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I think everybody with any sense would agree that Eli Tomac was the fastest man on the track at most every SX round this year...but Dungey was the smartest. He knew that it was the points that mattered when the music stopped. He knows how to manage a championship...he's proven it 4-times now.
IF Ryan Dungey chooses to race the 2018 year instead of retirement...do you think he can outgun Tomac (and maybe Roczen) for another Championship?
Do you think consistency & experience can beat sheer speed again?
IF Ryan Dungey chooses to race the 2018 year instead of retirement...do you think he can outgun Tomac (and maybe Roczen) for another Championship?
Do you think consistency & experience can beat sheer speed again?
Tomac is the favorite right now on pure speed, but you have other young contenders that will be putting in the effort to step up their game next year.
Dungey isn't that far off on pure speed, it's the aggression and laying on the line every lap that was the difference between last year and this years win counts.
I also wonder who many of the Dungey fans pull for after he retires. I don't see them being Roczen fans as he and Dungey are opposites. Maybe Musquin? I always thought Eli would inherit many of the Dungey fans but we will see about that lol.
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Tomac wins the raw speed game. Until he augers-in another time.
"In the past 40+ years lots of guys have shown raw speed...but they always crash. Always"
- Bevo Forte. (paraphrased from a recent interview)
His bike was just bad the first 3 rounds. This won't happen again I guess.
He was already 25 points behind RD after A2.
Had he gone into the season like he rode after Round 3, he would have wrapped this thing up by round 16. Even with his crash in Arlington (which might not even have been his fault, but the fault of a failing front brake).
But to answer the OP question I think Dungey definitely can but I don't think he will. At one point in the series he had a 30 point lead and the title ended up being won by 5 points. Obviously Dungey did what he was supposed to do and made it happen when it counted but he still wasn't "himself" all year and allowed Tomac to get that close. Obviously he looks like a genius now but before round 16 there was a lot of talk that he was basically hopeless and couldn't do anything to stop the Tomac train, I don't want to say he got lucky because that is unfair but there is no way letting Eli get a three point was ever in the plan.
And hell ya, Dungey has the title thing down to a science with some of the best race craft we've ever seen.
Pit Row
Great race though. One of the best I have ever seen. You rarely see someone control a race like that, making sure people bunch up behind Dungey, let him pass, take him out. I was out of my seat the entire time. Even Reed was in on the fun. Grant also looked great.
"Do you think the thing that just happened, and has happened many times before, could happen again?"
Yes it absolutely could happen. But it could also not happen. That's why we run the races!
However, I think the issues that plagued Eli's campaign are fixed easier than the issues that (I think) plagued Dungey's.
Eli lost out on bike setup early on, and a small amount of mistakes later in the season. Obviously bike set up is no longer an issue, and I think Eli will only improve on his personal consistency.
For Dungey, I think his speed was lacking because he has notions of retirement in his head. I don't mean to say he doesn't want it as much as he has in the past, but you've gotta think that having done it all at this stage is making it harder to say in the grind.
So to answer your question, yes I think consistency and experience can beat sheer speed again, but if Dungey does come back for another year, consistency and experience will be going up against speed and experience. And that is a fight I would relish watching.
My money says he hangs up the boots after doing select outdoor rounds.
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