MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - With the 36th annual La Crescent Wine & Spirit Spring Creek National rapidly approaching, MX Sports Pro Racing announced today that Ryan Dungey, a four-time Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Champion from Belle Plaine, Minnesota, will be honored as the event's Grand Marshal on Saturday, July 21. Dungey will serve a vital role at the eighth round of the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, while also bringing attention to his upcoming St. Jude Ride & 5K Run charity event the following Saturday.
Dungey is most known for his racing success in a career that spanned from 2006-2017 and included 46 total race wins, 91 total podium finishes, and four championships across the 250 Class and 450 Class. He's the second-winningest 450 Class rider of all time and ranks third on the all-time combined wins list (250 Class & 450 Class). Ryan is also one of just 11 riders in American motocross history to win a national title in both divisions. Outside of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, Dungey has won the world's biggest professional motocross race, the FIM Motocross of Nations, three times and has a total of five AMA Supercross titles to his name. His success has also carried far off of the racetrack with back-to-back ESPY Awards for Best Male Action Sports Athlete, a feature in the ESPN The Magazine: Body Issue, and being the first motocross racer to have his own Wheaties cereal box.
In 2012, Dungey founded the St. Jude Ride & 5K Run charity event as a way to dedicate himself to the kids of St. Jude and their fight to eliminate cancer, just a few years after Ryan lost his grandmother to the disease. The 2018 event is set to take place on Saturday, June 28, at the Afton Apple Orchard in Hastings, Minnesota, and offers participants the chance to sign up for 20-, 40, or 60-mile bike rides, or a 5K run. The event has raised more than $700,000 since it was founded six years ago. This year, kids 17 and under who register (www.stjude.org/riderunmn) and raise $250 before Monday, July 16, will win a VIP ticket to the Spring Creek National and the special opportunity to meet and hangout with Dungey himself.
"Ryan is simply one of the best athletes our sport has ever seen, both on and off the track, and he's played a instrumental role in not only helping shape the sport into what it is today, but continuing to dedicate his time within the community," said Davey Coombs, President of MX Sports Pro Racing. "Naming him Grand Marshal of his home National felt like a fitting way to recognize all his contributions to the sport, and we're excited to bring all the attention we can to his annual event with St. Jude, which has made an incredible impact in the fight against cancer."
The Le Crescent Wine & Spirit Spring Creek National kicks off on Saturday, July 21, with a full slate of action featuring the most talented riders on the planet in the world's most prestigious off-road motorcycle racing championship. On-track activity begins at 9:00 a.m. ET with practice and qualifying, followed by opening ceremonies at 1:30 p.m. ET. Racing gets underway with a total of four motos across the 250 Class and 450 Class at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Broadcast coverage of the La Crescent Wine & Spirit Spring Creek National begins with first motos live on MAVTV at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET. The second motos will air via tape delay that same night on NBC Sports Network at 9 p.m. PT / 12 a.m. ET. Additionally, all of the action can be seen as it unfolds online via the "Pro Motocross Pass" on NBC Sports Gold.
