Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey is rolling right now. Winner of three straight, and five of the last seven, Dungey has taken what seemed to be a wide-open championship by the jugular. We caught up with him after the race to ask more about his longest winning streak.
Racer X: Was that the roughest, nastiest one so far this year?
Ryan Dungey: Yeah, absolutely. As far as rough, yes, but rutted, very much so. They gave us a good tune-up going into the main event. That’s about the best the track’s been all day. Obviously it goes quick. I was able to get the parade lap down. Kind of knew this is where I’m going to hit my marks and hit them as best as I can and hope for the best. I started jumping through the whoops. They were definitely very sketchy to skip through them, so I was doing the 3-3-4. It wasn’t the fastest probably, but it was consistent.
Those things were really spaced out a little more than we’ve seen this year.
They definitely took a toll on a lot of riders throughout the night, practice, racing… Like Jeremy Martin. I feel bad. I almost feel like they should have maybe knocked them down a little bit more. At that point it just becomes you’re waiting for it at any moment for some guy to wreck. It’s kind of a bummer because they were so nasty, and we already learned from practice how bad they were, and the crashes that they could have maybe done a better job knocking them down. They might have been easier but it makes for better racing. All these guys, the racers, we want them for the long haul, the season. We need all of our riders.
What was the key in there? You seemed to get up front pretty quick.
Definitely the holeshot. The heat race, as you could see if you watched it, I got back in the guys and I couldn’t ride my lines. I was getting held up. And those guys respectfully were riding really good—no doubt—but when we’re all going this good it’s hard to make a pass happen like that. I had a couple bobbles and I got passed into fifth, had just gotten into fourth for the main event. Right away I’m like, look, on this gate I got to pick a spot that whether it’s outside or inside. I need to pick a spot that’s going to be the best, the smoothest that I can drive off the gate, and it will be up to me to execute that. Shorty beat us there. He’s been good at starts all year. But for us we were right behind him. I got the triple-double in the first rhythm lane and then the next rhythm lane I was able to triple-triple-quad and make the pass. Shorty was cool. He could have fought hard for it but he was clean and we were able to slide right by.
That got a little odd at the end when Eli’s in front of you. All of a sudden there’s a race going on.
They said he was right behind me for ten laps battling the second half. I knew somebody was there but I was more keeping my eyes on Seely and seeing where he was at, trying to gauge with that. Once I started slowing down the last two laps, making sure I hit everything right and playing it cool, that’s when I saw he came right by. And then he let me back by and we cruised to the finish together. Actually it was really respectful of him not to do anything crazy.
This is the first time you’ve ever won this many races in a row. Were you aware of that, and what’s got you on this streak? It seems like you’re just knocking these off.
It’s a lot of things. With coming into this year some changes; I’m working with Aldon Baker, which has been helpful. Being able to make the physical and the mental changes that I need to in order to perform. It’s bits and pieces, and I like that. I trust Aldon. I trust his program, and we work good together. That being said, we got a new bike coming into this year. That was hands down, they did a good job building it. And it’s a lot of fun to ride. Therefore, just everything put together and all the hard work coming in and throughout this year and experience, it’s a lot of things that add up. Whether we’re winning back to back more than we ever have or winning more than we ever have, I’ve just been taking it race by race, like I always do. It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and it’s important to pull yourself back and know tonight’s tonight, focus on today, and tomorrow will be tomorrow.
Is this the best we’ve seen you?
I’d like to say that, yes for sure, but I believe my better days are still up ahead. All we can do is continue to work hard and believe in it and keep fighting. There’s a lot of competition, and there has been for four or five years. It’s more critical than ever to be precise every weekend and hitting your marks and getting your starts and all that practice, practicing that to execute it on the race day.
How much involved in this deal is physical side and how much is mental side?
I think bottom line Aldon… First of all, coming in I’ve always tended to do my own thing. I thought Aldon was always great. I loved what he did. I respected him. I thought he was a great trainer always. But I always felt like there was something missing. When you’re doing stuff sometimes you over do it, sometimes that creates doubt in your mind. I think the biggest thing hands-down is just I put that trust and I gave that to Aldon. I trust him and his program and what he has to offer and that’s it. I do the riding and I do the training at 100% and when it’s done, it’s done. So I think there’s a lot more energy and focus going into race day versus spending all that time, “All right, what am I going to do Monday?” On Sunday I’m thinking about what I’m going to do every day of the week where it’s all laid out and I can do it efficiently and not think about it and I trust that.
You can actually shut it off.
Yeah, shut your mind off. With seventeen races, that thing’s running for seventeen rounds. If it’s running for seventeen weeks, 24/7 every day of the week, then it starts to wear on you. It’s important that you don’t over-think stuff.