Defending Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Champion Ryan Dungey is in a confident mood heading into this weekend’s Thunder Valley round after a successful showing in Colorado last year.

Dungey won both the AMA and Motocross of Nations events at Thunder Valley in 2010, and coming off a third overall at Budds Creek, he’s certain he’ll be in the mix for his first round win of the year.

“We’ve got Lakewood coming up and I’m really looking forward to it,” Dungey commented. “Last year we were able to get a win there in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship race as well as the MX Des Nations. It’s always a great track.”

Speaking of Budds Creek, where he took 2-2 results for third overall, Dungey was happy with his performance last Saturday.

“It was another good, solid weekend,” he added. “We got off to really good starts on my RM-Z today and I was able to get second in both motos.

“I lost some time in the beginning of the first moto, but I was able to make that up and get up there and almost get the win.

“I got another good start in the second moto and got up into second and battled for the number one position for the rest of the moto but just couldn’t make the pass. It was tough. The track was really one-lined.

“Overall, my Rockstar Makita Suzuki felt great and we were solid throughout the day. We just gotta keep moving forward and plugging away.”

Dungey now sits third in the series, trailing Australia’s championship leader Chad Reed by 28 points.