MONSTER ENERGY/KNICH/FACTORY YAMAHA'S JUSTIN BARCIA
P76
INTERVIEW
done just that. He's now the
team's top rider in the cham-
pionship! After five rounds,
he's been on the podium three
times and is second in the cham-
pionship, 28 points behind the
leader (as of the San Diego round).
Since the time of this interview,
Millsaps announced his retirement
from racing. And within 24 hours of that
release, Monster Energy/Knich/Yamaha
Factory Racing confirmed that Barcia will
remain with the team for the remainder of
the 2018 season. It came as little surprise,
since a Yamaha team member told Cycle
News that their number-one priority is to win the
championship. Five rounds in, Barcia is their only
hope.
We caught up to Barcia at the Oakland Super-
cross and chatted about his new lease on life.
You are one of the biggest surprises in super-
cross so far this season. What's changed?
Everything [laughs]. Yeah, I kind of like it being a surprise,
because I didn't have any pressure coming in. I could've done
really bad or really good, and I actually did really good. I got
the opportunity to fill in for Yamaha for six races and it's been
fantastic. I now live in California [so I could] test with the team and
stuff like that. And, I have a fiancé right now, which is really nice in
my life. Yeah, everything is going good.
(Left) In just a few months, Justin
Barcia has made a complete
turnaround in his racing career.
"This year, I definitely took
everything I've learned—the
good years, the bad years,
and all that—and I just got
to put it together and built
a great program."
