By Chase Stallo, Jason Weigandt and Steve Matthes

Ryan Dungey, Red Bull KTM, 3rd in 450SX

Tonight you actually had to recover from a bad start and come through the pack, which you did more aggressively than last week. Was there any difference in this track or were you just more aggressive overall?
You’ve got to be aggressive but a track like this, the more you ride it harder the slower you actually go. So it was such a fine line. Once I was able to make the passes I was able to just kind of latch onto Villo and we fell into a groove. This track was so slippery and it was so… I don’t mean to have a bad attitude about it, but there weren’t many options for different lines out there. Everything funneled down into one good line. So I tried to switch things up. I went inside before the whoops, the double before the whoops, and that was about even. But Villo lost his rear coming out of the finish line corner after it and I ended up not being close enough to even get him, to capitalize on it. He just was solid. He rode a solid race and with that it’s hard to make passes.

You were doing a different line than what everybody else was in that rhythm lane coming down from the stands. What was your strategy there?
We lined it up on the Dartfish [video software program] today and they took Kenny, one lap he wheelied it and went over the table, and then another lap he kind of blitzed it and hit it like a whoop and jumped onto the table and off. It was really fast. I think I wasn’t maximizing how much time I could make up on it because I was just trying to do it clean every lap. I didn’t want to mess it up. It just felt pretty good through the whole race. I’d come down the hill and I’d actually get close. I’d make up a little bit of time and then it would stay about even through the rhythm. And then at the end there I just kind of double-singled out and went to the inside because that outside was so blown out.

Going forward are you changing anything, looking at things differently, or are you kind of trying to stay in a steady groove?
I got asked that on the podium and I’m 30 points down. Throwing away that race really hurt us. I can’t go through the weeks worrying how I’m going to make up 30 points; I just need to maximize every race I go to from here on out and hope for the best. I need to be consistent. Villopoto’s a strong guy and it’s hard to see that there’s going to be a mistake from him. But we’ve got to believe that things could go our way really fast too. It’s not impossible. As long as there’s a chance and the points [are] where we can still do it, then we’re going to push for it. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t then it just wasn’t meant to be and we’ll go on to next year and we’ll try again. I really want to win this supercross championship, especially since I did it once. I want to back that up. That’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now and I’ve just come up short each year.

Was it difficult finding a setup today on this track? It seems like each week the guy that does the best is the team that finds that setup. Is that how it is?
For sure, if you can come to a race and your bike’s feeling right on par right from the beginning and then you make a couple of minor adjustments, it’s always good to get out there and you know you’re in the ballpark. Today we felt that way. It got a little choppy and harsh and we ended up slowing the rebound down a little bit on the front. Didn’t even really touch the rear, so only one change all day. By the time we got to the main event with how choppy and slippery it was, I think the guys did a really damn good job. I was really happy with the bike. We got some stuff down the works that we’re trying to get a little better with suspension, everybody is. So hopefully we can get a little bit more ahead of that curve as we go into the next races. That’ll really help us.

Are you looking at it as I’m going into every week where I need to win?
Absolutely. It’s a must now. I know we’ve got one win but I think it’s been good to be consistently on the podium. A couple guys have got hurt but it’s still a deep field out there. It’s more chaotic too with the race schedule and the four-lap heat races. Everybody seems to be going wild out there. It’s even harder now. The intensity’s higher and it’s just (higher) every year. For me, I felt like I’ve done a good job of positioning myself and getting good starts and being there every single week. If I’m not winning at least we’re top three, and that’s good, too.

Adding the semis in, is that tearing the track up more?
Yeah, it’s more track time. I think this track was going to go whether there were semis, a little bit less racing or not. I couldn’t believe how slippery it was. It blows my mind how many tracks this year have been that slippery. It’s kind of turning into throttle control and whoever can ride that slippery stuff the best. It’s unreal.

What would you attribute that to?
I don’t know. It comes from it being dry. I think the Monster Trucks ride the same dirt we do. And not only that but on top of that they leave it baking in the sun for a whole week out in California and that doesn’t help it. The base is already laid down for a whole week. But I’m not a track builder either. I bet it’s tough and they spend a lot of money with the equipment and man-hours to build that stuff, so I don’t really know. I never remember a year it being that slippery, especially like a Phoenix. You know it’s going to be slippery and it’s just like unbelievable icy feeling. – Chase Stallo