Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year or two, you are well aware that Ryan Dungey has taken firm control over the supercross and motocross world. Even though he won his first 450 supercross title in 2010, he was largely overshadowed by Ryan Villopoto’s run in the following four years. That time has come and gone, however. Dungey is the man to beat in this sport right now, plain and simple. His double championship season last year was impressive to say the least. He wrapped up the supercross crown with three races to spare and he ended the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship a full 100 points ahead of the defending champ, Ken Roczen. He rose to a new level that we hadn’t seen before from the likable Minnesotan. Four races into the 2016 campaign, I think he has gone to a level even higher than that. Let me explain.
Ryan Dungey has now undergone his first full off-season with Aldon Baker and is entering his second full season of racing under his tutelage. The important factor here, and the key point of this article, is that I believe Ryan has finally found the ability to implement one of Aldon’s most important strategies. That strategy is simple in theory but implementation is much more difficult. Basically, it’s this; start near the front and absolutely sprint away at the beginning of the race. Whilst some are recovering from poor starts and/or fiercely battling in the melee that is the opening laps of the main event, Baker pushes his guys to scamper away from that trap. The previous champ and another Baker disciple, Ryan Villopoto, had this down to a science. His ability to build a gap early in the race was a huge coup in his yearly title defense. For Dungey, this skill has taken time to hone.
In fact, Dungey was known for exactly the opposite. He routinely struggled to get up to speed and make quick, decisive passes in those early laps. Even last year, under his first few months with Baker, he hadn’t quite figured it out yet. He slowly improved in this area and now we are seeing him wield his newfound ability with fierce consequences for the rest of the field.
Check out the opening lap of the Phoenix Supercross from last year (above), where Dungey tries unsuccessfully to make a move on eventual race winner Eli Tomac. He'd get passed by Weston Peick as well, try unsuccessfully to pass Tomac, and then got back to fourth. He would only regain third from Peick with three laps to go.
Now check San Diego from just a few weeks ago. Dungey starts fifth and gets to third halfway through the first lap.
Here’s what I mean: In 2015 Ryan’s first lap position at the first four races (Anaheim, San Diego, Anaheim and Oakland) were 5-3-4-4. By the fourth lap, where he should be trying to move to the front, his position at those races was 6-4-3-5. In three out of the first four races, he had actually lost positions! That puts him in a much tougher spot for the remainder of the race.
Flash forward to this season’s first four races and we see a much different picture. So far we have been to Anaheim, San Diego, Anaheim and Oakland and his first lap positions have been 4-3-2-1. Much better that last year’s 5-3-4-4. Even more impressive, by the fourth lap he has crossed the line with a 4-1-1-1. Doing the math, his average position by the fourth lap in 2015 was 4.5 and his average position on that same lap in 2016 is 1.75. That is a huge change when you factor in trying to pass the likes of Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Chad Reed, etc. Not only is he starting closer to the front (4-3-2-1 compared to 2015’s 5-3-4-4), he is making quick work of whoever happens to be in front of him as well.
How Aldon Baker improves his rider’s fitness, skill set and mental edge is surely guarded and constantly tweaked. In this aspect though, the results are in black and white. He has taken a weakness and liability with Dungey—the inability to make the quick pass and position himself well early—and completely transformed him. What was once a weakness is now a strength, and now Ryan is the best in the business at that exact same tactic. He has his starting technique dialed in and he has developed his skill set on those opening laps. This strength displayed by an Aldon Baker trained rider is nothing new, but we are once again seeing the lethality of its implementation.
