VOL. 52 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 1, 2015 P57
sometimes, I felt, and I wasn't
happy with the way I handled the
situations. But after three years
of some tough times—some
great success, too, but some
tough moments—with KTM, they
came out with a new bike that
was hands-down better. Also,
another step, I started working
with [trainer] Aldon [Baker], and
it's almost like that saying: The
enemy will fight you the hardest
when they're the closest and
when you're about to give up,
that's the time to keep digging.
And that's what that reminds me
of. I wasn't going to give up be-
cause I knew I had one year left
on my contracts, and I wanted to
make the most of it. It was like,
'If this is it, I don't want to have
regrets.' But finally things started
getting better: The team got bet-
ter, the bike got better, I finally
put my trust in the crew here at
KTM—and that was my fault that
I wasn't doing that before. I was
trying to take things into my own
hands all the time."
And once he started work-
ing with Baker, he got peace of
mind. Baker actually told Dungey
he was training too much. The
first thing Baker did was back
down how much Dungey was
doing off of the bike and make
sure that Dungey took some time
off when it was necessary in
order to recharge. Baker made
a massive difference to Dungey
not just in terms of physical train-
ing and nutrition, but he brought
a calm to Dungey on the mental
side of things, too.
"Aldon has helped me out a lot
with that," Dungey said. "There
were a lot of things that, I almost
lost it a few times, but that
shows weakness. I'm learning
a lot and I want to continue to
keep learning and not acting like
that. I've got to control myself.
[I was having trouble] keeping
myself under control and not los-
Dungey is quick to
point out that titles
don't come without a
great team backing
you. He certainly has
that at KTM.
