"It's just a dirt bike race..."

[LewTheShoe]

"It's just a dirt bike race. There are bigger things in life." Thus spoke Ryan Dungey after finishing 3rd at the Indy supercross race, after being passed by Eli Tomac, who pulled away to win by a huge margin. Dungey was also passed by teammate Marvin Musquin, who also pulled away.

Unless there is a secret injury that has slowed Dungey this year, I can't help but wonder if his championship winning days in the stadiums might be over. His attitude in post race interview seemed... resigned to defeat. And his riding this entire year has been tentative and disjointed, by his lofty standards. Starts have been hit-or-miss, rather than a personal strength. Aggression and pace have been adequate to come through the field to a top 5, but not better, not winning, after poor starts or early mishaps. Dungey has been consistent in scoring podiums and top 5s, but is that enough?

Ken Roczen dominated the early rounds, before his injury. Eli Tomac has dominated since, winning 6 of the last 8 races. Tomac and his Kawasaki were untouchable last week at Daytona (the SX version of fast and flowing), and again yesterday at Indy (disjointed and extra-gnarly and slow). Dungey still leads by 12 points, kinda due to Tomac's freak brake problem earlier in the year. Unless he steps up, I doubt that 12 point lead holds up through the 6 remaining races.

PS - Outdoor MX is a very different sport from SX, so my observations apply only to SX for now.

PSS - I sure wish Ricky Carmichael (or whoever designs them) would build at least one semi-fast turn into each stadium course. The unrelenting 2nd gear point-and-shoot becomes tiresome. Even in SX, racing need not be only about big air, IMO.

 

[Greg]

"It's just a dirt bike race. There are bigger things in life." Thus spoke Ryan Dungey after finishing 3rd at the Indy supercross race, after being passed by Eli Tomac, who pulled away to win by a huge margin. Dungey was also passed by teammate Marvin Musquin, who also pulled away.

Unless there is a secret injury that has slowed Dungey this year, I can't help but wonder if his championship winning days in the stadiums might be over. His attitude in post race interview seemed... resigned to defeat. And his riding this entire year has been tentative and disjointed, by his lofty standards. Starts have been hit-or-miss, rather than a personal strength. Aggression and pace have been adequate to come through the field to a top 5, but not better, not winning, after poor starts or early mishaps. Dungey has been consistent in scoring podiums and top 5s, but is that enough?

Ken Roczen dominated the early rounds, before his injury. Eli Tomac has dominated since, winning 6 of the last 8 races. Tomac and his Kawasaki were untouchable last week at Daytona (the SX version of fast and flowing), and again yesterday at Indy (disjointed and extra-gnarly and slow). Dungey still leads by 12 points, kinda due to Tomac's freak brake problem earlier in the year. Unless he steps up, I doubt that 12 point lead holds up through the 6 remaining races.

PS - Outdoor MX is a very different sport from SX, so my observations apply only to SX for now.

PSS - I sure wish Ricky Carmichael (or whoever designs them) would build at least one semi-fast turn into each stadium course. The unrelenting 2nd gear point-and-shoot becomes tiresome. Even in SX, racing need not be only about big air, IMO.

Dungey has never been about blazing speed, at least when compared to the elites or top 1 percent. I dont think he was ever cut for the pace of a Villapoto or a Stewart when they were On. Not the type. But he usually doesn't make the mistakes, avoids injuries, wins championships, and can dominate when those type of speed guys are not around. More of a master of attrition.

I don't see him muscling up and out running Tomac either down the stretch. The biggest catalyst will be Tomac. If he doesn't get hurt or commit major blunders I think he wins the thing, even if Dungey eliminates his errors.

His formula worked compared to Roczen for example this year, and looked liked another last man standing championship season in the works for him. He just hasn't been able to take control after the fall this time. No disrespect intended for Dungey in this post, all of those guys are bad ass warriors, and Dungeys discipline has won righteously many times.

IMO passion desire etc is a 24/7 thing, the way they train and approach the whole race all week. The stuff we can't or don't get to see much of, and it is less about a few post race ramblings. A hot mic goes into a guys face after a race and he is expected to say something golden or good. All after an intense grueling event.

Just a bike race, was just a comment not much more, imo.

 

[DUN24]

Dungey sees the writing on the wall, unless Tomac goes down this season, he's going to take that number one plate.


I'm bummed we didn't get a chance to see Tomac vs Roczen this season with Tomac's current form.

 

[Roman Nodonyet]

He did break his back during the outdoor season last year. I could see the blazing speed issue being why Tomac, now that he seems to have found his groove, is out-performing him, but I'm not sure that explains why Musquin seems like the better Red Bull KTM as this season has gone on. Not being fully recovered from the back injury would explain it, and explain why he's been off the podium completely more than in the last two indoor seasons.

 

[gnomesayin]

That comment sure caught my attention at the moment it was uttered, and seemingly everyone else's. I don't know how significant it truly is. It almost seemed like he knew more than ever after that race that he can't keep up with Tomac currently, but he's struggling a bit to come to terms with it and was playing it off. Like all of the guys who reach the top, Dungey is incredibly competitive and hates to lose, and this is an unexpected and sudden transition for him. Being caught and passed by his usually subordinate teammate Musquin was probably even harder to swallow.

If I were speculating wildly, people don't say that when they're hurt. They say that when something in their personal lives is taking precedence and is obviously more important than a race. I tend to think it was just a weird comment uttered in the moment, but I do think he is mentally defeated at the moment and needs Tomac to make an error in the next couple rounds (which is not uncharacteristic) to get his groove back.

I hope this championship goes down to the wire, would be good for SX and prove to the promoters that a Chase format isn't needed, at least for a while.

 

[gnomesayin]

More of the same tonight. Dungey can't even get a decent start lately and has to change that. Tomac is executing so well and feeling no pressure. The funny thing is that with five rounds to go, I still feel like Dungey is a safer bet, because he turns his bad races into fourths and thirds, whereas Tomac may still be more prone to an outright disaster night.

 

[Hotrod]

Tomac really is looking good this year. No more
mid race fade like last year. This thing might go
down to the finals at Las Vegas.

 

[Simple Fan]

Tomac is on a mission. One slip up by Dungey and Eli will get the points lead. Kind of just want it to play out as it has though and Tomac just keeps winning and gains points every week til he's the leader. To bad Roczen got but it this could be a three man race. Eli Tomac is a bad man though.

 

[DUN24]

Just finished the telecast. My god. This season is so epic. Great championship battle right now. Ryan Dungey is a great dude but I love seeing him out his comfort zone. Hope these guys stay healthy into the summer.

 

[Greg]

Julianna Daniell does a great job.

 

[KTMLew01]

Dungey has point lead back. Tomac melted down under the weight of the Red Plate. Washed front end and fell over. Cased big jump. Just looked like an also-ran. No flow. Then Mooooose-can led half the race then pulled over on last lap and let Dungey have the win. Lots of screaming on twitter and vitalMX about cheating...so IF Dungey had led all the laps with MM right on his butt, they would have bitched about THAT too.