When you think of Ryan Dungey you think of consistency. One of the best ever in terms of consistency but we can’t forget how fast he was too. He’s one of the best ever to do it. The American is still involved in the sport as he has a role with KTM.
After Anaheim 1 we caught up with Dungey to discuss his career, role with KTM and much more…
GateDrop: Ryan, you are here at Anaheim. You’re not racing, but did you still get the butterflies that you want to be racing when you watched what happened today?
Dungey: Yeah, I still get the nerves, especially with the KTM guys and Chase getting out in front. Obviously, you want our guys to do good, and when they’re in a position to win, obviously it’s in their hands to execute. But the excitement of it all and wanting them to do good, the good nerves, all these things still run through you a little bit.
GateDrop: Are you still feeling what you felt as a rider when you were watching Chase and all that sort of stuff, emotions?
Dungey: Yeah, I think it’s easy because you know what it’s like to be in that position. So, you kind of tend to put yourself back in that position and know the feelings, adrenaline, the excitement, the nerves. But then again, I’ve got to tell myself, no, we’re not racing, we’re just watching.
GateDrop: You are involved with KTM, are you doing testing for KTM? What’s your role now?
Dungey: Yeah, helping out KTM a little bit, kind of with the riders, the team input, just things like this. Very low key, you know, they’re doing all the heavy lifting, I’m not. I’m just supporting them and then kind of some grandmaster type work too.
GateDrop: Chase mentioned in the press conference that on Monday, just this week he found something with a bike that gave him the feel he was really looking for. Have you any input into that side of things? Do you talk with Chase about that or is that more their side?
Dungey: No, no, that’s more with the team. I am not necessarily at the test track too much, but Roger keeps me up to date with everything and where they’re at. But that’s more with Roger, Ian and the guys and the testing they’re doing.
GateDrop: Whenever you came back two years ago now with Cairoli to do the outdoors, what was that experience like? Doing it with Cairoli, two legends from almost a previous generation, but coming back and going really fast again?
Dungey: It was a good experience. After five years, my body, I’d lost a lot of fitness, but a lot of it came back right away. But that last 10-15% was hard to get back. I knew that, and it was okay, but it was fun to race with the guys. It was a cool opportunity. I was kind of bored and they tempt you with a good time and I took the bait but it was fun. I’m glad I did it and just to do it one more time, check it out. Cairoli was there, so I kind of got to race against him. I never really thought I was going to race again. It was kind of cool to get on the gate drop a few more times, but now I’m good.

GateDrop: Did it help bring closure to that edge to do it again?
Dungey: I think so. I think you flirt around with it in your mind about coming back, this and that, hunting and harrahing. Not to say that I thought it was going to be easy, but it was a lot harder than I expected it to be coming back but it had been five years too, so it was good in a way to just quit thinking about it. Yeah, you came out of retirement, but you got some more racing in and now it’s like, no, you’re good. You’re done and it’s good so it created some closure for sure.
GateDrop: You were so consistent in your career. If you weren’t first, it felt like you were second. But whenever Ryan Villopoto left with Aldon Baker, you got with Aldon… You were always fit anyway. So, was that more a mental thing, that he brought confidence and calmness to your racing? You did seem more confident and more sure of everything then?
Dungey: Yeah, I really trusted in Aldon’s program. His program was good. I think it was the right amount. I tended to overdo it all the time prior to Aldon. Do too much, wear myself out, burn yourself out. Just with the training and the load, just trying to do too much. Maybe I was a little bit insecure, like I wasn’t doing enough. But with Aldon and his program, I trusted it. The workload was good, it was the right amount and the recovery was good. It was just fine-tuning those areas. I didn’t have to think about it either, because he was putting together the program for me. It was proven, and I knew it worked just looking at his history, his track record. It brought a lot of confidence, and it really relaxed my mind from thinking about it all so much. Wondering, am I doing enough to do the right thing? Now it’s like, I wasn’t guessing anymore. So, taking the guesswork out of it really brought a lot of confidence, and relayed it even onto the track too.
GateDrop: Just from watching in Ireland, it looked like you were just so much calmer and confident on track…
Dungey: Yeah, because I knew I did everything I could, and I was prepared. I didn’t leave any stone unturned. It brought a lot of confidence. When the gate was ready to drop, it was like, no, I did everything I could. Mentally knowing that, like I said, brings a lot of confidence.
GateDrop: Racing Ryan Villopoto, you both rode opposite ways. He was all throttle, all go. You were very consistent and seemed calculated. Did you enjoy those battles, or was it really stressful trying to find a way to beat him?
