Welcome to Racerhead, on what feels more like April 1 than April 29. Seriously, who had a Ryan Dungey Comeback on their bingo card? The news that the eight-time AMA Supercross/Pro Motocross Champion was unretiring in order to compete in at least the first couple rounds of the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship seemed like some kind of prank on motocross fans everywhere, and particularly KTM fans, who haven’t exactly been having the best year after seeing Cooper Webb and Jeffrey Herlings win the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross and MXGP titles, respectively. So far this year Webb’s been a bit off and Herlings has been sidelined with a fractured ankle. Now, so far in ’22, the only 450 class success they’ve had anywhere has been the veteran Marvin Musquin’s win at the St. Louis SX. And with both Musquin and Webb not lining up for outdoor motocross this summer, sole 250 class rider Max Vohland hurt, as well as the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-KTM-WPS team absent completely, it seemed like we weren’t going to be seeing much orange this summer.

But then in the course of eight days we see Antonio Cairoli’s posts about coming to America for at least the start of the outdoor nationals, and now Ryan Dungey holding up his hand after five years and saying, “Put me in, Roger!” It’s a really cool development for everyone, especially KTM fans. I knew the Cairoli bit was brewing since last September when Antonio told Racer X’s own Jason Weigandt that he wanted to come and do a few races in America now that he was retiring as a full-time MXGP rider after winning nine FIM world titles (second only to Stefan Everts on the all-time list). Weege even called from Italy to tell me Cairoli was coming and wanted to know if #222 would be available. But then when Herlings got hurt over the winter, I thought maybe Jeffrey might be the one coming over, not Antonio. Unfortunately, Herlings’ heel injury is still problematic, and it seems less than likely that we see him on any track, anywhere, at least not anytime soon. And then last week I got a text from Ian Harrison, the manager of the Red Bull KTM here in the U.S.

“I have a request from two riders,” began Harrison’s text. “Tony is asking if he can use #222 to race and Dungey is asking for 5.” What?!! Ian added that it wasn’t official but it was possibly happening, so he was asking about Dungey’s old number, just in case. After a call to the AMA’s Mike Pelletier about Dungey’s old #5 (when he wasn’t #1, which was often) and confirmation that Dungey would be able to run it since no one else has chosen it since 2017 when he retired, the only thing left to do was wait and see if this was really going to happen. Last night the call came in that it would in fact be announced at noon today that Ryan Dungey was going to be lining up at the Fox Raceway opener on May 28 with Antonio Cairoli, as well as defending champion Dylan Ferrandis and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Eli Tomac, and even Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen, who has been on the bike for a few weeks now and all systems appear to be a go for #94. Next month’s series opener just got even more interesting!

Welcome back, RD5. And welcome to America, #222.

You can get JT, Matthes, and Weigandt's feelings on the Dungey news with this link.

DUNGEY?! (Keefer)

What?! Retirement wasn't sitting well with Ryan I guess, eh? I do know that Dungey has been testing some parts for the team but never thought he would come out of retirement and go racing this summer! But you know what? This is great for us fans! Dungey, Cairoli, possibly Herlings as well? Wow! What a summer! This might be an unpopular opinion, but I for one get more excited about outdoors than supercross. Seeing these riders open it up more in third and fourth gear is just a lot more exciting to me, and the fact they have to deal with the elements more makes me respect the racing a lot more. I am ready for the Dunge, but see him around fifth to seventh place, right? Coming off the couch should be tough, but I’m happy Ryan is back. At least for the first part of summer anyway!

PENALTY BOX (DC)

After last weekend’s race at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the AMA announced that two riders had been penalized after the race: Malcolm Stewart and Eli Tomac. On the penalty for Malcolm, Vurbmoto.com reported, “According to the AMA penalty report, Malcolm violated rule 4.19.b and was fined $1,000. The rule, is well, in regards to a rider or crew member relieving themselves anywhere other than in a fixed or portable restroom: ‘Riders or crew members observed to be relieving themselves anywhere other than in a fixed or portable restroom will be fined a minimum of $1,000.’”

Swap Moto Live got this quote from Malcolm: "Bro, after the parade lap the nerves kick in and everyone has to go," he said. "There was one porta-potty and it was full with a line. I crawled between two dozers parked in the tunnel, where no one could see, but someone saw me coming back out zipping up my pants."

That someone was apparently the stadium manager, who was watching from above and, according to one race official, he asked that Stewart be disqualified and forced to leave the stadium. 

As for Tomac, who finished seventh but then did not stop at the podium after being waved toward it by officials who had been requested by the NBC director who wanted to have him interviewed. He had a chance to clinch the title but didn’t have his best stuff, so it’s not surprising that he was bummed and probably just didn’t want to talk to anyone. I’m sure after he clinches this thing tomorrow night he will have a lot to say, not to mention a lot of championship bonuses to cover that fine! It will also be Yamaha’s first AMA Supercross title since James Stewart in 2009.

YAMAHA LCQ CHALLENGE DAY! (Matthes)

Today's the day! Thanks to Feld Entertainment and the AMA, PulpMX is getting our own race at 4:30 p.m. for the privateers. We've been keeping track of points from fifth on back in the 450SX LCQ's and the top 17 from there (a few guys can't make it) and then we have five wild cards as well. 

