Dungey turned in a solid season in his first full year in the professional ranks. The 17-year-old Makita Suzuki rider won three rounds of the AMA Supercross Lites East Series en route to finishing fifth in the final standings. He capped off the Supercross season with an impressive victory in the Dave Coombs East/West AMA Supercross Lites Shootout at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium on May 5.
"It was unbelievable," said Dungey after winning the Shootout. "I'd hoped to get a good start on my Makita Suzuki RM-Z250 but it was unimaginable to lead the whole 15 laps like that."
Dungey was a promising amateur champion when Makita Suzuki unexpectedly called him up to race for them in the final motocross rounds of 2006. In addition to the potential he showed in Supercross this season, Dungey also scored four podium finishes in the Lites class of the 2007 AMA Toyota Motocross Championship presented by FMF. His best result of the year was a runner-up finish at Unadilla in July. Dungey finished the season ranked fifth in the final AMA Motocross Lites Championship in spite of missing the final three rounds due to an injury.
"I'm really excited to be named AMA Rookie of the Year," Dungey said. "I'm really happy about such a big honour, because just one rider a year gets it for working the hardest throughout the year and having the best results out of all the rookies. But I couldn't have gotten this without the support of my mom and dad, all of Team Makita Suzuki, my team manager Roger DeCoster, my sponsors, my manager Tony Gardea and also Dr. G. Thanks so much to everyone."
Dungey finds his name among a long and prestigious list of past AMA Rookies of the Year including riders such as Ricky Carmichael, Travis Pastrana, James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto.
Dungey is slated to return with Makita Suzuki in 2008.
