Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1091680
P102 Interview What kind of backing are you guys getting from Kawa- saki, as compared to what you had with Indian? None. It's pretty simple. Indian gave us everything from Indian and Polaris, and Kawasaki—either way, me and Ricky were going back to Kawasaki, but it felt like we were baited in a little bit from Kawasaki saying that for the last year they've been wanting to get us back on the Kawi and get a Kawi back out there winning. Then we did it and standing there It's the same story— Mees has been so hot the last couple years. Me and him have been arm-wrestling back and forth for the last five or six years. It's been me or him basically first or second up until this past year, and I broke my leg. He's at the top of the list. The Bau- man brothers, espe- cially Briar, because he proved himself big time last year. They're going to be on the factory Indian, so they'll be tough. Carver was tough last year. You can basi- cally look at the points. Wiles had an unbelievable year. I would say, Jared, number one and probably Briar and Carver as my top three strongest competitors, no doubt. Weird they're all on Indians. Imag- ine that. But nonetheless, with or without Kawasaki, with leaving Indian and all that, it's only for one reason, and that's just for me because I think I can win more on the Kawasaki. So that's essentially why we did it. Any feelers from Harley-Da- vidson towards you guys? You would think so because they struggled, but no. No com- munication. It's funny, because Ricky's race shop, where we ran the Indian program out of, and then now our new Kawasaki program, is like a football field's length from Vance and Hines. It's kind of funny. It's right there in Brownsburg [Indiana]. with our hand out, and essentially it was the whole "budgets are full, budgets are tight." There's no money for flat track, essen- tially. So thank God, what made it possible for us to do it whether Kawasaki was helping us or not, Kawasaki would have been the cherry on top for me and the sport if Kawasaki would have helped, but if it wasn't for Bo [LeMastus], which, he owns the Crosley Brands company, he made it completely possible and he's funding it. If it weren't for him, it would not be possible. Are there at least contingencies? Yeah, they put out contingencies. It's better than it was in 2016, so they are doing something for the sport, in the Singles class and all that. It's not like they totally turned a cold shoulder to flat track. (Editor's note: There are Kawasaki contingencies in the series, with $5000 to win an AFT Twins race.) How do you scope out the competition this year? Who do you think are going to be the prime guys that you're going to have to deal with? Smith is extremely happy to be reunited with his old team that he won the title with in 2016.