WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 54 ISSUE 18 MAY 9, 2017 P67
"Man, that was a season of
'never give up,'" Dungey said. "I
mean, it was tough from the get-
go, but we did it. That last race, I
did not expect it to be like that. I
expected a good race, but those
cheap shots were unbelievable. I
couldn't believe it, but we survived
it and we got through."
The tens of thousands of fans
in attendance immediately began
booing Dungey for the com-
ments, and then he immediately
backed them down. Later, in the
press conference, Dungey was
much more conciliatory.
"I just want to clarify: I have
mad respect for Eli [Tomac]," he
said. "When desires run deep...
We have a lot invested in this—our
whole lives as kids, and then we
get to this moment, I don't blame
him for what he did. He did what
he had to do. There's a lot riding
on a championship, and the
teams have a lot invested. And
the riders, too. It was good, hard
racing, and the fans got a show,
but it's definitely nice and reward-
ing to get this championship. It's
probably one of the sweetest
ones. It was just a very challeng-
ing season."
Tomac was matter-of-fact about
it all. "I guess it was in my head
even leading up to this week, you
know?" Tomac said of his strat-
egy. "I was just thinking of every
situation possible. You kind of
have to, [in order] to prepare your-
self, so you're ready for that mo-
ment. Like I said, I was just doing
everything that I could. I wasn't
going to just try to hand it over.
