Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW he yea r 1997 was the bes t of Jeff Emig's career. In breaking Jeremy McGra th ' s s tra ng le hold on th e cha m p io n s h ip tro phy, th e 26year-old resident o f Ri vers id e , California, clinched his first-ever AMA ·250cc Super cross crown and the first stadium title for Team Kawasaki in more than a d ecade. As if tha t w ere not enough, "Ieffro" went on to clinch his second s traig h t AMA 250cc Outdoor Nati onal MX Champion ship. Emi g a ccomplished both successes with a strategy of pois e and consistency and a newfound confidence that he had not s how n before th e ' 97 campa ign . Those a tt rib u tes have to make Emig (and Kawa saki) a smart bet to su ccessfully defend his title in 1998. .................................... 10 How does it feel to finally ha ve the label "the fastest man on the planet"? Ac tually, I feel really no rmal, like I' m just d oing th es e th in g s as if it were eve ryday life. I don 't really feel like anythi ng special. I jus t keep ra cin g hard each weekend, and my results seem to be good every time. Do you feel an y faster? To be h o n es t, ma ybe ju st a li ttl e in su pe rcross, but in motocross I feel the same as always. I'm jus t going and racin g a n d d oin g what co mes n atu ral , doing wha t see ms to be the easi est. Where are some of the places you've been racing? What's your schedule like after the su percross series? I ju st keep ra ci n g, yea r- ro u nd . Even after w in n in g th e s u p e r cro ss t it le I d idn 't let up one bit, and when the ou td oor season was over I wen t straight to Eu rop e. It ' s rea l im portan t fo r me to ke ep racing a n d n ev er take a b reak . Aft er I wo n the su perc ross tit le, I fin ished up the AMA Motocro ss Series and wo n an other titl e ther e-.Then a cou ple ra ce s in Eu ro pe, the Mot ocross Des Nations, which was a tou gh defea t for me a nd Team USA. Th en it w as on to the World Su percross Cha m pionshi p Series, which was good becau se I was crow ned the King of Bercy (at the Paris SX) for the first time. I always had races in Italy, Japan, Switzerland and so on . Then that's basically it for the year, then I get a little bit of time off, which really won't be time off because I'm sure I'll be testing with the guys from my race team. There' s a hu ge amount of cha nges taking pla ce am o ng so m e of the o the r riders an d oth er tea ms, bu t the core o f Kawasaki ' s rem a in s the s am e. D o y ou think th at is go ing to benefit you guys? I th in k so. A consiste ncy a n d knowing the bike, I thi nk, makes a big d ifference as fa r as bein g comfo rtable. Ryan Hu gh es, my te ammat e, took off th e win ter and di dn't do any of the Eu ropean races, largely due to having a new ad dit ion to his family (his son Evand er), Damon Huffman, on the other han d , d id well in a couple of the European even ts and seems to be gell ing a lot stro nge r. He has an aw ful lot of talent in su percross, As fo r you r ow n program, y ou will again be working with your mechanic, AMA Supercross and 250cc National MX Champion Jeff Emig By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones and Karl Ockert Everything clickea for Jeff Emig this yea.; but the reigningsupercross champ says there is still room for improvement. Jeremy Albrecht, who was named the '97 Mechanic of the Year for the 250cc class. Yes, and that award was well-deserved, in my min d . Jere my does a great job for me , making su re th a t, eac h and every time I get on the bike, it' s perfect and it feels the same as it did the last tim e I rode and that it performs to the highest quality. I think that everybod y on our race te am - from my manager, Bruc e Stjernstrom, all the way to the guys in the race shop - the y put out extra effort, and it's reall y gratifying for me that I get to reward all of them: th e guys in the race shop who work d ay in and da y ou t, sometimes seven days a week. I'm glad to give them th e cha nce to have and enjoy the championship as a reward for all that hard wo rk. The core of the Kawasaki team has remained together for three years, but do you realize tha t the second-, third-, fourth- and sixth-ranked supercross riders from '97 have a ll s w itch e d teams fo r 1998? How do yo u think tha t is going to work out for them ? Do you think there's going to be a learning period for all of them, or do you think from the word "go" it' s going to be the s a m e as it ever wa s? Well, I think w henever yo u swi tch a team, there is a certa in a mo u n t of e n t h us ias m th a t co mes wit h th e change . Th er e is also a time period · wh ere you have to get used to things. For ins ta nce, w hen I switched teams a t th e beginn in g of '96, I wa s p re tty excited abo ut it, and m y expec tat ions we re real high although m y finishes in th e beg innin g w er en't quite as good . Bu t then, six months to a year d own the line, things go t really, really good . So I th in k in th e s it ua tion lik e Ezra Lusk go ing to Hond a a nd Jere my .McGra th going to Yamaha - both of w ho m ar e pretty ta le n ted supe rc ross. rid ers - I don't see them having to take any time to get used to their bikes or teams or new surro undings. I'm su re that they'll be real strong right from the start. You talked about the sw itch yo u made to Ka wa sa k i b ack in ' 96. Obvious ly you spent a formidable part o f your career with Team Yamaha, b ut si nce that switch yo u've won th re e ou t of four m a jo r U.S . t itle s . Wa s it t h e change in teams or the ma tu ri ty of Jeff Emig that ma de the differe n ce? Well, it's the maturity and the chance to sta rt over as a different person. I think that w he n vour e w i th a tea m fo r a w hile d uring your growing per iod and your lea rning period like I was with Yama ha (five yea rs), it can be a mixed blessin g. I ma de a lot of mistakes and I also wo n a lot of races, bu t I thin k that . maybe I just didn' t blen d we ll with that team towards the end of my time there, and it was time to move on. Since the breakup, the fortunes of both Je ff Emig and Yamaha ha ve ch anged, haven't they? Tha t' s right ; 1997 see me d to be a good year for the bo th of us in tha t Yamah a had every one of their guys win races la s t ye a r. T hat' s d e finite ly wha t you look for . I wo uld like to see that ha ppen on Team Ka wa saki th is year. I would

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