Many racers have a strategy when trying to pass riders who are close to, if not better than, themselves. In a word, that strategy is pressure. Most believe that if you apply enough pressure to a rider, he will usually make a mistake. It’s tough enough to log perfect laps but adding someone to your rear wheel, making you second guess every line and ride defensively, raises the level of difficulty exponentially.
It was Chad Reed’s strategy with James Stewart for years. On nights he had James’ pace, he would simply sit behind James and wait for the mistake. Ricky Carmichael would often do the same to Stewart in some of their legendary battles. Cooper Webb has done it multiple times to riders in the 250SX West Region this season. It’s a tried and true method that requires patience and flawless execution but is lethal when perfected. That is, unless you run into a rider like Ryan Dungey.
Ken Roczen tried. He got the start he wanted and had Ryan Dungey in his sights. He pulled up to the rear tire of the defending champ and emptied his bag of tricks in hopes of forcing a mistake. He took awkward entry angles to create pressure in the turns and he tried to get creative with his line selection. Surely Dungey could see Roczen’s pit board and knew who was applying the pressure. Kenny did everything he could to force an error but unfortunately for him, the leader happened to be Ryan Dungey and well, he just doesn’t seem to make mistakes. In fact, I can only remember a handful of times in Dungey’s career that he's given up a lead. One of those times was this year in Toronto.
The key difference between Toronto and Santa Clara was in Kenny’s methodology and how he approached Dungey. In Toronto, Kenny attacked. He didn’t wait or hesitate. He made his moves quickly, decisively, and aggressively. He got to the front and took the race to Dungey. He didn’t exert patience and expect Dungey to hand it over. He was the aggressor. This is the only way to beat Ryan Dungey.
As we saw in Santa Clara, if you sit on Dungey’s wheel and wait for a mistake, you will be waiting for him to run out of fuel. Dungey is simply not susceptible to the same type of strategy that James Stewart is. With James, riders could wait and force the error. In many cases, James was his own worst enemy in this sense. He would throw races away by simply pushing past the limits. His 2006 AMA Supercross season was a perfect example. Often times he would be faster than Carmichael but an unforced error would negate any edge he had. Carmichael would win the AMA Supercross Championship even though many thought James was the faster of the two.
In 2016, Ryan Dungey can’t be beaten in the manner that Carmichael beat Stewart in 2006. It has to be taken by force. Ryan Villopoto knew this and mastered it in his career. Villopoto never waited on Dungey. He knew that striking hard and fast was his best weapon. It was a key difference in how the championships played out between 2011-2014. Villopoto went at Dungey’s weakness and exploited it.
Every rider has different strengths and weaknesses. For Dungey, his strength is his ability to string together seemingly endless perfect laps. He doesn’t make mistakes and doesn’t hand over easy points. If Ken Roczen wants to beat Ryan Dungey, he has to employ his method from Toronto. Attack on all fronts with everything you have. Empty the clip and hope it’s enough to make a pass. If it’s still not enough, at least every stone has been turned. But go into it knowing that patience with Dungey only nets defeat. Aggression is the only way to win the day.
