Ryan, similar story to your teammate. You had trouble in the heat race and had 13th gate pick for the main event, yet you pulled the holeshot. What was your focus like going up there to the starting line for that main event?
Ryan Dungey: I think the first thing was just if I could get a good gate. Pretty much behind and ahead of the gate, if you weren’t in that top five there really wasn’t any good ones. But I was able to find one right on the inside. It was super tacky. Not very deep, but just a lot of grip and not so rough after the gate. I was able to get off when the gate dropped. I drove really well and found myself right in the first turn first with, I think it was Cooper Webb. From there I just tried to get the triple out the rhythm and kind of start to break away. It was tough. All day I searched a little bit, I will say that. Then I had the heat race deal and everything that happened there, but got off to a good start [in the main event]. But even the main event was tricky. I felt good but my second half of the race definitely wasn’t as good as I like it, but with what happened and then seeing Ken’s incident, I knew the track could reach out and bite you. I had multiple close calls so I was like, “Man, do we keep going after it or do we be smart and tame it down a little bit?” So I decided to just kind of, let’s chill out. We’ve got plenty of room. I saw where Marvin was, I was gauging things. But overall with all the adversity and stuff that we had to face, I’m glad that we were able to come away with a win today—a hard-earned one.

Ryan, talk about the heat race. What was the problem with the bike? It looked like maybe throttle?
Dungey: Yeah, I honestly really don’t know what happened. I didn’t hit anything metal on metal. Just the throttle housing, the way I hit it or it hit the ground it busted so the lines were hanging out. The throttle would stick wide open. I had to pull off. I couldn’t salvage any of it. It wasn’t rideable at that point.

Even your start in the semi was bad. Did you feel like momentum wasn’t on your side? How did you get that fixed? Because then all of a sudden you actually got a really good start when it counted.
Dungey: Yeah. We had a change we made going in from practice to the heat. Nothing to do with the change I guess, thinking about it. But I got off to a decent start. [Blake] Baggett was on the outside of me and he had the jump on me. He came over and started locking up the brakes. Well, it’s him and the bale. I’m like, man, I really put on the binders. Somebody coming from the inside of me, and that wasn’t pretty. I made a change going into the semi and that wasn’t good. So we went the opposite way for the main event and hoped she works. It actually felt pretty good. I don’t think there was a perfect setup on this track today. But what helped with the benefit of that change though in the main I got off the gate good and it followed the ground.

Cole, obviously with the weather being the way it has been in California lately, scheduling has been an issue as far as training goes. How have you dealt with it and how do you maximize those days?
Seely: I think every single rider in Southern California right now is kind of trying to find the answer to that question. We took a trip out to Phoenix and did some riding out there last week. This week we just tried to get it in before the rain came. I mentioned this on the TV broadcast—I think we all owe the Dirt Wurx guys a huge thank you. The tracks have been absolutely raceable every single weekend. With the weather every time they say it’s going to be muddy, it’s going to be muddy, and I’m always like, no. I have total confidence in those guys. They’re really busting their butts getting this track dialed in and raceable for us.

Ryan, your start. You didn’t get the best jump but your line into the first turn was pretty sneaky. Was that something you saw before where you could sneak underneath like that?
Dungey: That was my only choice. I’d rather be on the inside and try to get the jump and come over on the guys than be on the outside where everybody’s going to start pushing. So it worked out good. I think it was Cooper [Webb] that was on the right side of me. I thought I had him and then here comes Cooper, he actually got the holeshot. But I’d rather be second than buried in the pack. But I got a good jump, that’s all.

It’s a pretty unforgiving sport. How hard is it to find that fine line of pushing but being able to be there for 17 rounds?
Dungey: That’s a tough one to answer. I think where I was at with outdoors you’re trying your best, you’re giving it your all, you make a mistake and sometimes it costs you. But then again you can’t ride scared out there, either. You’ve got to enjoy it a little bit. The pace is only getting faster. The riders are only getting better. The equipment … we’re going faster. Dirt Wurx did a great job and it’s not their fault, but the rain’s got to go somewhere in those transitions, so it creates a little bit of a soft spot. We saw it last week at San Diego. It’s nobody’s fault—it’s just Mother Nature. It’s just what happens. You just make a mistake. I don’t know. I try to do the best I can. When things at the end of the race were getting sketchy it’s like, I got to know that and try to adjust. But then in the scheme of things, like I was at Lakewood, Colorado, you’re going for it and you just make a mistake. You’re going that fast. Sometimes you save it and sometimes you don’t, but you hope and pray for health and safety for all the riders. It’s a tough question. You hate to see stuff like that happen tonight. I don’t sit here like, wow …[now I’m the points leader], I’m more like, I just hope Ken’s okay. I don’t wish that upon nobody. Especially the sport, we need him. We need a guy like that. So it’s unfortunate at times, but let’s hope he’s okay too. It’s not like he’s down and out. Hopefully he’s okay too.

Seely: I think Ryan’s really the most qualified to touch on that question. He’s the most consistent and even he struggles with that. So it’s tough. You can walk the track right now and it’s absolutely amazing that our bikes can make it through that kind of stuff. I don’t know. It’s a gamble for sure. Even the last two laps for me out there, I kind of backed it down and rode it in just because it was hectic. It’s tough. It’s part of the sport though.

Musquin: I knew what happened to Kenny on that triple. I got a bad kicker too for two laps in a row and then I switched my line. I did a different rhythm through there to avoid that specific takeoff. But yeah, we were rolling the section and going by Kenny for a couple laps and it’s hard. It’s hard to see because you see him laying down and not moving. It gets in your head. The rest of the lap you think about it. I was looking over the finish line and saw he was getting up. Also you never know—I thought we were going to get red flagged at one point. It’s tough to see anybody when he goes down. Track was really challenging. Like Ryan said, the bikes are better and we are practicing and training really hard trying to be better. Everybody wants to win and we are pushing so hard. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we get lucky and we don’t crash, and sometimes we do crash. Like I said, I tried to play it a little bit safer but still going fast and doing a different rhythm section. Hopefully Kenny is okay. Like Ryan said, we need a guy like that out here. It’s good for the sport, good racing.