KTM have announced that Ryan Dungey will be returning to racing action this summer in the AMA Pro Motocross championship in the 450MX class.
Dungey won nine titles indoors and out in his distinguished racing career which pretty much launched KTM as a major force in American motocross and Supercross.
Those nine titles included four 450 Supercross titles, including one in his rookie 450SX season with Suzuki, before taking three more with KTM between 2015 and 2017. There were also three 450MX titles outdoors, and that is where Dungey is returning to in 2022.
The famous #5 rider retired at the end of the 2017 season having won his fourth 450SX title and, despite significant rumours that he would be racing for Honda when he joined up with them in 2020, his return to the outdoor series in 2022 will be his first top class race since he retired.
Dungey is currently only set to race the Nationals at Pala and Hangtown, the first two rounds of the season, but it is not totally ruled out that he could make further appearances through the season.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity to race the first couple rounds of the outdoors for Red Bull KTM,” Dungey said.
He continued, “I’ve had a lot of success with KTM in my most recent years of racing and it’s exciting to go back and race for the same team with a lot of great personnel. I have a lot of trust with the team, which breeds confidence sitting on the line knowing I have good people behind me and we’ve got a great dirtbike underneath us. This is a stacked class and it’s been a long time since I’ve been on the line with them but I’m excited to be back on the gate. I’ve got a lot of respect for the sport and the riders, so I don’t go into this underestimating anybody. I’m excited to just be out there racing with everybody and see what we can do.”
The Red Bull KTM Team Manager, Ian Harrison, added, “We couldn’t be more excited to have Ryan joining us for the first two rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. He’s a world-class rider who has obviously achieved many great successes throughout his career and it’s great to see him having so much fun riding the bike.
“Ryan is a true competitor at heart so we are happy to support his desire to line up on the gate this summer and we look forward to seeing what he can do,” Harrison said.
The news of Dungey’s return to action comes after the news last week of Antonio Cairoli going to the US this summer to compete in the Pro Motocross series for the first time. The nine-times Grand Prix champion will also be racing for KTM, and is currently only confirmed for the first two races, like Dungey. It must be said at this point that KTM have built quite a strong level of excitement over the past couple of weeks with their rider announcements, and we are still awaiting confirmation of where Jeffrey Herlings will be racing.
The Dutchman was due to ride this week to decide if he will be fit enough and sufficiently prepared for the Pro Motocross season, but there have been no official updates so far.
