3 on 3: Dungey and Cairoli Are In

Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say, and boy did we ever get a KTM Hail Mary type plan to salvage this 2022 campaign! Not only will Antonio Cairoli join the series for a minimum of the first few rounds, one of the winningest riders of all time, Ryan Dungey is coming out of retirement! Yes, you read that correctly, Ryan Dungey is returning from a multi-year hiatus to join the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. KTM is now saying Dungey will only race two races, but you’d have to imagine the option is there for more if this goes well. Same for Cairoli, I would think.

Red Bull KTM went to the desk drawer, found the panic button and smashed that sucker into oblivion. This isn’t pulling out all the stops, this is something far more incredible. Think about what KTM has effectively pulled off today. They have sent a nine-time world champ across the pond to join the American series, and resurrected the career of a former hero. We also hear KTM is shopping for an addition 250 rider for the motocross series alongside Max Vohland. To make this even wilder, we are still awaiting news of a potential Jeffrey Herlings appearance stateside. They went from “woe is me” to “whoa, we are back!” with this move. They will now grab every headline going into this summer’s series and stand a real chance to snag a title. I have recently spoken about the serious downturn this team had taken globally this year and while I imagine the logistics to pull these moves off were not easy, they have essentially reversed the tide. My (and the public’s) outlook for them has flipped in an instant which surely had to be a big motivating factor in going off the grid for this plan. KTM as an entity values winning above all else, they carry the Ready to Race tagline, which make the struggles of 2022 season weigh heavily on the team’s sentiment. Not anymore! They have new life, new hope, and all of the buzz. Kudos to everyone involved on both sides of the Atlantic for making this a go. Could you imagine if they also found a way to get Herlings healthy for Pala’s opener? My head might pop right off my shoulders. It’s on, folks! It’s going to be one hell of a summer.

Steve Matthes: Yeah, something was definitely up with Ryan Dungey a few weeks ago when I saw video of him riding and also heard that he was doing a lot of riding. I sent a text out and got back "testing for KTM" which made sense but now with this news, wow. Look, I've been on the record as saying these types of comebacks, whether it's Mark Barnett, Damon Bradshaw, or Mike Kiedrowski don't really work and I'm pretty sure this won’t either if you're looking for Dungey to be a consistent podium or race winning guy. Back to 2015 level? I would not expect that, but that’s okay. It's still a VERY cool story and will be great to see the #5 out there again to join the #222 Antonio Cairoli under the Red Bull KTM truck. Heck, Aaron Plessinger is going to have some serious knowledge there alongside him. What this also tells me is that Cooper Webb will not be racing the nationals. This is something I heard a month ago and couldn't really nail down someone who would go on record to tell me that. So, it’s not confirmed yet, but I think there's no way KTM is going to go with AP, Dungey, Cairoli, and Webb. So while I don't think either Dungey or Cairoli will be winners this summer, the Red Bull team will have some very interesting storylines happening, that's for sure.

Jason Weigandt: I just got ACL surgery yesterday and about 30 minutes after I left the hospital was in the car, Davey Coombs calls me with some crazy news. He said “We have heard from KTM that it’s happening” so I immediately assumed Jeffrey Herlings’ foot was all healed up and he was coming to race Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. Incredible!

No! This news was even more surprising and when Davey told me Ryan freaking Dungey was coming out of retirement to race, I assumed my pain meds had really kicked in. Lo and behold a press release came out from Lucas Oil Pro Motocross today confirming the news. Then KTM sent out its own PR…confirming Dungey was in for the first two rounds, just like the Antonio Cairoli news from last week.

Well, I’m not buying it. I think you will see Dungey for more than two rounds, but this is just a safe measure in case he doesn’t do well. We can easily assume Dungey has kept himself in shape and we’ve now learned that even age 32 doesn’t mean you can’t go fast on a dirt bike. However, you have to leave some wiggle room when you haven’t actually raced a motocross race since 2016. That’s six years! Maybe he struggles, says it was fun and heads home. I would not bet on it. I think Dungey does okay in the first few motos, and by okay, I mean top ten, and sees how much better he can get with more testing, more racing, more training, and more grinding. That’s the stuff that Ryan Dungey lives for and I can picture the addiction kicking right back in. I’m talking about Dungey, not my pain meds.