Ryan Dungey won his first race of the season last Saturday in Anaheim. He’d been steadily improving each weekend and looked to be very solid coming into the weekend. The biggest question I had entering the day was: Which Anaheim III will Dungey experience? What do I mean, you ask? Let’s take a look.
In the last five years, Anaheim III has been a roller coaster of results for the Dunge. In 2011, Dungey was in good position and his chain derailed just before the mechanics’ area. It was a freak failure, probably caused by a rock, but the net result was a DNF and a massive loss of points. The following year was a mixed bag as he rode to a ho-hum fourth-place finish. In 2013, however, he bounced back to win the main event. Furthermore, he had qualified in the very last spot through the LCQ! It was a very unexpected win coming from those circumstances. Moving on to 2014, he was right back in the depths of despair as a crash left him with a broken clutch perch and another costly DNF. That led us into 2015 and sparked my interest as to what this edition of the third Anaheim would bear for the Minnesota native.
True to form, it was feast or famine again. Luckily, this year was all feast, as he was the fastest rider every time he was on the racetrack. He was quickest in both timed qualifying sessions, which rarely happens for anyone, let alone Dungey. He won his heat race after displacing Mike Alessi, and then followed that up with a commanding win in the main event. He started in second position and quickly passed Blake Baggett, which was key for Dungey. He has often struggled to make passes when needed, but he was up for the task on Saturday. His ability to get to the front early was a nice surprise, but his knack for putting in fast, consistent laps is not. Once he found the lead, it was virtually game over. He dominated the day from start to finish.
His nickname is “The Diesel” for good reason: Once he gets warmed up and rolling, there isn’t much out there that will stop him. For the rest of these competitors, they better hope he didn’t just reach his operating temperature for the entire 2015 season. He isn’t a guy that makes mistakes or throws titles away. Being the “fastest guy” isn’t always Dungey’s forte but when it is, everyone else is racing for second.
