WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 52 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 3, 2015 P73
little cat-and-mouse for a little
while. Third place kind of closed
in a little bit but we still had a
pretty good lead. We were going
fast, I felt like. Hopefully we were
putting on a show for every-
body. I had fun. Way better than
last weekend. Last weekend
sucked for me. To get away with
a podium coming back from last
weekend and crashing on the
STEADILY IMPROVING
It was only a matter of time that
Ryan Dungey was going to get his
first win of the season. Ever since
his fourth-place finish at A1, Dungey
has been steadily improving, going
4-3-2-2-1 over the first five rounds,
and it all finally came together for
him and his Red Bull KTM Team
in a big way at Anaheim 3. The win
was also the first for KTM's all-new
450 SX Factory Edition.
"We've done a lot of testing, but
the guys [the team] bring little bits
and pieces here to make me feel
better on the bike," said Dungey of
his progress in 2015. "Plus, we've
just been putting in the laps during
the week and working on my weak-
nesses and mentally getting in the
right mindset, everything was click-
ing really good [tonight]."
How important is getting that first
win of the season?
"It's a relief," Dungey said. "But
at the same time, it's not enough to
back down by any means. It's going
to take a lot nights like tonight and
to be consistent. The intensity is
high, the field is deep, there is a lot
of talent and we're all pushing each
other to get better every week. Ev-
erybody is going to work hard and
we need to answer those calls as
far as each weekend goes."
Dungey went into the main with
a lot of confidence after posting the
quickest lap time in qualifying and
then winning his heat race after a
one-on-one duel with two-time Ana-
heim winner Ken Roczen.
"Winning the heat race is good,"
said Dungey. "It gives you a good
gate pick and sets the tone, and
so does practice, everything has
an impact. Knowing that the speed
was there, it was just a matter of
applying it in the main."
As far as the championship,
Dungey plans on relying on con-
sistency. "Consistency is very im-
portant," he said. "It doesn't pay to
be there—to win—and then be 15
th
,
then second, then 20th, I'd rather
be consistently on the podium than
up and down like that, and our odds
are better in the long run."
Roger DeCoster, Dungey's team
manager and five-time World Cham-
pion, said of Dungey's recent rise
to the top: "His mindset is different
than in the past years, he's happy
with the bike, he's focusing on
himself on race day instead of what
can be done with the bike. I think
Aldon [Baker, Dungey's new trainer]
has something to do with it, too.
He has given [Dungey] confidence
also, he knows now that there is
nothing else he can do to be better.
Although he trained very hard in the
past and he was always fit, in the
back of his mind, he always thought
'there is something else, something
else better I can do.' Now, that is
gone, now it's just racing, he can
concentrate on that."
Team Manager
Roger DeCoster
(left) and Ryan
Dungey (right)
go over the A3
game plan.
Cooper Webb
(17) took the
lead from Jessy
Nelson (28)
and checked
out to take his
third win of the
season.
STEADILY IMPROVING
