After starting the outdoor season with a pair of second-place finishes, Dungey heads to Moto-X 338 on a five-round win streak.
Ryan Dungey (pictured at the Red Bud National last month) is hoping for another strong finish at Southwick this weekend.A risky switch to a manufacturer with an unproven track record stateside has paid major dividends for Ryan Dungey.
The 22-year-old rider from Minnesota traded Suzuki yellow for KTM orange, and the transition has been nearly seamless. Dungey heads into Saturday’s Southwick National with an 80-point lead in the 450 Class of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
After starting the outdoor season with a pair of second-place finishes, Dungey heads to Moto-X 338 on a five-round win streak. Succeeding early on in his new relationship with KTM, an Austrian bike maker that has dominated European motocross, has erased many of the doubts that insiders had regarding Dungey’s switch.
“It was a big risk,” Dungey said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Everyone had their thoughts, and this and that. To me, I thought it was a good fit.”
In an ironic twist, the second-place rider in the standings is Mike Alessi, who was KTM’s lead rider for several years until Dungey came aboard. Alessi was not giving the team the results it was hoping for, so it looked elsewhere.
KTM got its man in Dungey, who won the 2010 championships in both Supercross and Motocross.
“I think with any manufacturer, when they hire a rider, they hire you to win races and win championships,” Dungey said. “It was a goal of theirs to come here and have the same success (as in Europe).”
Southwick is a place where Dungey has made some memories in recent years. In 2010, he clinched the 450 Class championship with two races remaining. Last year’s event started strong, with a victory in the first moto, until things took a strange turn as the second moto approached.
Dungey’s mechanics had set the bike up for the moto but could not get it started in the pit area. The clock ticked toward the start, with Dungey waiting at the gate while the bike was still being worked on.
Just as the field took off to start the moto, Dungey’s mechanics came down the hill from the pits with the bike. Dungey quickly got on and hit the track just seconds before being lapped - which would have disqualified him.
What ensued was one of the greatest pieces of riding in recent memory. Starting last in the 40-bike field, nearly a lap behind the leaders, Dungey drove his tail off and finished seventh. The net result was losing only one point in the chase for the championship against eventual champion Ryan Villopoto.
“I just put my head down and tried to pick off as many guys as I could,” Dungey said. “As a kid, you say you never give up. That was just an example of that. I look back at that to this day.”
Unfortunately for Dungey, his best seasons have come with an asterisk in the minds of many. In 2010, Villopoto and former champion James Stewart missed the season with injuries. The same goes for 2012. Villopoto and Chad Reed have not raced this season, and Stewart has only competed in a few rounds.
Dungey would prefer to race against the best but acknowledges he’s only playing with the hand he’s dealt.
“We all push each other,” Dungey said. “It’s a bummer. It’s very unfortunate that those guys are hurt. I can’t control that. All I can do is go out and race. I take it as it goes, but a win’s a win.”