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/127655
big race, even though I haven 't won it because of p roblem s, or whatever. I won the East /West round at Houston this year but it didn't really get me too excited - it was just another race. Daytona ha s always been more prestigious than the rest of the races in the series. When I was gr owing up I remember alwa ys hearing stuff about " the Day tona winners," and I always wanted to be one of them . Do you prefer living and training in Georgia to doing your work in California? Yes. Georgia is definitely better for me . I grew up here, my friends and family are here... I just like it here. I reall y don't think too much of California. Most of the riders out there aren't too serious about their racing. I know that you have to ha ve fun with your life, too, but some of those guys take more time for playing around than they do for being serious about their racing. For me, the only good thing I can see about California is that you're cl ose to everyone; almost all of the compan ies are out there together. Hopefull y, th ere w on' t come a point w he r e I h a ve to mo ve out there , be cau se we can do all of our training and testing over here. I like to go out there for a few weeks every now an d the n to ge t the bikes re a dy an d see people a nd a ll tha t, but I wo ul dn' t }Van t to stay too long. I' ve got a go od si tua ti on here in Bainbridge because I can do almost all m y work right around my house . I built a practice supercross track across town on property that we rented. No one else goes out there unless the y talk to u s fir st; it's a pretty tough track. We've got a bulldozer out there that we use to keep the track in good shape and make new jumps and stuff. It's a good place to practice and test. Does Suzuki have a teamsupercross practice track out West? The y just got a new one built over by the Glen Helen track in San Bernardino . I haven't actually seen it yet but I hear it 's reall y good . We had one before over in Victorville, but I don't know what's going on with that. The Glen Helen track is s up p osed to be more like a real supercross than the old one w as . It' s made o u t of cla y; Victorville had too much sand. I'm sure I'll be riding the new trac k when I go o ut we st for th e 250cc su p ercrosse s after the 125s are over back here. You wanted to ride the 2S0cc class out West throughout the series but Suzuki would not let you join that class until the 12Scc East Coast series was over. D id that create a problem between you and the team? Well, no , not really. I'm kind of mad abo u t not getting to rid e but kind of glad at the same time. I wanted to ride those races , but it makes sense for them to want to keep me safe un til this series is over . I want to be 100% for the whole series because I've had some p ro blems th e la st tw o ye a rs with injuries . Missing those Western races gave me a chance to do a lot of testing on both my su percross bike and my o u tdoor bike, so I d idn't w aste tha t time . I.think I'll be ready for the rest of the supercrosse s and the first out door national at Gain esville . Do you and teammate Damon Huffman ever practice together? No, not much at all. We' ve done som e testing together but not mu ch else. After a couple of years as a contender, yo u' re finally dominating th e 12Scc Eastern Reg ional Series . Did you expect to be on top this time? Yes, I did . I feel like it's my tum. I real- mechani c (Ed Lo n ga e re) is alwa ys w orking on th e race bikes. My mOII\ (Willa) and dad also go to most of the races to he lp me with anything I nee d. I ha ve a li ttle brother (Shane) but he doesn ' t race or anything. He has a little motorcycle but he doesn 't ride it much anym or e. I guess he's more into bicycles right no w. What do your friends in Bainbridge think of your profession? They reall y seem to like it. There's onl y fou r or five people that really know what it is that I do . I alwa ys call them after races to tell th em how things went. They know just about everything there is to know about racing and they all think it's really cooL They also try to go to the closer racers like Atlanta, Gainesville and Charlotte. Have you bought yourself any toys with the money you've made as a factory racer? . I bought myself a new Chevy truck, a '93 step-side, then I fixe d it all up . I doubt that I'll be getting anything else soon - I'm trying to save my money right now . Ma yb e I'll be able to ge t myself something after the supercross series is over. We 'll just have to se e CN . how things turn ou t. ly thought I would win the series last year but Doug Henry an d Hon da came on re all y strong and bea t us . I h ad some problems of my own, but hopefull y got all the crashes out of my system last year. I' ve been trying to rid e harder and ride stronge r in every race and thin gs ha ve been w o r ki n g out right. We onl y have three races do wn but I'm happy with how th in gs are going. Did you learn anything from you r battles last year with Doug Henry? Sure, I learned a little bit. On e thing Doug showed me is that you have to go hard from the very start. You ha ve to always jump out an d charge right from the get-go like Dou g did instead of waiting around for a few lap s sort of like Jeff Stanton does . Dou g w o u ld alwa ys pull me from the start, so I had to com e up through and tr y to catc h him but it wa s usually too late. Now I'm going hard right away and I'm winning races. As a minicycle prodigy you and your family made a lot of road tri p s to minicycle nationals all over the country. How did your amateur career prepare you for life as a pro fessional racer? I guess the mos t important thing was that I got used to alw ays traveling and being away from hom e. We would go racing at d iffer ent tr acks all th e time and after awhile it seemed like I was at a big race every weekend. I guess ' that helped me learn how to adjust to a different track every weekend. All of that competition was good for me, too . I got to see guys from all over the Sta tes, even th ough m y m a in rivals were probab ly just one or two guys, like Jeff Dem ent and Tim Ferry. When I was yo unger, it was a g uy na med Brock Bullard tha t I always rac ed wi th. He may not be around anymore but I still see Dement and Ferry every weekend. How have you been ab le to ke ep your family involved in your pro career? They help me with everything, reall y. My dad (Ronnie) wo rks on my pra ctice track and keeps m y p ra ctice bikes prepped up all the ti m e since m y ~ 0\ 0\ '""" N "E ttl L........:=:........;.. ----LJ I ::E 19