ESPY Awards 2015 Best Male Action Sports Athlete

When ESPY Awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) began in 1993, motorcycle competitors were way off the  radar.

This changed in 2007, when Travis Pastrana earned the ESPY Award in Action Sports, bringing motocross to the forefront of popular media through ESPY Awards host, ESPN. Pastrana’s double backflip at the 2006 X Games (height of the Nitro Circus DVD era) helped him win the award over two other nominees – Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart.

But Pastrana was the last motocross start to receive an ESPY award – until this year. At ESPY Awards 2015, two-time Monster Energy Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey received the top honors in the Best Male Action Sports Athlete, overtaking popular riders in disciplines such as skateboarding, BMW, snowboarding and surfing.

The 25-year-old Minnesota native topped the Sport Athlete in the ESPY Awards 2015 as he is chasing his second Lucas Oil Pro Motocross title. After seven of 12 rounds, Dungey has a 44-point lead over the reigning MX Champion Ken Roczen.

Dungey will also always be tied to KTM, accomplishing much history for the Austrian brand. Dungey, who joined KTM in 2012 following his first AMA Supercross title in 2010 with Suzuki, is now contracted to ride the Red Bull Factory KTM SX-F450 through 2017. Dungey gave KTM its first 450 Supercross win (Phoenix, 2012), its first 450 Motocross title (2012), and its first 450 Supercross title (2015).

Following his top honors at ESPY Awards 2015, Dungey has once again showed that motocross is as mainstream as the other popular sport games.