P110
CN
III TRACKSIDE
BY ANDREA WILSON
I
t's not odd for the reigning
AMA Supercross/Motocross
Champion to have a target
on his back. But going into the
2016 Supercross season, Ryan
Dungey wasn't in the crosshairs
as the guy to beat. Yes, maybe
he was still the benchmark, but
the bar has always been set
higher. The magnifying glass has
always been on guys with flash,
veterans like James Stewart and
Chad Reed and, more recently,
fast up-and-comers like Ken
Roczen and Eli Tomac.
But Dungey has never been
about the flash. He puts in the
man-hours. He goes about
winning quietly, putting up solid
results, and earning champion-
ships.
With the departure of four-
time AMA Supercross Champion
Ryan Villopoto last season,
Dungey was the most solid heir
apparent. But Dungey wasn't the
contender going into 2015. The
season was dubbed: #whos-
next? Dungey answered that by
eventually taking the supercross
and then the outdoor title. Turns
out that #whosnext was the guy
who was already there.
Going into this season, even
with that title sweep, 2016 could
still have been dubbed #any-
guesses?
Dungey has always been a
safe bet, after all, he not the
type to smash himself up. Maybe
that's the key. But being a safe
bet doesn't make you a front-run-
ner, more like the fallback guy.
Add to that the fact that the
competition going into this
season has arguably been
more stacked than any in recent
memory. There was a whole
list of unknown quantities—the
return of series regulars with a
proven record to dominate, fast
RYAN 2.0
