INTERVIEW
2016 SUPERCROSS CHAMPION RYAN DUNGEY: PART 1
P68
June 4, resulting in a fractured
vertebra in his neck.
We recently caught up with
the champ and chatted about
the 2016 season, his injury and
his furture plans.
HEALING UP
At the Colorado National, early
in moto two, Dungey went down
hard. It's uncharacteristic for him
to go down really at all, but es-
pecially to crash violently. He still
got up and finished fourth, and
although he was sore, he figured
all was well and he'd be able to
use the forthcoming weekend
off to heal up before returning
to the fray in two weeks. But as
his neck stiffened, and the pain
didn't subside, he decided to get
it checked out, and it's a good
thing he did. He had a fractured
vertebra in his neck.
"I felt something different, for
sure, after I crashed," Dungey
said. "I felt something just wasn't
right. That night, I was in a lot of
pain, especially when I tried to
sit up out of bed. I was just like,
'Man, this scares me a little bit,'
which is what caused me to go
get a check-up. You don't want
to accept it until it's right there
and there's just no way to deny
it anymore. Gosh, I had a hard
time accepting it, but the scary
thing was that the one doctor
said it was broken, and I was
thinking, 'I've got to be there in
less than two weeks, so I've got
to figure out how I can do this.'
And you want to take it into your
own hands. And then another
doctor said, 'This could've been
a lot worse.' And that was kind of
scary, so at that point, I was just
like, 'I couldn't care less if I ever
ride a dirt bike again, really…
I'm just happy to be healthy and
walking and have feeling.' But it
was an emotional rollercoaster,
though; happy, not happy, down,
then thankful."
At the time this interview was
conducted, it had been five
weeks since he was injured. He
said things were going well.
"The weird thing...obviously, I
crashed in the race, and I got up
and finished the moto. I thought,
'Geez, I was able to finish the
moto, and everything should be
good.' But then I got my stuff
checked out. After about two
weeks, the stiffness kind of
"I FELT SOMETHING JUST WASN'T RIGHT. THAT
NIGHT, I WAS IN A LOT OF PAIN, ESPECIALLY
WHEN I TRIED TO SIT UP OUT OF BED. I WAS JUST
LIKE, 'MAN, THIS SCARES ME A LITTLE BIT…'"