We'll have a complete recap on the site here on Tuesday along with some real cool donations coming in via social media like Christian Craig giving us $1,000 to the rider who crosses the finish line first. We have a couple of women stepping up as well for holeshot and biggest anchor. Justin Brayton has pledged a couple hundred bucks to the rider that gets 10th in honor of 10 Cycles, Fly Racing is in for $200 for highest-placing Fly rider, we have the Pony Pod for $100 for slowest lap time, we have Swap Moto Live's Anton for $100 for rider who makes the most passes, Wil Hahn and Paul Perebijnos are in for $200 for fastest lap time, FXR Racing is in for $200 for top FXR rider and probably some more I've forgotten. Pretty cool, right?

The race is 6 minutes plus one lap, Ryan Breece and Kyle Chisholm are starting in the second row and things could get pretty crazy. The raffle money will be, I predict, $80K by the time it's all said and done.

[Ed. note: Alas, due to high winds in Denver, Feld and the AMA decided to cancel any riding today, and that includes the PulpMX Yamaha LCQ Challenge, which we like to call “The PulpMX Privateer Sweepstakes presented by Steve Matthes.” The race will now be held next Friday at Salt Lake City.]

The Mile High Windy City (Aaron Hansel)

In the 13 years I’ve been covering supercross races I’ve seen some pretty interesting things. There’ve been crazy mud races in which heavy rain basically turned the track into a lake, I’ve seen snow come down during races, and covering races during the pandemic with no fans was pretty wild too. But, I have to admit, I haven’t previously encountered anything quite like today’s intense wind. When I arrived at the stadium I saw pits that looked like a pack of cattle had run through them! Just about anything that had a banner zip-tied to it had gotten blown over, and even metal barriers without banners were toppling. While I was parking I even saw one of those electric rental bicycles getting slowly blown down a sidewalk. On its side! I couldn’t even put my sunglasses on because every time I did a gust of wind would yank them off my head and whip them fifty feet away.

Not surprisingly, today’s free practice and Yamaha LCQ Challenge, Presented by Blowfish for Hangovers, have been canceled. Losing free practice isn’t a huge loss, but the postponement of the Yamaha LCQ Challenge, created by our own Steve Matthes to raise money for privateers, is a bummer. It was really shaping up to be a good time with all kinds of wild donations being thrown in the mix, as he mentioned above (plus Daniel Blair pledged $100 to whoever would take out Alex Ray and Phil Nicoletti pledged $200 to whoever lost their mind the most and went berserk with dirty moves). Even our own Jason Weigandt, who is notoriously cheap, put $100 on the line for whoever came in last. Fortunately, it’ll still happen next week in Salt Lake City, but man I wanted to see it happen this afternoon!

Sitting here in the press box, however, and quickly glancing down at the track reveals why any action on the track this afternoon would be out of the question. Tuff Blox have been blown out of position, many of them no longer wearing sponsor covers, anything loose is whipping in the wind like crazy, and many of the plastic tarps covering trackside seats have been ripped apart.  They even brought in heavy equipment that looks like a cross between a forklift and miniature crane to brace the managers’ towers so they didn’t topple over. It’s wild! I asked a few of the locals about the wind and they said that while some days do indeed get pretty windy from time to time here, this definitely isn’t the norm. That bodes well for tomorrow, and fortunately there are no plans on cancelling the program. Just know that when tomorrow’s racing happens, it’s because a lot people put a ton of work into pulling this off. This place is pretty torn up right now, and with the wind still howling, it’s not safe to work. You can bet people will have worked through the night in order to make tomorrow’s early-starting day race happen.

THE NORWEGIANS (DC)

Kjell Amundsen is a longtime motocross friend from Norway who has been cheering on what’s become a very good year in racing for his countrymen and -women who are more used to success in winter sports than summer ones like motocross. In the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP), Kevin Horgmo finished second overall with 2-4 moto finishes in Latvia and is ranked sixth. In the EMX250 championships, Cornelius Toendel is ranked second and Haakon Osterhagen seventh—both ride for the Fantic brand, and both were on the podium at the first round in Italy. And in the WMX World Championships Martine Hughes is ranked sixth. Not bad for a Scandinavian country with a population of less than 6 million people.

Amundsen also suggested that I check out a Facebook page called Holmenkollen Supercross. Turns out there were three big European supercross races there in the 1980s on a track built at the bottom of the massive Holmenkollen downhill ski jump, which is surrounded by grandstands that seat thousands of people. What a cool race this must have been! Too bad it was gone before our man Jason Thomas started doing the international racing circuit.…

Ads We Could Not Get With Today (DC)

Huff-Daddy (Keefer)

I was out testing at Glen Helen Thursday and none other than Damon Huffman parked next to me and unloaded a new 2021 Honda CRF450R. After talking to Damon a little, it was apparent he’s missed riding some, but he’s been keeping himself busy with mountain biking and golf when he’s not working for the LAPD. Not surprisingly, Damon was smooth as butter around the rough GH track, but obviously the stamina wasn't there. But that’s hardly the point! Damon wanted to ride and came back to his old stomping grounds to enjoy time on two wheels (with a throttle). If you haven't checked out Damon's YouTube channel, do yourself a favor and subscribe. 

Hey, Watch It!

EP 0.5 // Bubba's World w/ James Stewart ft. Davey Coombs of MX Sports PART 2

Team Fried in Atlanta

Nick Romano Dominates at South of the Border Area Qualifier

Logan Best Shredding at South of the Border AQ

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

“SpaceX: Can meat be grown in space?”—BBC News

“Twitter Accepts Elon Musk’s $44 Billion Deal”—Forbes

“Wine-loving nun named world's nun named world's oldest person at 118 years.”—Fox News 5

“The NFL Draft’s Most Tantalizing Prospect Learned to Play Football in Austria”—The Wall Street Journal

Random Notes

For the latest from Canada, check out DMX Frid’EH Update #17.

Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!