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/941070
MONSTER ENERGY/KNICH/FACTORY YAMAHA'S JUSTIN BARCIA P80 INTERVIEW I did the whole privateer thing. I mean; it wasn't so much of an eye opener. It was just more like a fresh start. I let the crap go out the window, all the bad, negative things I had around me, and I just had fun again. It was eye-opening in different ways [but] it wasn't really eye-opening that I didn't have a factory ride. It was just like a clean slate to start new. I pretty much went all the way down to the bottom, [and] I'm just building my way back up. What about your relationship with your longtime sponsors Alpinestars and Arai? I have a super-good relation- behind me and still believe in me in the good and in the bad days; they have been behind me. In Europe, there have been a lot of rumors that you might ride MXGP. Did you have any offers from teams over there? I talked to a lot of teams, but they where not fitting well, and it just wouldn't work for me. I felt like I can do my privateer [program] in America better than to try to go over to Europe and learn every- thing and maybe struggle with set- up and getting used to your bike or something. So nothing really worked out, unfortunately. I had an effort in the past to go race for it always been that way? I'm not sure. In supercross and motocross it is a lot tougher [get- ting] rides. There're a lot of riders and not a ton of rides. But the stadiums fill up on the weekends with the fans, but it seems like there is less money for teams and stuff. So it's weird. I don't know much about it, but I know there're too many riders and not enough rides for all this. It's really tough to keep a good solid factory ride. On a personal note, you got engaged last year. She lives in England, right? Yes, that is right. How do you manage such a long-distance relationship? Yeah, that's very hard, but I met Amber when I was in a tough time in my career and since she came into my life, she's been a super- positive thing and just a great person to be around. [She] brings me back to myself again. It's a little challenging because she is over in England and I'm here rac- ing, but we both stay really busy; we talk on the phone every day and just make the best of it right now with the circumstances, but hopefully, by the end of the year, she'll be over here with me full time. We get married in Novem- ber and it will be great [laughs]. How did the two of you meet? We met in Geneva, at the supercross, actually. It is funny because we had mutual friends there. After the race we actually bumped into each other in the elevator at the hotel and it was just kind of coincidence a little bit. Barcia has been living in California working hard training and testing with the factory Yamaha crew. ship with Alpinestars. They have been my number-one sponsor and, of course, Arai is on the same level, and Scott has been with me for a couple of years now, as well. So it's been a nice time with those relationships, and for those companies to stick Everts' [Suzuki] team and stuff like that but I was always in contracts in American stuff and let it go. What do you think about the current state of American moto- cross and supercross? A lot of good riders are having a hard time finding jobs right now. Has