On that celebration and feelings of a first win in 2014…
You could see how happy I was; I don’t think I have ever whipped it so hard for a victory. It has been a long time and it was good to win like I did by passing Ryan in the beginning and having a solid race with no mistakes. We all kinda knew it was near and it was only a matter of time. With that good start I knew I had it in me but after the last few years I was like ‘just let me get past the chequered flag’.
On overtaking Villopoto early and controlling the race…
Ryan and I went back and forwards a few times in the first corners. I knew he was going to be the guy. I made a few mistakes on the first couple of laps and they closed back on me but I was watching Ryan and also the race going on behind us to make sure they were not closing the gap too much. I had a clean lap and pulled away but then we ended up with the lappers and I got jacked-up a little bit. I thought ‘if I can get through the whoops section OK on the last lap then the race is mine’. There were a few parts of the track where I had to be careful and where I had to let the race wear-on and I’d get better and that’s what happened.
The track was slippery and tough, and easy to override so I think we did a pretty good job.
On San Diego overall and working on the set-up of the RM-Z450…
We were chasing the track. When we first got here it was really tacky but in the second practice it was like ‘shiny’ and slippery, so in the third practice we changed the tyre where it became loose soil like Anaheim. In the Main Event it was different again. We were just ‘guesti-mating’ all day what we’d do. We made a pretty big decision by changing both tyres, which is something we don’t usually go for. I was happy.
On the amount of testing work put in with the Yoshimura Suzuki crew…
We changed a lot of things a couple of weeks before Anaheim. Since November I have spent only three days in Florida. We have been out testing almost every week. I’m still fairly new at working with Todd and Rob so it was nice this week because we completely screwed the motorcycle up at Anaheim 3 [round five]. The cool thing was that as a team there were no fingers being pointed. Those guys know I work my butt off and that I’m in shape so when I come in after struggling then it is a thing with the bike and not physical. We went to the test track and put the [Anaheim] Main Event setting on and it sucked so we made sure we didn’t go in that direction and I think now we will only get better. One of the things we did this year was the track. We knew it needed to be better so Mike [Webb, Team Manager] put a lot of money into bringing in the dirt and doing what was necessary. That made it easier to stay out here [in California]. We’ve got Broc [Tickle] and Josh [Hill] but they do their own thing and we do our thing so I’m the only guy that tests right now. It [testing] helps me out and I feel like I’m actually a pretty good test rider. Sometimes it doesn’t pan out but I feel this year the bike is better than ever.
On still having the goods for the twenty year olds in the pack…
You guys throw me up to that ‘old age’ too quick man! I’m only three years older than Villopoto and Dungey, but yeah I’ve been around for a while and I think – honestly – that this is the best I have been in my career in terms of race-smart, management and condition. Even when I was training with Aldon [Baker, renowned trainer of Villopoto and Roczen]…I’m stronger now than I was then. I feel the team is totally behind me and even though we had struggles last year – I was happy to be racing. At Atlanta [2013] I won the race but it wasn’t like I dominated it. Tonight I got out front and it felt like where I belong and I wanted to finish it off. Hopefully I can build on this and not get too over-confident. You have great races and you have bad races and fortunately [at Anaheim] we know why we had a bad race. Now even when we’ve been bad we’ve still been ‘right there’. This championship isn’t done until they count me out.
On looking at the numbers…
Somebody said I’ve got 46 [career victories] but the only number on my mind was ‘1’: the first one of 2014. We got that and now we’ll worry about the record books when we get there. Sometimes you start looking ahead and trying to chase a number to get to that ‘second place of all time’…but our focus is Main Events and riding the laps like I know I can. I think that Ryan will be stronger at some races but I’ll also be good and the title is about being strong every weekend. I feel that we have been like that but sometimes the results don’t show it.
On taking the fight to Villopoto…
It all comes down to the physical side and being in shape. I know I have what it takes. To come here having had a good off-season, be injury free and be able to run that pace…to get it done was cool. I knew the track was kinda one line. I didn’t want him to get out there and be comfortable. Maybe it was a bit of a surprise because I’m not the sort of guy that takes big shots early on. I’ll take chances when I’m last out of the gate but usually I’ll try and let the race settle down. I’ve was riding good in Oakland and last week but its funny how you can go from a holeshot to fourth position in two corners one week to a good jump and from third to first in a similar space the next. It was good racing and finally we did something that we wanted so it was nice.
Photo by Ray Archer
