INTERVIEW
TREY CANARD
P80
son it's actually able to be done
is because Honda sells KYB as
production units on their '14. So, I
think that has a little bit to do with
it. We were just at a point in the
year where second place [in the
championship] was way out of
reach, and third place was pretty
far out of reach [from fourth place
in points] as well. So, no matter
what we did, we were going to
end up third. So, it was really a
cool time where we could try
things. And, if they went terribly
south, then okay, we're still get-
ting third. And if they went good,
well okay, we're still getting third.
So, it was just a good point to
try something if we were going
to make a change. Because you
never know how something is go-
ing to work until you get it into a
race condition."
The result at Unadilla? His first-
ever 450cc moto win.
Actually, over the course of his
six motos running the KYB sus-
pension, he won four of the mo-
tos, including the final two motos
of the season in Utah, where he
scored his first-ever 450cc Na-
tional MX victory.
It even got semi-teammate
Eli Tomac thinking. Tomac was
beating Canard when he first got
back to racing, but at the end,
Canard was well ahead. Tomac is
technically a factory Honda team
member, too. He has access to
everything Canard has access
to. But for outdoors, Tomac de-
cided to switch from the Showa
air units to the A Kit suspension
he ran on the way to his 250cc
National MX Championship the
year before, because he knew
he could be comfortable on them
outdoors.
After Canard's switch, and
his results, Tomac started think-
ing about switching, too, even
though their riding styles and set-
ups may not be that similar.
"I think it's all mental," Canard
said. "Anytime someone is suc-
ceeding, whatever it is, you want
to know what got them there. And
when we put the suspension on
there, it was pretty obvious, for
me. If you're just looking at me as
Canard has endured
many low points
throughout his
career but has never
lost his enthusiasm
for racing.