Dungey: Villopoto was tough to beat. He was a tough competitor. Even if you could beat him one time, he’d come back even harder the next round. So, it was tough to get that edge on him. But Villopoto, he was a better rider. It was good for me because I was always trying to get better, I was always trying to prove myself. He pushed me to be a better rider. I think once he did retire, I was able to take that… he was that guy in the sport, and I was able to come in and be that next guy, it prepared me for that. Had Villopoto stayed, it would have been a different story but he retired, and it was a good opportunity for me to capitalize on that and be that guy for the sport.
GateDrop: Whenever he went to GP’s and then quit. Ken Roczen was supposed to be the next guy. Eli Tomac, but you stayed keeping them below you. Was the pressure for you then to be the next guy and not let Eli and Ken overtake you?
Dungey: Ken was going to be good. Obviously, he was coming on strong. But when I got with Aldon, that really changed things for the better. We had a new bike in 2015, a new model, which really did a good job. We did a little testing throughout the rounds. By round 4 or 5, we didn’t touch it then. I kind of lucked out a little bit because they were young and making rookie mistakes. I was a little older, I think my experience came to the forefront a little bit. After two or three years, Eli was coming on stronger. He was getting faster, better and stronger as he was coming into his 450 career and that was hard. By the time 2017 came, it was hard… Consistency and everything came through, but he just had that raw speed. I couldn’t match it.
GateDrop: At the Motocross des Nations, you had some really good rides and some struggles. I remember in 2009, you went from the 250cc to the 450cc in Italy. You were fantastic. What are your memories of that? Did you feel more pressure representing USA than trying to beat Villpoto at Anaheim? How did it compare?
Dungey: I was just trying to take it like another race. Obviously, it was important and I wanted to do good. I tried not to put too much pressure on myself. In 2009, 2010, and 2011, we won. Those were great years. In 2012, 2013, and 2014, I just struggled. I struggled with the tracks and I struggled with the bike setup. I struggled with Lommel… Lommel was just a unique, deep sand, it was crazy. I just felt like a fish out of water, I can’t really blame the bike on that and that was more me.
We really chased that. The first model with KTM, we really chased the setup a lot at every race we went to, and it really wore me out. 2014 was actually a good year. We had a good finish in the first moto, and we were on track to almost winning it. I actually went down the second moto and Jeremy Martin broke his foot. Me going down in the second moto really put a damper on and that was on me. We had three good wins in a row, which was awesome then we had three losses in a row, which was not awesome. It was never fun to lose. We gave it our best.

GateDrop: How was it being teammates with Villopoto out of everyone there? I remember Rick Johnson and David Bailey were talking about that… because you are rivals here but was it weird talking to him on a help each other level?
Dungey: You know, Villopoto, when it came time to the des Nations, we came together as a team. Obviously, we were all going to give it our best. We were all going to try to win it. He was a teammate and he was good at being a leader and bringing the group together too. At St Jean d’Angely in France in 2011, it was actually pretty fun to be teammates. We could put our guard down from trying to win the championship to working together to win the des Nations.
GateDrop: Jason Lawrence, the first time I came to Anaheim, I think it was around 2008, your corner speed was really impressive… Jason Lawrence got you that first year. Did you learn a lot in that loss that helped you become the champion you became? Was it almost like a blessing in disguise?
Dungey: It was. It sucked to go through it and it was hard. Championship pressure, trying to handle that. Then on top of that, you had Jason Lawrence dealing with the mind games he was putting out. It was miserable going through it in 2008. Going through that, it really set me up for the years to come, honestly. It made me a better rider. It sucked to go through it and it was tough, but it was challenging. A lot was on me, too. I didn’t handle the pressure right. Failing in 2008 really helped me to understand more so how to handle the pressure going into 2009. What mistakes not to make, how to look at things differently and perspective so it was good.
GateDrop: Julien Beaumer is taking on Haiden Deegan. Obviously, he likes the mind games. Your experience with Jason, can you help Julien a bit?
Dungey: Yeah, I think that could be the possibility. He might start pulling out the tricks of running in it, bumping each other in practice, stuff like this. That’s where Juju has got to be like, I’m going to do my own thing and race my race.
GateDrop: Antonio Cairoli said he wouldn’t mind racing some nationals this year on the Ducati… You’re definitely not coming back to race this summer, no (laughs)?
Dungey: No, I’m good. He’s testing it and he’s riding almost every week. Not so much me anymore.
GateDrop: Thank you for your time…