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/128355
" be able to read the terrain ahead of yo u, it' s a tough deal, especially fo r a two-hour race, because the endurance is totally different, totally different style racing. More spe cifica lly, w ha t d id you do before you got into off-racing! I did motocross and then Supercross, I did a littl e bit of both, but I never really excelled in the supercross stuff. I neve r owned a supercross track, so I never had the opportunity to go practice, so I'd show up and just go, "Whoa, I gotta ride tha t?" You just go out there and hang it out. After I got hurt a couple times, I was like, "You know w hat, I'll ride outdoors because it's a little safer," and you can ride motocross anywhe re . In 1999, I got a National number and it was a great thing, but it doesn't mean anything . That was a turning point fo r myse lf, you know, "I need to do something differe nt," because I wo rked my butt off to get that nu mber and to me t hat was a huge accomplishment, but no o ne cares. No one cares. I did the Four-Stroke Na tiona ls, to o; it was awesome The first couple of years it really grew quick ly, and they got a lot of to p ride rs going to tha t, and I wa s o ne of t he top guys. I w e nt from num ber five to num ber two and almost wo n a champio nship, but Spud Walte rs en de d up beating me o ut in the last race. But it was a great series and was another great op portunity for me to showcase my talent an d get t he publicity I needed to get spo nsors and move on to different things. You must be a n open-m inded person in gene ral to at lea st t ry off-road ra cing. Yes, I'm pretty opened-minded. I guess there are some things I'm closed-minded about, but o bviously racing I am [open-minded]: I mean I like every type of racing. I watch NASCAR, I watch ot her sports, too, but in motocross and off-road, you're on a dirt bike , and that 's all I want to do, to ride a motorcycle. What a r e some of the biggest differences between motocross and off-road racing? I think bike setup is rea lly huge . If you do n't know bike setup, yo u're rea llygoing to be fighting it and you're just going to wear yourself out. I mea n, my first year last yea r, I rode like six rou nds of the WORCS and the Adelanto Grand Prix and stuff, and my bikes weren't set up as good as they are now, and I had to work really, really hard to even finish in the top 10. This year, bike setup and working with Ty Davis he lped me . I mean, he's been arou nd the block a couple of times and he knows how to set bikes up, and he gave me some insight on how to do t hat . The ot her thing is just endurance. I can go 30 minutes wide open, no probl e m, but to go two hours wide open is a totally different story. So end urance is a huge thing . I had to totally se t my tra ining program to a differe nt leve l, to to tally co ncent rate on somethi ng different, not to train for th e sp rint race, train fo r the lo ng haul. So what do you do differently to get in shape for the lon ger races ? We have a lot of sponsors t hat help us; like Trek bicycles, they give us some bikes , and I do a lot of road riding, a lot of mo untain bike riding. In my area, there's a lot nice riding from my house, and I can do SO-mile rides on my road bike o n just perfect roads, no one else out ther e to ru n me ove r, so it's a great opportunity fo r me to do that. What's it like ha ving someone like Ty Davis as you r teammate? He helps me on my confidence. Obviously, riding with somebody likethat , who's bee n around the block, he's been through everything once or twice. It's just nice to have someone who's been there, who 's done it and can let you know if somethingworks or not works. And he's also openminded, too, about, "You know what, try it again, it didn't work fo r me, but it might work for you." Also, we work together, we're out on the track and we'll show each other lines.To me, though, I feel that he is my biggest competitor - he's my teammate , but I still feel he is my biggest competitor. Still, he shows me lines, we ride and train together, but when you beat somebody like that - o ne of the fastest offroad riders in America - it definitely boosts your confidence. It must be kind of strange to ra ce agai nst your "boss." We're pretty lenient on each other; obvio usly we don't want to take each other out, beca use it would be better to finish second to your teammate than to not finish. So, in my case , it doesn't matter if I finish second to him, I still feel good abo ut myself do ing that, but it feels better when I actually bea t [him). And for him, he's an older guy, and he's getting to the point where he might just wa nt to do some team stuff and not race as muc h, but he still has something to prove . He wa nts to show me up, beca use I am a little you nger, not much younger, but he has abo ut 10 years on me , and it shows that he can still do it. The last ro und of the WO RCS, he proved he still has the talent and the heart to go ou t and put it to us. Speaking of WOReS, what is your opinion of the series? It's a great series, those guys Sean and Dave Hame l do a great jo b th ro ughou t the couple of years that they have been pro mo ting it. I see it co ntinuing to gr ow. O bvio usly, we ne ed t he manu factures ste p in and really push it like the GNCC, but at this poi nt, it's getting bigger, a lot of mo toc ross guys are starting to co me over. Th ey see myse lf, Bobby [Bonds) crossing ove r and doing fairly we ll. It's a great se ries; I have a blast th ere. It's more family ori e nte d. Eve ryon e w ho works wit h th e WO RCS are pre tty muc h family, and it's nice to wo rk w ith people like that, people who care about you and abo ut yo ur ideas when you're out there - like when yo u see something t hat maybe is a little dangerous, if yo u mention it to them, they'll take in suggestions and change it and try to make it better for everybody. I'd like to see the series keep growing. What w o uld you like to see different in t he series? I'd like to see more 1V time. We have a lot of great riders in the series, and 1V would be good for us and all of our sponsors. I'd like it to try to hit different venues; I like the tighter woods stuff. Right now we're in the higher speed stuff, and that's fine , too , Idon't mind that, but I like the more technical stuff I'd like to see them switch it up some more . . CYCLE NEWS • JAN UARY 5 , 2005 93