Four-time AMA National Motocross Champion Ryan Dungey will come out of retirement to contest the opening rounds of the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship — which explains why he has been putting the 2023 KTM SX-F through its paces at Glen Helen. KTM also announced that Tony Cairoli will be joining Dungey on a factory ride. The Italian MXGP icon is bringing his nine FIM World Motocross Championships to race in the U.S. just five months removed from his retirement from MXGP. The two have gone head-to-head here in the U.S. just once, at the 2010 FIM Motocross of Nations at Colorado’s Thunder Valley Motocross Park and engaged in a memorable battle for the win for their respective countries, from which Dungey emerged triumphant in leading Team USA to victory on home soil.
“We knew that the 50th anniversary season of the world’s most prestigious motocross championship was destined to be one for the ages, but nothing could have prepared us for the competitive return of two of motocross’ most prolific champions in Ryan Dungey and Antonio Cairoli,” said Davey Coombs, President, MX Sports Pro Racing. “When Ryan retired in 2017 it certainly felt like he still had a lot left in the tank, so it was bittersweet to watch him step away in his prime. While a return to action was always something we’d hoped would happen, today’s announcement is unprecedented and we cannot wait to watch two ageless legends of the sport go bar-to-bar with their younger counterparts this summer. Seeing the #5 and #222 together on the track will truly be one of the series’ landmark moments.”
Dungey amassed one of the most decorated careers in series history before he announced his retirement from racing just prior to the start of the 2017 summer campaign, but now, five seasons later, he’ll return to the starting gate as a member of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, with whom he captured the 2012 and 2015 titles in the 450 Class. Fittingly, Dungey’s comeback will also welcome the return of his famed No. 5 on the KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition.
The 12-round 50th Anniversary season starts Memorial Day Weekend on May 28 and the season finale over Labor Day Weekend on September 3. Follow along here:
https://promotocross.com