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As I said in my last letter, I’m just a kid from Minnesota living a dream! I’ve said it before, but I don’t think I could describe it any better. What a better way to spend most of every day but riding motorcycles! And not just motorcycles, but factory Makita Suzuki RM-Z250s!
How quickly time passes. It seems just like yesterday that I was getting ready for Atlanta Supercross. And now I’m sitting here looking back at supercross and ahead to the outdoors.
First, I want to thank everyone at Makita Suzuki for first believing in me, and then for staying behind me in the middle of the season when I couldn’t seem to find a break or stay out of harms way. And although the win in Las Vegas was the biggest win of my career, I can look back at the other seven races and find positives in all of them.
Vegas was pretty crazy, with all the hype and stuff that surrounds the shootout. I was wearing new ’08 Answer gear, the Ernesto Fonseca F10 edition. It was really cool, especially since I’ve gotten to spend some time lately with Ernie. He’s such a great guy and I’m lucky to have him as a fellow Answer rider. He and Big E are tight and I hope to do well in the new F10 gear this summer!
Speaking of Vegas, I also want to thank everyone at Live Nation for producing another great season. They do an incredible job and pretty much don’t get the credit they deserve for all the behind the scenes work they do. I was fortunate to win the shootout, and the Toyota Tundra (thank you!), and also got to get up there and receive my trophy. I also got another award, the Golden Mic, at an awards banquet that was one of the coolest parties I’ve ever been to (I guess at 17 I haven’t been to too many parties LOL). Seeing RC give that retirement speech and James get his first AMA championship was pretty cool.
Hangtown is less than a week away and we’ve been pretty busy getting ready for the outdoors. The bike is really good and I’m looking forward to getting to some of the tracks that I’ve only seen on TV. I’m not big on predictions but I’ll only say that there is a ton of talent this season and I’m looking forward to going up against some of the best Lites riders in the world.
As I get ready to leave for Hangtown, I’m getting pretty pumped to go home to Minnesota for the summer. I’m staring at an empty apartment filled with boxes and bags that will be headed to Belle Plaine after the weekend. I can’t tell you how happy I’ll be to get home, eat mom’s cooking and hang out with my brothers and my dad. Sorta get back to normal. I’ve been living in a one bedroom apartment for the last six months, and while it was good to be in California to test and ride supercross, I’m really looking forward to going home to train and catch up with my family.
I want to wrap up (I’m not really burning up the keys on my Mac but I’m not too bad at typing) by saying thanks again to my sponsors: Makita Suzuki and Answer Racing. I also want to thank ONE Industries for the cool painted helmet that I ran in Vegas. I like the special paint jobs, especially when I win! Also a big thanks to Oakley and their rep Anthony Paggio, who somehow finds time to fit me in his schedule that include RC, James and Millsaps! I also want to send a shout out to Gaerne, and to let them know that I’ll be rocking the colored boots this summer (I didn’t break in their special pair in time for Vegas so check out my boots ‘cos I’ll be wearing some cool boots made special by Gaerne).
Rockstar, Nike 6.0, Asterisk and VP Racing Fuels all support me with the best products, and I want to thank them too. And last but not least, VRM for putting together my web site, www.ryandungey.com (sorry for the spam!), which I hope everyone enjoys!
Well that’s it for now. I hope to meet more and more of the fans at the track this summer. I think it will be a little easier to spend time at the outdoor tracks, but I know I can’t spend time with everyone. Thanks again for the support and keep supporting the sport.
God Bless!
Regards,
Ryan
