Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/917325
SUPERCROSS CHAMPION RYAN DUNGEY P166 INTERVIEW F I N A L T A L L Y RUBBER SIDE DOWN Probably the most astounding (and not often dis- cussed) fact about what made Ryan Dungey stand out was this: Throughout his entire professional career, spanning 11 seasons, he missed a grand total of 14 races. Even more remarkable than that, they came in just two bunches from just two inju- ries: five supercross races in 2012 from (broken collarbone, after which he returned, with three rounds left, and won the final two races of the year) and nine motocross races in 2016 (fractured vertebra in his neck, missing the final nine races of the year). That's it. Every other time there was a race in a class Ryan Dungey was competing in, he was on the line. Motocross/supercross is probably the toughest sport on the planet, and most top racers are lucky to make it through a single year without missing any races. Dungey made it through nine out of 11 (although he retired before the motocross series started in 2017). This has to be some sort of a record. "I would do anything to not pull off the track or miss a race," Dungey said. "I hated a DNF. I hated a crash. That also hindered me in the middle of my career because I was so afraid to fail and I didn't want that to happen that I wouldn't give my fullest capability. I was 99%, maybe not 100. Once I finally said, 'You know what? I'm not going to be afraid to fail,'—I say this humbly—but I had 52 consecutive better-than-fourth-place finishes [including outdoor motos]. It just goes to show if I rode scared I would make a mistake and I would get a bad finish, versus if I just let it all out there and wasn't afraid to fail and just put my best foot forward. After that, the consistency came more and it got better. I was getting more out of what I was in control of, instead of worrying about the things I wasn't in control of." The "middle" of his career that he's referring to is from 2011 through 2014. It also happens to corre- spond with the dominant era of "the other Ryan." "Villo[poto] by far [was my toughest competitor]," Dungey said. "He was tough. It seemed like noth- ing I did could ever—you just couldn't break him. You could have a couple runs here and there and beat him here and there, but it was hard to break the guy. He was just consistently really good. After that I would have to just say Ken [Roczen] was a tough competitor. We had a couple series there where he was tough to beat. Then obviously this year with 2007 = 3 2008 = 3 2009 = 4 Total = 10 2010 = 6 2011 = 1 2012 = 4 2013 = 2 2014 = 1 2015 = 8 2016 = 9 2017 = 3 Total = 34 2009 2010 2015 2016 2017 250SX WINS 450SX WINS 250SX TITLES 450SX TITLES For quite a while, Ryan Dungey had been hinting about an early retirement, so it came as little surprise when he announced that he was hanging up his boots within a few days after winning the 2017 Supercross title.