross history to have a win stripped away due to a penalty. According to the AMA, Ryan jumped on the red cross flag for the downed Jake Weimer and was given a two-position penalty and pushed back to third on the night.

After a penalty like that, some athletes might get frustrated and show that frustration in their next performance, but Ryan came out two weeks later in Santa Clara like it never happened. After qualifying third in timed qualifying and winning his heat race, the defending 450SX Champion came out in the main event and did what he always does: ride smooth, precise, consistent laps on his way to yet another win. RCH / Soaring Eagle / Suzuki’s Ken Roczen gave the Champ a race, but in the end, Ryan once again scored his sixth win of 2016. This time, he gets to keep it.

After the main event, I caught up with Ryan in the pits to talk about his race in Santa Clara and a little bit about the penalty two weeks ago. Like a true Champion, the #1 has moved on but still gave us a little insight.

Ryan has a 42 point lead with just four rounds left to race.
Ryan has a 42 point lead with just four rounds left to race.

Ryan, you got your sixth win of the year tonight. How are you feeling about Santa Clara?

It was good, a good night. It was good to get good practices in and good races. And, to get a heat race win was good. That really helped us out with a good gate pick for the main event lining up. I got off to a good start, got shuffled around there in the beginning and [Justin] Bogle got passed us. I was able to get back by him and from there I was trying to put in good consistent laps. Kenny [Roczen] was riding a good race. Obviously he was keeping the pressure on and I was trying to hit my lines, focus on myself and ride my laps. In the end, it worked out. It’s nice to get the win here in Santa Clara and the boys on the team and everybody did an awesome job tonight.

 

The track tonight was short and really rocky. What are your thoughts on the track?

Yeah, it was. It was a little shorter than normal—we were in the 43’s or 44’s [second laps]—but don’t be fooled either. It is a shorter race, but at the same time, the intensity is higher. Everyone knows it’s a shorter race, and they’re going to give it their all. You have to really open up well, and bring the intensity with you. It’s hard to make up time, but it’s easy to lose a lot of time. You can lose your rear or something like that. It was very tricky actually.

 

We weren’t able to talk to you last week about the penalty for jumping on the red cross flag. When did you find out about it?

Yeah, I don’t want to talk about that. It’s over. We’ve moved on.

Nobody we have talked to seems to agree  with the stripping of Dungey's win in Detroit.
Nobody we have talked to seems to agree with the stripping of Dungey’s win in Detroit.

So no vindication this week with the win, nothing like that?

Yeah, no. Right after the race, we found out about it. We tried to fight it or tried to appeal the best we could. We thought we were right in the scenario and felt we didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just the way it is, but that’s the rules and they apply to us all. We don’t deserve special attention, by any means, but it worked out in the end.

 

Tonight, Kenny was all over you in the early stages of the main event, but it looked like you were able to find another gear and get away.

Yeah, I actually felt that by the halfway mark I was able to settle in and I actually found a couple more lines. I was able to relax a little bit, and from there, I just really tried to focus on hitting my lines. I knew if I backed off Kenny was going to be right there. We came into some lappers pretty heavily, so that played a role for the both of us. I think evenly we got into the lappers. They slowed us up a little bit, but it was a good race.

 

You have the podium streak going and I don’t see that ending any time soon, but you can also eclipse your career best eight wins in a season by the end of the year. Obviously, last week’s penalty hurt that, but is that stuff even important to you?

Yeah, yeah, for sure, but at the same time, that’s not a main objective. We do want to win consistently, and if it adds up to be more, great. If not, we gave it our all. We try to keep the focus on the biggest picture and take it one race at a time. It would be great; I’m not going to lie, but one at a time.

Thanks for your time tonight, and congrats on number six of the year and your 28th-straight podium.

Thank you.

Author

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