Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 5, 2013 Ryan Dungey came from the brink of disaster to win Anaheim III. was to "go," even with the rear fender nearly resting on the tire. He rode down the start chute then accepted the fact he was out of the race. Dungey and his team might've been deflated at the moment but he wasn't done just yet. "That was a bummer there, but it was like, the night's not over yet, either. You have to keep a good attitude, and being positive is what's key," Dungey said. Back in the pits, his Red Bull KTM team had to quickly swap out the breathless shock for his "normal" spring shock and head out for the LCQ. "We went from the air shock to the spring shock, so I hadn't ridden on it in a while. Going into the LCQ, I kind of had that playing as a factor - how was it going to react? I hadn't ridden on it all day, but it ended up feeling good. The bike felt awesome off the bat and my lap times were good." Dungey had no time to get a feel for the different shock. He got caught up in a first-lap pileup, putting him midpack, and had to push right away. Heading into the last lap, Dungey was in third place, but he made the allimportant pass for second place just moments before taking the checkered flag. "Guys went down right after the start of the LCQ, I think somebody tucked the front end and went down and somebody rammed him. I ran into the next guy - it was a Domino effect. There were so many bikes scattered, I wheelied over someone's fender. I don't know what place I was in. I had some work cut out for me. "At that moment, it's like, 'C'mon, man, I'm going to really have to dig.' Luckily it's a 450 LCQ and you have six laps, because four laps wouldn't have done it. At that moment it was just do everything that you possibly can. I had my sights set on [second place] Jimmy [Albertson], 'I've got to pass him,' and I was going to go for it in the whoops but [leader, Phil] Nicolleti, I believe, made a mistake and we both squeaked by. That was a close one; I almost didn't make it in! Riding the LCQ is never easy, but it was out of my control and I had to go out there and do my job. " Since he qualified dead last, Dungey again had the dead-last gate pick for the main event, but Dungey made the best of it, coming out third, then taking the lead by lap three. And from there, the rest, as they say, is history. "I got a decent start from the outside in the LCQ, so I knew that going into the main," Dungey said. "I knew going into the first turn that I might find myself getting into a good position. I got a good drive, shifted a gear, and with the left-handed turn being the way it was, you could drive it in deeper; it wasn't all favored to the inside. So that's what I did, I railed the outside, snuck by and found myself in third or fourth. P51 There was a little bit of carnage between turns two and three and was able to squeak by that, as well. I got into second and made the pass for the lead. From there, I just tried to ride solid, clean and consistent laps." Despite the heat-race snafu, Dungey says he's still a fan of the air shock. "When the track is rough and hammered - lap times don't lie. We take everything into consideration when we make a choice like [running the air shock]. At this point in the game, we don't make any changes unless it's clearly an improvement. The shock is good, but we've had a couple of flaws this year with it, we just have to regroup. [The technology] is young; they are working hard on it and are far along in the process. Thankfully we have good back up equipment and it happened at the right time. It would have been a bummer if it happened in the main. "The air shock has its pluses," he added, "but everything has its give and take. The shock has better plushness and overall is just a more comfortable ride. But, then again, that spring shock didn't work too bad, either." So will he run the air shock again anytime soon? "I think we have some decision-making right here, we're going to have to do some testing, make sure things are a go. "Yes, a lot of things went wrong tonight, but a lot of things went right, as well." CN

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