Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Red Bull 117M's Grant Langston used to the 250 with torque and all that and I keep trying to want to set up the 125 more towards that. Right now, I'm just getting used to riding the 125 and then seeing if there's any changes I need to do. The bike's pretty good all-around at the moment, so we didn't do anything drastic - maybe a few clicker changes on the suspension, but that's pretty much it. By STEVE Cox PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN AND Cox rant Langston won the 2000 125cc World Motocross Championship at the tender age of 18, and when he came to the states, he was the heavy favorite in the 200 I 125cc National Motocross Championship. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he struggled with injuries and didn't even race Budds Creek, he held a nine-point lead over Mike Brown going into the season's final moto at Steel City but had his rear wheel destroy itself and land him with a DNF. Since that fateful day, Langston has struggled with injuries - although he hasn't struggled much with speed. Even during this year's AMA/THQ Supercross Series, he often showed impressive speed on the underdeveloped factory Red Bull KTM 250 SX although it tossed him on the ground quite a few times as well. We caught up with Langston the Saturday before the Hangtown MX National to speak with him about his health, his bike, his chances at this year's 125cc National Championship, his secondmoto win at Glen Helen the week prior, the state of the GPs, and more. G Did the second-moto win affect your confidence at all coming into Hangtown and the rest of the series? Yeah. You know, it's always great to finish off... You know, like everyone says, you're only as good as your last race, and it's fortunate for me that it was a good last race. I think it gives me some confidence at this track, and I've had a pretty good history here, so ... I think this year's going to be tough - there's a lot of guys going real quick at the moment. I was watching Glen Helen on TV a few minutes ago, and it's amazing to see the whole freight train there was in that first moto. There was like 10 guys that you probably could've thrown a blanket over for a while. It's just important to be consistent and get good starts every time. I think that helps out so much because it's tough to come through [the pack] nowadays. Q A At Glen Helen, did you expect to do as well as you did? I didn't know what to expect too much because, until like a week before that race, I mean, I was still struggling - arm pump. I'd only done like two motos of practice. When I saw the track, it was hot and rough - usually when you practice, you're riding at 90 percent, but when you're racing, you're racing at 110 percent. You know, I didn't know if I'd be able to run the pace for long enough. I know that sometimes when I haven't raced in a while, I come back; I'm all tight. The first moto, I was kind of getting a little frustrated because I sat in eighth place forever, and I remember thinking, "This is not going how I planned it to." All of a sudden, it all started coming back to me. I started picking some better lines and flowing a bit, and then I just came back through and came back through, and then I took third on the last lap, so I was happy the way it ended. I was happy. Then the second moto, I was happy too because Brownie caught up to me, and he put pressure, and I just dug deep, picked up the pace a little, and the two of us just ran away from the rest of the pack. I was happy to hold on for the win, and second overall was good - just two points in it. I'd probably A 38 JUNE 4, 2003' eye • e n e _ Grant Langston is going to give it everything he has this year to win the title that was taken from him In 2001. have to say, overall, I'm happy with the results. To go out and win a moto in my first race back, I'd have to say I was happy with that. I won my first-ever race there, and then last year I came back not even ready and got second overall, so I would've been disappointed had I not been on the podium. Q A How's the bike coming along now? I only rode Wednesday and Thursday [before Glen Helen] on the 125. To be honest, I did nothing - just went practicing to get used to the bike. I don't want to start trying to change things. I'm still s In 2000, you won a World Championship at 17, turning 18, and you come here with high expectations, and since your wheel blew up at the last National in 2001, do you think people's opinion of you has changed any over the time since? I do think so, to an extent. I noticed at Glen Helen, last year and this year, when I went out in practice even, I saw people cheering like they were happy that I was back out racing. Things like I get a lot of people - fans - walk up and say, "It's so good to see you back. I'm behind you. I know you can do it." And I saw the Racer X online poll of who people think is going to win the 125 championship, and I was surprised to see that I won with the amount of votes quite convincingly. I do feel there are still a lot of people who believe in me and are behind me. I think a lot of people had maybe written me off or just think that I showed a lot of talent that never really materialized. I think one of the guys who I think has done that is Tortelli. He came

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