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/128644
r l , East/West Sh oot out in Las Vegas. I was then at a dead-end street. What was I to do next year? Go out and [have] everybody call me a cherry picker? I m oved up to the 250s and ra ced the 125 outdoor. If I co uld do it all o ver aga in, I' d pro bably rac e 125 supercross aga in . It' s a big jump [to the 250cc class] bec au se of t he bikes, the co m pet it io n - t hose guys have ra ced so many Supe rcrosses in t hei r lifetime that t hey've got it down ; it's a rh yth m to them and I hadn' t fo und that rhyt hm . I was just getting comfortable in '98 in supercross on a 125 even th ough I was winn in g. I was getting a ro utine, like o utdoors - th at's a ro utine to m e. I can do it [race o utdoors] . it' s really easy, Supercr oss was n' t. I was j ust starti ng to get into a rou t in e when I bumped up to the 250s and it w as a wh o le new ball gam e. So I had to start fro m sc ratch. Th e '99 Supe rcross Series was terr ible, 2 000 went pr ett y good, no w th e 200 1, hopefu lly it wil l be better t ha n 2000 . •..having to s udde nly accept losing in t h e 250cc class after knowing nothing b u t "inning in the 12 5cc clas s . Fo r a per son t hat's won pretty m uch all hi s c aree r · I had g reat suc ce ss in t he 125 - it's ha rd to accept third. I don 't accept it, bu t I do , bec ause that' s what I got an d I d id alii ca n do . I just t hink th at the 250 cc cl ass is go ing to t ake a little lon ger th an the 125cc class, till I feel like it' s a rhythm . ...his ro ugh start to the 20 00 season, -----Th e fir st race last y ear [200 0 ] , I'd only started ri ding three wee ks prio r [because of an inj ury], and you can 't get ready to go 20 lap s hard when everyone else has been riding m onths on end. T hat' s impossib le, fo r m e at least. I k ne w goi ng into the sea son t hat I wasn't rea dy. I k ne w I was decent , but I k new it was going to be later on in t he series when I would get better, which was pret ty m uch what I d id . That first race at A naheim, I led for eight laps ; if I went into that race in shape. I should 'v e been abl e to win the race. What you hav e to do is set goals and say I'm go ing to do be tte r next week. A nd th at' s what I did . The fi rst rac e I got eighth, t he sec ond I got fou rt h . In Sa n D iego I crashed , in Phoen ix I got third. and in Ho uston I got second . The next ra ce I had an easy pod ium [b ut ] I got a terrible start, had a few mistakes that set m e ba ck, and I was a close fo urth . So I definitely did get better. but I [also ] str uggled a little bit in Supercross with my bi ke. I didn't feel tha t co m fo rta ble on it. I don't k no w if that was totall y it; it couldn 't be all t he bike, and it coul dn' t be all m e, b ut I def init ely w as wor k in g hard . a, ~ winning his first ever 250cc Supercross at Daytona. Th at w as a t urning po int fo r m e. But Da yto na . eve n though it' s a Sup ercro ss, I still thin k of it as an outdoor. I j us t pr etend th at Dayton a is an outdoor track wi th Sup erc ro ss jumps. It was a ha rd race; it w as to ugh . I st ill wa sn 't in good sha pe at t hat ti me . I m ean, I was defi nite ly better at that rac e tha n I w as the fi rst rac e, but it wa s definitely a t urning point. It ga ve m e co nfi de nce knowing that I co uld wi n an d pr etty m uch go the wh ol e d istance. St ill . Dayton a isn 't really an indoor Sup ercro ss rac e. so I kind of had tha t back in m y m in d , too. I'm li k e, ' A h , w ell , D ayt on a is an out doo r, I need t o p ro ve m y self indoors,' bu t it di d give m e a ton of co nfi dence fo r the o utdoo rs. •..his thoughts going Into the 2000 250Cc outdoor Natiouals. _ "If I don't win t he 2 50cc cha m pions hip o r at least win a lo t of races, t hen I'm not a very good 250cc rid er. " to o worried abo ut it. I made some n:istakes that took away some of m y en ergy, li k e when I passed Kevin [W in dh am for the lead] I made a b ig mistake, th at took a lot out of m e. My hands were ra w. I didn't pr ep are, I wasn 't drinking in between m otos; I j ust wasn't smart. Then I got to Mo unt Morris and it rained , and I really got behind in points. That's wh en I put my nose to th e grindstone. From there o n out, it (the season] was pretty good. The last six Nat ion als, I won . T he last ha lf of the MX season really got the ball ro lling for me . Some of those m otos, I came from behind . ...w inn ing th e MX d es Na tio n s. That was stressful. Wh en it wa s really stressful was wh en Ryn o [Ryan Hug hes) and Travi s [Pastrana] had rac ed their first rnoto, and Ryno wo n. I sa id , "O k ay , all th e press ure is on me now." I had no p ressure at all, but t hen they wo n , t hen it was like, "Hey, it's up to m e now . Th ey ' ve done th ei r job, no w I have to do m in e. " We ende d up winn ing the rac e itse lf, and I' ll tell ya , that was th e biggest sing le rac e win - not bigger t ha n m y c ham pionship s - but t he bi ggest ra ce win I eve r had . It fel t awesome [c ro ssin g th e fini sh li ne I. bu t , yo u know, th e best feel ing w as when we were o n the podium and t hey pl ay ed t he Na tional Anth em an d all that stuff. That was the best feeli ng , when yo u' re stand ing up on that pod iu m and they ' re pla y in g t he Na t ional Anth em . I felt all k inds of pride t here . I wan t ed to w in [the MX des Nati ons] bad . So m any peop le were gi ving up on us, peop le were say ing t hey w eren't go ing to suppo rt t his no m o re , it was just too m uch m on ey , and fina lly we won it aga in an d eve ry bo dy's back in it. ...deal ing with r ac e -day pressure. I've never been a person that really has too much pressure. Li k e I sai d, t he only time I really fe lt pr essu re was at the MX des Nat ions. Other th an th at , I rea lly do n' t feel t he pressure like eve ryo ne woul d th ink . The o nly press ure I felt was tha t o ne ti me wh ere it rea lly hit me at t he MX des Nati ons, but as far as go ing o ut to win, I've never been in the position to feel the pressure. •..w tnn tng a 250c c Superc.ro !!ts ti tle. This is the championship I want. I'm focused . I th in k a lot of peo ple in th e ba ck of t heir minds are saying if [II don't win a Sup erc ro ss titl e soo n , the n t hey 'r e going to re fer to m e as an outdoo r rider, but I wa nt to prove every body wrong . I'm going to do wh at ever it takes. I know I can do it ; it's just a matter of when it's going to happen. I think this yea r, k nock o n wood . if I'm 100 percent going into t he season , I sho uld do pretty good . Tha t's the big gest thi ng , start ing 100 perc ent th at' s one of m y goa ls I've set out t o do - sta rt 100 percent and t ry to be on th e pod ium every single weekend . In orde r to win that t itl e, yo u have to be up front eve ry week en d . You ca n't have an eighth here, a ninth t here ; yo u have to be up fro nt eve ry single week. I know what it ta kes to win a cham pi o nship; I' ve won fo ur o ut door titl es, so I kn ow what it' s li k e to hol d it to get he r for 12 rac es, 24 m otos in th e o ut doo r seaso n. If th er e' s anyo ne wh o can wi n th e Su per cro ss Champi ons hip , it's m ys elf. Jere my [McGrath ] , he's li k e I am in motocross · he kn o ws what it takes t o stay up top for 16 races , and tha t' s just what I need to try to accomplish in Su percross . I need to tak e my ou tdoor sk ill to Su percross. .. .who he thinks the n.-al competition will be ill tb e 2001 Supcrcross Series. ... losing his first 250Cc m oto at Hangtown basicaUy because he got tired. I sa id, " I better get m y butt in gea r." I wa s fast er t han th e guy s - I just go t t ired , so I wasn 't too str essed . I j ust ne eded to tighten up on m y skills a little bit. I wasn' t ---- I t hink it 's go ing to be J eremy , [David] Vu ill em in and Ezra [Lu sk ]. [Mik e) La Rocc o will be up th ere at times, and [Sebastien ] T ortelli wil l be t he re. K evin [W indh am J, we all know hi s potent ia l; he c an co me o ut and smoke us by 20 seconds . Th e k ey is , the re're goi ng to be a lot of guys who ar e goi ng to be fast , but the key is who ca n go the 16 ra ce s. T hat' s wh ere the q uest io n lies. Wh o c an go 16 rac es in a ro w? And the o nly pe rson wh o c an do that so cue e n e vv s J ANUA RY 3 , 200 1 21