Page 10 - Issue-35

RYAN DUNGEY
450 SX / OKLAND
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / WILSON
>> Precision is echoed throughout the Oakland Stadium staircases for a rather large portion of the year, when the Raiders’ Derek Carr can be found configuring a three-
step drop, and relishing a bullet to the corner of the end zone, scoring an abundance
of points and forcing the crowd out of their seats. We too have a young prospect on
the sport’s elite level, vying to captivate the Oakland crowd, throw for over 4 TD’s (24 points), and leave a resignation on the Bay area for months to come. The aforemen- tioned is describing Ryan Dungey, and his assault on the competition for the 2017 series. Plagued with high’s and low’s throughout his career, he has remained resilient, grabbing championship trophies by their handles, and storming off into the sunset, the twinkle of the medallion blinding the pack that chases him. And with solid efforts thus far, the 2017 title could very well be one that’s within his hands come seasons end; but it must start in this very moment, as the gate is loaded for round number five. The board is sideways, tread claws into the soil with dyer intention, and the pack somehow separates itself in the opening sections. He emerges, somehow with an early lead despite a less than stellar gatepick; he storms to the head of the field. Pulling each and every lap, this track seemed to gel with him, the ruts allowed his amount of low-key timidness and pre- cision to flourish, as everyone had to be calculated. The race seemed to be all his, but each lap, he began to notice the crowd cheering just a wee bit louder, than the previous; the notion began to creep in his head that it wasn’t a coincidental occurrence. Time is dwindling, the clock ticking, and a sense of pressure was blowing a warm breeze onto the back of his neck; who lurks behind me? Suddenly, the clock hits 16 minutes, a green blur hits the peripheral vision; it has to be Tomac. The weaponry comes out, fist fighting turn by turn, it was all Dungey could do to fend off the number 3 monster machine; they then begin the whoop section, Dungey, moves right, Tomac hits the wore down line. And just like that, RD5 saw a mere few points go from beneath him, but in all reality he feels the change of momentum. He would try to fight back, but it just wasn’t in the cards for the evening; the champion remained strong in second, finishing there, but the level of caution may have just arose as the series heads into round six.
10 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 5, 2017