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Supercross & Motocross
SX: Dungey Down - Championship Fallout
Ryan Dungey added to his legend in hindsight with his injured St. Louis performance, but where does he go from here?
Red Bull/KTM's Ryan Dungey (Photo: Hoppenworld.com)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross Championship from Daytona, FL will air LIVE on SPEED Saturday, March 10 at 7:30pm ET. #SXonSPEED
The instant reaction to today’s breaking news concerning Ryan Dungey’s indefinite break from Monster Energy Supercross competition was one of utter shock.
Ironically, I joked to a close colleague just one week ago that his article revealing Dungey’s perfect, injury free Supercross career had likely jinxed the 2010 champ, and now here we are.
As is typically the case in our sport, Dungey and his Red Bull/KTM team did well to keep the severity of the situation under wraps for the past couple weeks. Dungey acknowledged from the podium that he went down hard in training, nothing that he was grateful to even be out on the track that evening. Even more astonishing in hindsight is the fact a hurting Dungey not fought his way up to second from well behind, he also quickly reeled in title rival Ryan Villopoto over the closing laps to finish a closer-than-expected runner-up.
Dungey sure didn’t ride like a man who was suffering any sort of discomfort.
This makes me think back on the 2009 season when Dungey went down hard while preparing for the move to the 450 just prior to the Motocross of Nations in Italy. I was one of a very small number of people who understood just how bad the injury was, but the team chose not to say anything about it and just let the results speak for themselves.
Dungey proceeded to lead Team USA to victory, winning the MX1 title along the way and setting the stage for the most epic rookie season of all time in 2010. Only after the fact did news of Dungey’s crash come to light.
That race established how tough the sometimes understated Ryan Dungey really is. Finding out that he rode a week ago with a cracked collarbone really doesn’t surprise me that much. I know how committed Ryan is to his profession, and I know how badly he wants to win a title -- for himself, and maybe even more importantly, for KTM.
That said, I'm shocked by the lack of any visible signs of discomfort throughout the evening in St. Louis. A broken bone is serious business, but you would have never known any different by watching Dungey perform.
On Tuesday, I reached out to KTM’s public relations manager and was quickly told that Ryan was unavailable with no explanation as to why. I assumed it was related to a previous commitment or simply testing, but in hindsight, it seems likely he was either in or recovering from surgery.
The instant reaction to today’s breaking news concerning Ryan Dungey’s indefinite break from Monster Energy Supercross competition was one of utter shock.
Ironically, I joked to a close colleague just one week ago that his article revealing Dungey’s perfect, injury free Supercross career had likely jinxed the 2010 champ, and now here we are.
As is typically the case in our sport, Dungey and his Red Bull/KTM team did well to keep the severity of the situation under wraps for the past couple weeks. Dungey acknowledged from the podium that he went down hard in training, nothing that he was grateful to even be out on the track that evening. Even more astonishing in hindsight is the fact a hurting Dungey not fought his way up to second from well behind, he also quickly reeled in title rival Ryan Villopoto over the closing laps to finish a closer-than-expected runner-up.
Dungey sure didn’t ride like a man who was suffering any sort of discomfort.
This makes me think back on the 2009 season when Dungey went down hard while preparing for the move to the 450 just prior to the Motocross of Nations in Italy. I was one of a very small number of people who understood just how bad the injury was, but the team chose not to say anything about it and just let the results speak for themselves.
Dungey proceeded to lead Team USA to victory, winning the MX1 title along the way and setting the stage for the most epic rookie season of all time in 2010. Only after the fact did news of Dungey’s crash come to light.
That race established how tough the sometimes understated Ryan Dungey really is. Finding out that he rode a week ago with a cracked collarbone really doesn’t surprise me that much. I know how committed Ryan is to his profession, and I know how badly he wants to win a title -- for himself, and maybe even more importantly, for KTM.
That said, I'm shocked by the lack of any visible signs of discomfort throughout the evening in St. Louis. A broken bone is serious business, but you would have never known any different by watching Dungey perform.
On Tuesday, I reached out to KTM’s public relations manager and was quickly told that Ryan was unavailable with no explanation as to why. I assumed it was related to a previous commitment or simply testing, but in hindsight, it seems likely he was either in or recovering from surgery.
SX Seattle
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