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/127870
INTERVIEW , A El en ~ ~ 12 like to se e a ll three of our gu ys ge t a sp o t on th e pod ium , beca u se for th e overa ll outloo k of th e team, that' s d efinitel y number one. But as fa r a s m y sel f goes, I kn ow what I have to do an d I ju st ke e p p lu gg ing a long. I d on 't ge t too excited abou t certain things any more because I kn ow that I'm esta blished and I know tha t I can w in ra ces. I' ve go t a pr ett y good grasp on wha t it takes for me to do well nowadays, and I'm havin g a gre at tim e doi ng it. At this point , I jus t keep looking for different things to en tertain me and keep me motivated . So, as far as Jeff Emig goe s, would it b e safe to say that it is no longer jus t about race wins, it's a bou t titles? N o, I don't think so . You mean you still take it one race at a time? That's the best way for me - to notlook so far ahead but to think of every race as the only race that matters . Win o r lose, put it behind you a nd go to the next one. That stra tegy must ha ve he lped in the supercross series this year, because the first two races didn't go very well for yo u, did th ey? . At the first two events, I think I put too m uch pressure on m yself to win . You se e, I have learn ed to concentrat e on m yself and no on e else . The th ing that affects me mo st is th at I ac tua lly ge t really jealous when so mebody else win s. It's a ver y competitive feeling - I just seem to get so jeal ou s about it and I wish it was me. I ha ve to talk m yself out of that feeling and think abou t just giving it 100 per cent wh eth er I get first or 15th . I need to think ab out trying m y b est a n d th en it' s like, "Oka y, tha t' s wha t I got. Now go to the next race." It seems like when I focus on that, I seem to do a little bett er. Las t yea r, o nce you were a b le to d o th at, yo u picked up five race wi ns, but as ide from that you w ere on the podiu m just about every w eekend. It wa s a solid year for you. Yeah, it was a pretty good year as far as' tha t. I think my supercross riding cou ld be better than w ha t it was. I thi nk my confidence level has grown in the past year, jus t as a racer, and my conf idence in my ow n per son and my personality has grown as we ll. Do yo u th ink it w ill take a fas ter Jeff Emig to wi n the '98 title wit h all the se changes going on beh ind you? I d o. During the off-season I kind of hi t on a cou pl e o f thin gs tha t I realized I was go ing to have to d o bett er for th e '98 season. Something that my race team w as telling me, and reall y everybod y tha t I've eve r rid d en for tol d me ever since I' ve been riding su pe rcro sses, is th at I' m slow in the whoops. I've jus t n ever had th e ch a rge th a t o the r guys ha ve. So th a t' s the one thi ng that I'm focus ed on fixing - going through the wh oop s fa ster . I'm goi ng to h a ve to ente r them faster a nd be just a who le lot mor e co n fiden t thro ugh ther e. I thi nk that if I can 'do that, it w ill. improve my supercross riding - it will giv e me that ยท second a lap or tw o second s a lap that I n eed to be th e fastest guy out th er e eve ry week. Well, yo u 've got a good guy to learn that from becau se, in a lot o f people' s opinion, your teammate Damon Huffman is th e fas t es t gu y thro ugh t he wh oops. Yea h , Dam o n H u ff m an is defi nitely really, rea lly good thr ou gh the whoops, and then I al so ha ve Ryan H ug hes to AMA Supercross and 250cc National MX Champion Jeff Emig fro nt - which, when I wa tched that race on vid eo, was really fast. It was almost u nbelievabl e. How is your mental state going to be different as the defending champion in 1998? Are you going to put that much pressure on, yourself to win from the firs t race on or are you going to try to approach the 16-round S upe rcross Series as one big 16-lap race? One big race. Hopefully, I can take what I've learned from th e ' 97 seas on and from my success, esp ecially in the ou td oor mo tocr oss se ries, and be a littl e more ca lm a n d patien t. I w a n t to be th ere every w eek. Th er e was only one race in the motocro ss series wh ere I was ou tside of the top two . If I can hold true to that and have my same comfor t zone and confid ence level w hen I ge t to the ra ce, and the sa me am ou n t of excitement, I th ink I'll be suc cess fu l. It's a thing where I want to have a clear head when I go to the race; I want p eop le to k now tha t I'm g oing there to have a good tim e and to do my job. I want to entert ain the fans and I want to rid e 100 percent each and every time I get on the bike. What are your expectations for 1998? Well, of course I want to win. Non e of u s would be there if we didn't want to win th e '9 8 supercross ch ampionship, but I want to set a big impression in the fansas to w ho I am and that I'm a really dedicated racer. I want to have a lot of fun , b ecause that' s why w e a ll race motocross - because it's a blast, it's a gr eat spo rt to be in . I think next year I'm just going to branch ou t a little bit. (Above) Emig admits he's going to have to pick up his speed even more to retain the number-one plate in '98. (Right) Emig is shown sandw ic hed betw een a pair of fo ur-strokes at the Las Vegas Supercross. lo ok at. H e take s a li t tl e d iffere nt ap proach to it. Damon, he really studies th e whoo ps a nd u ses techn iqu e, an d Ryn o, o n th e o ther h a nd , I th ink he . closes his eyes, shifts u p a gea r and jus t pi n s it ! So if I ca n find so me so r t of happy medi um and just learn from both of those guys and be so mewhere right in between them, bu t going just as fas t as them, I think that's what I need . Ma ybe yo u could trade ou t a tip on th e whoo p s fro m you r teamm a te s and ma y be teach th e m h ow to get holes hots, be cause in 1997 you w ere just to tall y on the gas. . It's been a really great part of my whole career, all the way from when I was riding a 60cc min ib ike, the fact tha t I ge t rea lly good starts. Iused to get a lot of g rief about th a t back in the a mateur days in the Stock class, because everybo dy a lways th ou g h t th at my stoc k bikes were tu ned on. But now tha t there are no stock bik es in supercross, it still holds tru e tha t I' ve been a prett y good starter thro u gh ou t my w hol e ca reer and it definitely makes winning easier. A lot o f p eople say the b est race yo u rode in 1997 was in Houston where, i ns tead of getting the holeshot, you came fro m dead-last place . Would you agree that that was you r be st ride? Well, my whole p hil osophy on supercrosses is ge t the holeshot and d rag my fee t to the fin ish, so H ou st on was a tough race for me, for su re. Going across the gat e, I missed a shift and I couldn't ge t the bike back in gea r, so now I wa s dea d la s t. So I basicall y turn ed m y whole philosophy ups ide d ow n and I did it backwa rds. And it tu rned out to be my be st s u p er cr oss ever. Period . Everybody was u p front, the track was really fair, and I jus t had a su per race. I was really aggres siv e w it h m y pa sses and it took me eight laps to get to th e I think that I'm going to try to be a little mo re d edicated to givin g so me thi ng bac k to the sp ort - and , of course, wi n the supercross championship. D id you treat y o u rs e l f to anything when you won the title? New car? New boat? No, ac tua lly I'm tr yi n g to se ll every th ing I bo ug h t th e la s t tim e I won a cha mpions hip! Can you think of anyth ing else? I ap p re ciated a ll th e s u p port tha t my sponsors and the fans and the people in the industry ga ve me wit h winn ing the su percross season last year. I had a great bunch of people aro u nd m e last yea r, and thos e same peopl e will be with me again in 1998. That g oes w it h keepi ng everything intact; you have a w ell-oiled mach ine rig ht now. . Yea h, e xactly. Now if I ca n just keep from breaki ng it, I'll be all right. (~