Ryan Dungey

I had the distinct pleasure of watching the 5th round of Supercross with my favorite 7 year old fan last night. My youngest son is pretty seriously into it. He knows all the notable 450 riders (by number and everything) and is not shy about really liking Ryan Dungey. It's very cool as I remember feeling the same way about Bob Hannah at a similar age only watching races on TV was rarely an option in those days.

To make it just that much more fun, Dungey had a pretty exceptional night last night. In Ryan's qualifying heat, on the starting line, a bleeding edge air shock failed and the rear end of his bike just fell flat. He wasn't even able get out of the gate and was visibly frustrated. He hasn't had all that notable a season so far so it was a very tough break.

Ryan was forced into an LCQ (last chance qualifier) as his last hope for even making the Main. In the LCQ Dungey was taken down in a first turn pileup and resumed the race in about 10th place. Dungey would have to finish in 1st or 2nd place to even qualify for the Main. In a pretty remarkable feat he rode the tires of his bike and qualified. Vaughn unfortunately could no longer force himself to stay awake and asked me to tape the end of the race.

Ultimately Dungey went straight from the LCQ to the Main and won it. I doubt very much if either Vaughn or I will forget it any time soon.