After Ken Roczen crashed out of the second of three main events at the Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas, the battle for the overall would come down to the final laps of the final moto. Eli Tomac’s slim points lead was nearly gone due to a bad start, and Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey and Marvin Musquin were trying to stay up front and hold his charge at bay.
Tomac, of Monster Energy Kawasaki, managed to salvage a fourth, and his 2-1-4 scores just edged Dungey’s 3-2-3, and Musquin’s 4-3-2. The three talked together at the post-race press conference.
Racer X: First off, let’s talk about that third main event, Eli. You were sitting in the driver’s seat with two good and consistent finishes, and all you had to do was get a good start and you didn’t. What was going through your head?
Eli Tomac: Yeah, I was like, You gotta be kidding me! Going into that first turn there was some bumping and bar-banging, and at that point I was already pretty buried. Going into the big rhythm section I think [Chad] Reed was down in there and I was thinking about where Ryan [Dungey] and even Marvin [Musquin] was because I was so buried. I never saw Ryan so I was like, I think I have to worry about Marvin at this point. Then I looked up and Ryan was right there! I was like, Shoot, I might blow this right now! But luckily we were able to get up to him and battle. Those last two laps were pretty nerve wracking with the Joker Lane and getting pretty close to Marvin coming out of it. With Ryan passing me back, it was intense.
Marvin, you had a good night tonight and you made what I thought was one of the smartest moves by taking the Joker Lane with two laps to go. It worked out to your advantage. What did you think about doing that?
Marvin Musquin: Yeah, it worked out. I was behind [Ken] Roczen and I was really happy with the way I was riding and I was like, Okay, it’s time to hit the Joker Lane. Then I saw Roczen start to move to the right a little bit in the rhythm section and I thought, Oh man, he’s going at the same time! It was too late, I was already on the right side, so I went for it. I wanted to do it a lap ahead of those guys and try to go as fast as I could on the very last lap and try to stay ahead of those guys. It’s a lot of fun, very intense, and I went through the Joker Lane really quickly. I thought I’d get second and I thought Tomac was between me and Ryan so I thought I’d get second overall, but Ryan got around him and I ended up third. But man, it was a lot of fun and I’m really happy to have ended up on the box anyway.
Ryan, your second race back and you jumped right into the hornet’s nest. It was about as intense as it could possibly get out there. How do you feel?
Ryan Dungey: I felt good. Coming down to the last race we wanted to win, but I didn’t get a good start either. I thought, Well at least Eli’s back here with us. I got by him in the carnage and knew I had to pass as many people as I could. The more people I could pick off the more he was going to have to come through. I did my best but he did a good job coming through the pack. The guys rode good and we gave it a fight. We raced to the end; it was a good race.
Eli, you had a front row seat for Ken Roczen’s crash. Did you see it coming or was it all of a sudden?
Tomac: It was pretty sudden. I was coming out of the corner and next thing you know, as I was going over that second triple, he was flipping over his bars. I had a front-row seat for it, but I didn’t see a whole lot other than his rear fender going up and over. He’s pretty lucky with the outcome of that crash.
Eli, in that last main when the guys in front of you took the Joker Lane, you kind of looked over checking what they were doing. What was going through your head at that point?
Tomac: I think I looked over because I didn’t think I had seen the white flag yet. They both went in and I was looking at the laps. I was like, Did I miss it?
Ryan, Eli said when he came off the gate he spun on that metal. Did you have that same problem?
Dungey: Yeah, I came off good but when I tried to put the power to the ground I spun as well. It’s tricky. You could save your tire if you didn’t spin and get pure traction—you’re spinning all the way down and it takes the edge off the knobbies and you lose some grip. I spun pretty bad.
Ryan, you haven’t had many injuries in your career. This is probably the first major one. What’s it like coming back and trying to get back in the groove?
Dungey: You know, these guys are racing all summer long. Eli experienced it last year too. When they’re racing every single weekend … that’s why a supercross-only deal isn’t ideal in my opinion. All those other riders are racing outdoors and getting that race experience, they’re on the gate every weekend. When you don’t experience that for a while it’s a little bit different jumping back into it with nerves and stuff. Just getting through this race was good and the time off was good as well. Thankfully I don’t have any side effects and I can get back to racing. It’s never fun to be hurt, it’s a bummer to watch these guys every weekend when you’re not racing. It was good to get my feet wet again and start getting things ready for next season.
Did you have a set lap you were going to take the Joker Lane, or was it dependent on what the other guys did?
