USA Insider No.151: Teammates

Welcome to our weekly web-exclusive column, Transmoto’s USA Insider presented by Ipone. Penned each week by our man on the ground, Transmoto’s US Correspondent, Jason Weigandt, the USA Insider presents the story-behind-the-stories of the AMA supercross and motocross scene.

We waited all season for Ken Roczen and Ryan Dungey to go at each other, but it never happened. Well, it did on the track, but behind the scenes, we never saw drama, and in fact the two almost seemed to bond once they realised they could both race heads up on the track and leave it there.

I think there was a little bit of tension earlier in the season, as each tried to figure out if there were going to be problems. Once each kind of gave the “I’m cool with it if you are” nod, things actually got better. Even when Kenny was melting down after a rough go at Washougal, admitting he was struggling and not feeling right, Dungey sat there in the press conference listening, but never using that intel to twist the knife.

By the finale, they were darned well up to buddy status. On Friday afternoon, the day before their final showdown with the Lucas Oil 450 National Motocross Championship hanging in the balance, they were spotted eating together under the Red Bull KTM tent. Dungey’s dad, Troy, was doing the cooking. I suppose Troy had a last chance to give Kenny food poisoning and ruin Saturday’s race, but the young German emerged unharmed, and chatted away with Dungey and his family. The next day, after Kenny had clinched the title by riding to 3-4 moto scores, he and Dungey gave each other congrats and respect. Kenny simply said he never has a problem with anyone he races against, as long as they don’t have a problem with him. He said he and Dungey were cool all year, even during pre-season testing when they’d bash out motos then go out to dinner together with the rest of the team. Kenny has proven himself as one of the nicest guys in the pits.

And Dungey? Hey, we’ve gotten mad that the guy doesn’t get mad at his comp. You know where he stands.

Perhaps the most telling part came later that night, at the series’ ending banquet. Dungey came to the stage to accept his second-place trophy, and started with, “Well, Kenny, you beat me, man. What else can I say?”. It was a sign of the no-excuses respect the two had shown all year, and they’d officially survived a season-long teammate battle with their relationship in tact. In fact, it almost seems like they’re closer now than ever.