MONSTER ENERGY/KNICH/FACTORY YAMAHA'S JUSTIN BARCIA
P82
INTERVIEW
We just hit it off.
Did Amber change your
mentality and focus on racing?
If so, how did she do that?
Yeah, for sure. She has a mas-
ter's in psychology and forensic
criminology, which I'm sure helps
a little because she figured me
out a bit. I was probably the ulti-
mate crazy patient for her to work
with. As I said, I was in a really
bad place in my career. I didn't
win for a while and was struggling
with racing and just life in general
and just nothing was going that
good. And she just came into my
life and showed me that there
are more important things than I
thought were so important. [She
made me realize] that my things I
was so worried about are not that
big of a deal. I just made them
such a big deal. I kind of had
take a step back and see it clear.
Yes, she brought a lot of love and
positivity into my life.
Back to racing, when it
comes to racetracks, do you
like tracks that are more dif-
ficult or more technical?
I prefer the tracks being more
technical because the top guys
rise in the harder conditions, and
the people who maybe aren't as
good of a rider, they can't do that
stuff for 20 laps. It makes it more
interesting and separates the
guys a little.
What do you think about the
new metal starting grids?
I think the new metal starting
gates are really good, actually.
We get a consistent start every
weekend. The hardest part is
just when you transition from the
metal to the dirt because you got
to know if the dirt is hard-packed
traction or not. That's just looking
at the dirt and figuring it out. But
all in all, the metal grid is really
awesome.
You've had good starts this
season.
I got good starts and bad starts.
Barcia surprised
many by making
the podium at
the opening
round of the
2018 Monster
Energy AMA
Supercross
Series.