Dungey: I was just going to go on the last lap. I knew Marvin went and I knew where he was. I knew if he beat me by two points he’d get third, and I knew Eli had to take it [the Joker Lane] as well. I was kind of hoping you were going to blow it! [Looks over at Tomac and laughs] I’ve done that! I was trying to put the pressure on because if he was thinking about me he wouldn’t be thinking about the Joker Lane, but he was spot on.
Tomac: Most of the time I think the guys are going to take it on that eighth or ninth lap.
What was it like going from Germany last week for the SMX Cup and coming back for this race? Did you have any jetlag?
Dungey: I was pretty good in the beginning. Going over there was pretty good. We were racing at 10:30 at night, which is a nine-hour difference. It was kind of a change but we adapted well. I struggled Monday and Tuesday though, so we took it easy. We rode Wednesday and Thursday and tonight I was fine. Once you get over that it doesn’t disrupt you too much.
Musquin: Like Ryan said, Monday and Tuesday were pretty easy and mellow and no riding. We rode Wednesday and Thursday getting ready for the weekend. Flying all the way from Germany, coming back, then we have to race Saturday for the Monster Cup, that’s a lot of time changes and jetlag. But in the end it worked out really good. We’re here and we’re on the podium so we did okay I’d say. I’m really happy with the way it worked.
Ryan, can you talk a little bit about what you were doing yesterday?
Dungey: Yeah, I got to go up in an F-15 fighter jet as a passenger in the back with a pilot named John Jackal. I don’t know what to say about it, it was an amazing experience. I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to handle it. When you’re on the ground it’s one thing, but when this thing starts turning upside down and everything … it was pretty cool. We took off and were climbing straight up and our cap was 18,000 feet and he flips over and we’re flying upside down! It’s unbelievable. The machine just blows my mind how it can cut through the air. I got to control it too. He gave me the controller, what do you call it, the stick? And to the millimeter it was amazing. He let me play with the throttle too. We basically did a big loop. I was pulling back, and you don’t know, it feels like you’re going straight up. Then he was like, ‘Afterburners!’ So I gave it full throttle because we were starting to fall. Came flying around and started heading downward wide open, and that’s when he took over! We pulled so many Gs right there I started to black out. We pulled seven Gs (seven times the pull of gravity) at the max in the turns and stuff, and he did all kinds of cool things. It was just amazing. I never thought I’d get the opportunity to do that, and I’m very thankful to the U.S. Air Force for letting me do that. I could have gotten right out the airplane and fell right on the tarmac and taken a nap. I was sweating, I about puked, and I never knew it could be so demanding. I got a whole new respect for them. It probably wasn’t the best thing to do before a race, but it was just a one-off opportunity and I couldn’t pass that up.
At the end of that start straight, when you’re all bunched together and you’re going 60 or 70 mph, what’s that like? How do you handle that?
Tomac: It looks huge and it looks kind of sketchy and dangerous, but for the most part those long starts kind of string guys out so we don’t all get there at the same time. That’s the good thing about long starts. Even though you’re going really fast, not everyone gets there at the same time. It wasn’t too bad or sketchy.
Dungey: I made the mistake of watching the amateur race right before and I was like, Why am I watching this? I think it was [Mitchell] Falk, and he went flying! That’s kind of the downfall of a start like that, but Eli is right.
Musquin: I wasn’t looking forward to hitting someone going downhill or something, but actually it worked out really good. It was fun. I was looking forward to some holeshots but it didn’t work out today. It was fun anyway, everyone was safe, and it was good for the fans I think.
Eli, the rhythm after the first turn, onto the table sometimes and doubling through other times. Was it tough to be consistent through there?
Tomac: That was a struggle for me in the first moto. I was really battling there. It was a little wetter in that first moto. In practice, I was kind of carrying a wheelie over it and I was trying to do that but just wasn’t getting the drive. I felt like a total dork there. At least later on I cleaned it up a little bit.
Eli, it’s been a really long season for you and now you’re finally into the off-season and $100,000 richer. What are you going to do? You going hunting?
Tomac: [Laughs] Everyone thinks I’m buying guns and going hunting. I probably will. [Laughs] We’ll take a little time off here, but shoot, before you know it you’re back into the grind for Anaheim 1.
Why’d you stop doing that triple-triple-triple-triple?
Tomac: It was fun, it looked cool, and it was big, but it wasn’t any faster. That last jump was pretty heavy on the landing too, I was barely clearing it. It wasn’t worth it and I was losing time in the corner before it setting up the triple. You wouldn’t think it but doubling to get into the triple combo was better.
