What Really Happened: Pala

After 12 rounds, 24 motos, and about 4 months, the 2011 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship is over, and the winners deserved to win.

By: Steve Cox | Monday, September 12, 2011

Ryan Villopoto may have had to do things differently without Ryan Dungey having his troubles. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

In the past few weeks, in various columns and blogs here on motocross.com, I have pointed out how the mechanical troubles Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey suffered this year may have cost him the outdoor title. And that’s true. They may have.

However, there’s a reason why I said “may have”. It’s easy to add up points after the fact here and there and say, “If this would’ve happened, then this.” And all of us pundits do it quite a bit. But it’s not reality. The racing season is much more dynamic than that.

If Ryan Dungey had finished moto two in Texas at round two, and won that race, yes, he would have 25 points more than he does now, and Ryan Villopoto – the eventual winner of the title – would have one less point.

But how things probably would have gone down in reality is quite different.

With that 26-point deficit, chances are that Villopoto would’ve been more motivated to make up points earlier, because he’d have been looking at the gap to Dungey instead of just to Chad Reed. He’d have pushed harder, and he’d have taken more chances, and he may have caught up to Dungey anyway.

Or, with those extra chances he was taking, he may have been bitten by one or two of them and lost even more ground to Dungey as a result.

The point is that yes, the points cost Dungey a lot, but him winning that second moto in Texas, or not having the mechanical in the second moto at Southwick, is not a guarantee of this year’s championship going to him. Mathematically, it makes sense, but math is linear, and racing like this is dynamic.

So, in my opinion, what really happened at Pala was that we learned that Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Villopoto is actually a much better sport than any of us knew. At Pala, after clinching the title, he actually acknowledged the points losses that Dungey has suffered this year and said something to the effect of, “Things may have been different…”

Ryan Dungey also would've had to do things differently if not for his troubles. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

And Villopoto was right. Things definitely would have been different. But that’s not to say that the end result would be.

Besides, this isn’t an individual sport. We as (former) racers like to believe that it is, but it isn’t. Part of what wins a championship is the people behind you as a racer. For example, racers want to race for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team for a reason – because they believe they have the best shot at winning on that team.

Well, when a racer chooses his team, no matter what the criteria, his team becomes part of his “program” and just like having a bad trainer, or a bad diet, or a bad relationship with some chick, any weakness in a racer’s program can become their undoing for a championship.

So, to say that Ryan Dungey “deserves” this championship any more than Ryan Villopoto does is simply incorrect in many, many ways. Actually, unless someone was penalized points unfairly, I don’t think it’s possible for the wrong guy to win a championship. Whoever wins the title deserves to win it. Period.

Congratulations to Ryan Villopoto and his Monster Energy Kawasaki racing team on a winning 2011 season. Now comes the hard part: defending.

Ryan Villopoto and his Monster Energy Kawasaki team earned, and deserve, this title. That's how racing works. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Add a Comment

By submitting a comment you grant Motocross.com a perpetual license to reproduce your words, name and web site in attribution.
Comments may be removed at an administrators discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only and will never be shared.