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RYAN DUNGEY
450 SX / 4TH
IMAGE /MPG WORDS /HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Ryan Dungey’s title defense here in 2017 is beginning to get more interesting than many expected. Many thought that after Roczen’s season ending injury, the champion- ship was a wrap and Dungey was going to bring home another one; but Eli Tomac has emerged with other plans. He has looked great winning four of the last six but Dungey has not sweated it one bit and has remained his usual ultra-consistent self. He has put his fac- tory Red Bull KTM machine on the podium at all but one race and that one “blemish” was a fourth place. However, Dungey knows that he is going to have to earn every inch of that championship trophy and he looked to lock up another win as the season headed to Day- tona. The champ looked smooth and calculated in practice en route to securing the pole position. He was more than ready for the sun to go down and the bright lights to shine.
Dungey started the heat race with a bang as he and rival Eli Tomac came out of the gate first and second. The crowd was electrified and made their presence felt as the two went through the front rhythm lane side by side. Dungey over jumped the triple just a bit and let his teammate Marvin Musquin to slip right by. Now in third, Dungey was not able to make any moves as the track made it difficult to pass and he would have to settle with the third- place finish.
The main event started utterly disastrous for the champ. Positioned next to Jason Ander- son on the gate, he was thrown off when the Husky rider mistimed the jump and he nearly hit the gate. He crawled down the start stretch at the tail end of the field. He got jostled around and was absolutely buried in seventeenth place after one. Dungey was in unfa- miliar territory but a fire lit deep down within the three-time champion. He started charging through the field with a sense of aggression we rarely see from him. He was forcing tough passes and they were working. He was going inside, he was going outside, he was doing everything it took to salvage every last championship point. He kept charging until the very last second as he caught up to the unsuspecting Cole Seely on the final lap. With just two turns to go Dungey pulled up alongside and somehow bullied his way past despite being on the outside entering the turn. Seely tried retaliating coming out of the next corner and pulled up alongside but Dungey slammed the door at the finish line to secure two more championship points and an astonishing fourth place finish. It was a brilliant, gritty ride from Dungey that we may look back on when this championship is all said and done.
20 GRITMOTO • MARCH 12, 2017