You’re on a new team for the 2011 season. How did the ride come about for you?
It kind of came together at the last minute. I thought that I was going to stay with Valli, but things changed at the last minute and these guys had a great opportunity for me. I’ve been friends with team manager Kenny Watson for a long time, which is cool. We just started talking and with Dodge, Bel Ray, and a bunch of other sponsors coming aboard, they were able to put together a really good program. Pro Circuit is basically running our suspension and motor program, so my bike is going to be really good. I think I’ll have a bike that is capable of going out there and doing really well. We’ve done some testing over the last couple weeks and I’m just getting going on everything.
You’ve said you like the bike so far, but have you had to adapt much to it?
Yeah a little bit. When you ride a new bike, it doesn’t feel like your bike; it almost feels like you’re riding someone else’s at first. I’d say, though, that after about the third day I began to feel comfortable on it, and we were able to do a little testing with Pro Circuit and get some motor stuff done. I’m happy with it and it seems like it does just about everything good. It’s a good all around bike and I think that it’s going to be one of those bikes that is good week in and week out—in every condition.
Can you talk about Pro Circuit’s involvement with the motor and suspension? Is it almost going to be a factory bike?
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but Pro Circuit is doing our suspension, motors, and some of the triple clamps and other little parts. I would say that it will be similar to what Hansen rides when he rides a 450.
With the Hart and Huntington team being based out of Las Vegas are you going to be moving out there?
No, but I did go there last week to do some motor testing and stuff like that. They built a whole new test track and have a good facility now. I’m going to spend some time there, though, especially if it rains here in California. It’s just a short drive up there to go ride, and obviously when I go do testing, I’ll go out there. But yeah, I’m still going to be based out of California, ride at the Kawasaki test track, and spend the majority of my time out here.
Is the team going to be doing both Supercross and Nationals?
No, we’re doing Supercross only, but we are going to try and do one or two outdoors—I think we’re going to do Red Bud. We’ll still stay busy this summer, though, doing other stuff, and I don’t know, maybe we’ll show up to more Nationals than just Red Bud.
Are you kind of excited to only race Supercross or are you bummed?
It’s going to be new to me, because I’ve always done both indoor and outdoor. I like outdoors and me not wanting to race the Nationals isn’t why I chose to take this Supercross-only deal—it just happens to be this way. I like racing outdoors and I’ll go to as many of them as they want me to.
With just over a month until Anaheim, what’s your game plan until the season starts?
Like you said, we have a little over a month so I’m just going to stick on my program, keep training, and just put in lap after lap. I feel good already, so I think if I can make some gains before the season starts, I think I’ll be good.
When the H&H team tests is it done in California or Las Vegas?
We do it mainly here at the Kawi track. It’s easy with Bones and those guys out there doing suspension. When we do our own testing, we’ll go back to Vegas, but when we’re working with Pro Circuit it’s easier to just go to the Kawi track.
What are your goals and expectations for this upcoming season?
My goals are just to have fun, ride as good as I can, and stay healthy. I think the rest will take care of itself. I’ll put the work in and I feel like I’m riding well, so if I stay healthy, stay out of trouble, and have fun with it I think my results will be there. The class is stacked every year, but this year will be more stacked than normal—especially if everyone stays healthy, which is always the key. It seemed like last year was just as stacked, but everyone got hurt. I don’t know, every year has competition and I’m just going to do my work and not worry about everyone else. Where I finish is where I finish; I can’t do any better than that. I’m just going to go out there, do my best, and make it happen.
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