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/128218
He's finished on the podium at every National so far this year. Yeah, it does seem like a lot of guys right out of the amateurs and into the pros got factory rides and stuff, and I beat them all as far as the records go - championships at Loretta's and stuff. I don't know. I don't really know what to say; it just happened to be. A And then you won the 1997 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross Championship for Team Suzuki and then promptly lost that ride, too. I feel like people are, not intentionally holding me back, but for some reason it does seem to be happening to me, but it's actually good. It gives me more drive, and it kind of makes me mad when I see other guys get stuff that I don't. I don't know why it's happened, but I'm happy to be where I am - I'm in the top three in the world right now, in what I feel the best championship is, and that's not too bad with everyone out here. Q A With all of your experience on the fourstroke, do you have an idea why your teammate David Vuillemin is struggling with it a bit right now? I know it's a major adjustment. David I think has a lot of issues - not personally with himself, but he broke his back about the same time I got diagnosed with Epstein-Barr and came back riding like six or seven weeks after having a broken back, which I feel like he should've taken more time off. Then he hopped on a bike that's totally brand new for him, and he's going to the Nationals, when he typically does better in supercross. So there's a lot of different elements that go into it and kind of hold him back. And really, he only rode that bike for two or three weeks before Glen Helen, and it's one thing to hop on a four-stroke and go fast for a couple laps, but it's a whole new bike to learn to race because any- and it seems to work fine for you, plus David Vuillemin's married, and Ricky Carmichael's married. Do you think it's better nowadays to be married? I think it's just people with the wrong perception - people who shouldn't even be able to even talk about it, really. They don't have the right to talk about a rider being married. I think maybe in the past why you seen riders get married and then not do so well is because they were at the end of their career, and maybe they were going to retire anyways or quit anyways. That's what Jeremy [McGrath] did. He was at the end of his career, and that's when he got married. I remember back talking to him a long time ago, he said that he didn't want to be ..... married while he was racing, but when he got done racing, he wanted to be married and have kids and stuff, once he was done with all of it. That's kind of what he's doing now, so I think that's just a hillbilly logic from a long time ago that's past now. Look at me, Ezra [Lusk], Kevin Windham ... Windham came back and won a moto last weekend, and he's married with a kid, so I think that's of the past. I think another thing is that the top-level riders are more professional now, not taking anything away from the other guys, but everybody's older now. People are racing until they're over 25. Guys before were reaching 25 and retiring, so ... When I was a kid, I thought I knew everything at 18,19 - every year, I thought I knew everything. Now I'm 28, and I look back, and I think, "Man, I was really stupid just three years ago." I learn so much as I get older, and I guess as a kid you don't see that. You think your dad or grandfather or whoever was just trying to steer you in a certain way, but I like to listen to older guys talk now because they're a lot wiser than me. body can hop on it and kind of go fast, but it's a • little bit heavier and a little more powerful, so it's more tiring, and you have to learn to conserve your energy and pick better lines, where the 250 guys can come into a corner and just stab it and get a good launch. That bike, you've got to respect it a lot more than a twostroke. When I get on a 250 now, or a 125, it feels like I'm riding a minibike. But when I was a 125 guy and got on a 250, I was like, "Man, this bike's a beast. I can't even hang on to it." So, now when I go back and ride a 250, it's like nothing. I think it'll come around for him. He just doesn't need to get down on himself because it's taken me three years to become as good as I am. There are some people out there who think that, like in the old days, it's better for a top motocross racer to be single, rather than married. You've been married to your wife Evie for a while, Q On that end of things, did you think you'd still be around at 28, say, in 1991? I would say no, just because in '91 it seemed like guys were retiring at 25, 26. 27. That was just an average age for retiring. I wanted to do better earlier in my career than I have, but it seems like I'm doing the opposite - I'm getting better as I get older. I'm 28 now. and I'm a better supercross rider, outdoor rider; I'm in better shape ... You'd think as you get older you wouldn't do as good in supercross, but I feel like I get faster each year. So I didn't expect it, and I feel like I've got a lot more years left. I mean, look at Larry Ward. He's still so good at, how old is he, 48 or something? And LaRocco's still a great eye I e n e _ S • JUNE 1 1 • 2003 41