And all of Reed's championships have been while the top competition have been out as well. Reed never won a championship when Carmichael, Stewart, Villopoto, or Dungey went the distance. Last man standing. But people seem to wear rose colored glasses for their favorites. His competition in '09 MX nationals was Short and Ivan Tedesco. '08 and '04 SX was Kevin Windham. That sums up Reed's championships. I think Dungey has been pretty damn impressive with some pretty deep fields, and take away 3 mechanicals which were no fault of his own, he has 2 more championships to his name against Villopoto. And Dungey's still a relative youngster, while Reed is now a seasoned veteran. Woulda coulda shoulda, but that's the truth.
I saw him in a video from a New Jersey mx race on the beach earlier this year, and heard he won some hare scramble up there also. Someone said he was at the Mini O's last year, but I can't find anything about that. He kept his Arma Racing RMZ 450's and still rides occassionally I guess.
I saw a video interview the other day with Bob Hannah. He talked about how, in his racing days, he was the type of the rider who would ride 100% and on the edge every race, even if he didn't need to. He wondered if his career would have been longer if he would have dialed it back occasionally and rode just hard enough to win, and nothing more. I think that's what Dungey does... he pushes it just enough to win, or atleast get on the podium. Meanwhile riders like James Stewart are riding past their limits all the time, and crashing out, sometimes even getting injured. Dungey may be boring to watch sometimes, but he knows what he's doing and just rides hard enough to get on the box. <object id="flashObj" classid="clsid <embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=683469678001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fmotocross.transworld.net%2F1000104228%2Ffeatures%2Fcatching-up-with-bob-hannah%2F&playerID=1154759099001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAACs3dJFk~,ZFMLvoLIsdEAd0rOmk4gNmcHjCvC4Pdg&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="360" width="640"></object><object id="flashObj" classid="clsid</object>
I like to see him have a come back trip to the big leagues, possibly a little more humbler and wiser, I would cheer him on
But he has shown he can win on a reasonably regular basis with multiple top adversaries present. Dungey seems to have minimal wins until ALL of the top adversaries are out. Which cannot be said about the CR/RV/JS. Personally i don't have a favorite but as I started this debate I'll just say that expecting more from champions either going forward or in hindsight is a fair point of view from the ranks of the spectators. I'd like nothing better than to see any of them post an undefeated run to a title. They are all in my opinion the top riders on the planet in any discipline and that includes Moto GP and to be "the best" of the top 10 is worthy of some kind of statue. Dungey, Reed, Stewart, and RV are the gold standard for "dirt bikes". For Barcia and Canard to be mentioned in the same breath speaks for itself. For Windham to do what he does at his age defies logic. Still time for one magical season? Maybe the 2013 Honda 450 was born for this very reason. Whatever way you slice the pie it doesn't bode well for Yamaha's red headed step child of a platform.
Many of you seem to want two outcomes for this season: 1. You want all the riders to ride always "on the edge", never backing off, always trying to win every race. (Dungey seems to get the most criticism for not being aggressive enough.) 2. You also want all the major players to make it through the season so the championship is not decided by attrition. Do you realize that these two goals are in direct conflict with one another? You can't have it both ways. Personally, I wish they'd all back off a bit and we could enjoy an entire season with the top five or so all riding rather than watching three/fourths the field eventually be carted off to the hospital in the course of a season. - Mark
Living where I do,the closest Supercross was Pontiac/Detroit(60-90 min drive).Now the closest is Indy,(3-4 hr drive).By the time they roll into this area,several of the major players are usually out,which is why I dont attend any more.Free tickets to Indy may be available,but its not enough to get me to make that long boring drive.Now when Redbud comes round in July,its a different story!
Flug, I totally understand what you are saying about Dungey, and sub-consciously I agree with it, but maybe that's why I want to argue it so bad. Facts. In 2010, RD beat RV straight up 5 times before RV was injured. He also Beat JS and CR twice before they left the series. In 2011 RD had 1 win with CR, JS, RV and TC all present. In 2012 RD had one win with RV, CR, TC and JS present and 2 wins with just RV and JS present. These results of course are all SX only. So again, I understand completely what you are saying, but I think he's winning more against full competition than you are giving him credit for. What is it, 5 more days? No A1 for me this year, but I've got my tickets for Oakland and I am ready! And Yeah, I'm glad I live on the West coast and the guys are almost always still healthy while they are in my neck of the woods.
I agree about Dungy,if JS could keep from crashing,he would be the one to beat,but there are some good riders comin' up.
I think Dungey will be super quick this year. Look at what he did in the Monster Energy Cup race, shifting with his hand in a few of those moto's. Would have been awesome to see what he could have done without all the crazy bike problems he had at that event.
GotMojo's photo reminds me, what about Alessi? Is he not even worth mentioning? I guess he's a top 10er but not a top fiver. Did he get 2nd in MX only because all the top guys except RD5 were out? Probably, but he was also consistently beating Short, Grant, Weimer and others who've been mentioned so far.
I think he's faster at the outdoors than he is in supercross. Didn't he win a main this year in outdoor, holding off Dungey or Stewart for the entire race? In SX, I think he'll consistently be the next fastest guy behind the usual RV, RD, CR, and JS (and Barcia) freight train.
These all fast guys,I think Dungey's stronger in the longer races(outdoors)where conditioning counts.250's ought to be great,always a battle,we'll have to see who races where.
SX has always been Alessis's weakness. He's has always been substantially more competitive in MX. I don't even think he'll be that next-best guy. After Stewart, Dungey, RV, Reed, Barcia and Canard you are already up to 7th place and I think that will be a guy like Windham or Short (or even more likely Weimer or even Cole Seely who rode a 450 very well in a few rounds last year) before it will ever be Alessi in season ending points. So here's my official season points picks. 1-Dungey 2-Villopoto 3-Barcia 4-Reed 5-Windham 6-Canard 7-Weimer 8-Stewart after missing 4 rounds on the season I left Seely out of these picks because he rode the factory Honda filling in for Canard very well last year, but he won't get anywhere that level of quality bike this year. Anyone else want to go on record for season result picks.
Dungey was interviewed at the start of the outdoor season and was asked what his chances were against Stewart. He just smiled and said he had a plan. I think his plan was to push James just hard enough in the first few rounds to let Bubba take care of himself. He kept closing in on James in each race until James did just that. Dungey is a smart racer and he is fast........ but he is not as fast as Villopoto. .
Dungey will eventually retire from racing healthy and wealthy. I wonder what his future plans are post racing?
