Michael Byrne is a good dude. He tries hard, is a great rider and does everything on and off the track the right way. He’s an Australian that has come to America and adopted his new country. He’s engaged to an American girl, likes Chick-fil-A, lives in Georgia and has a bull. That’s just some of the reasons why you should cheer for him. I called him up on Sunday and did an interview with him but I pushed the wrong button on the recorder because I’m kind of dumb. So he called me back up to answer the same questions again! That’s another reason why you should like him.
Michael Byrne is a good dude. He tries hard, is a great rider and does everything on and off the track the right way. He’s an Australian that has come to America and adopted his new country. He’s engaged to an American girl, likes Chick-fil-A, lives in Georgia and has a bull. That’s just some of the reasons why you should cheer for him. I called him up on Sunday and did an interview with him but I pushed the wrong button on the recorder because I’m kind of dumb. So he called me back up to answer the same questions again! That’s another reason why you should like him.
Me: Byrner, good job this weekend. You keep telling me you hate the sand but then you go out and almost win the whole thing.
Michael Byrne: I know but I’m telling you that I don’t like it. Just like when I won my moto for Factory Connection on a 125, the fact that it was wet helped me. It wasn’t like a true sand track y’know? I felt horrible in practice this weekend, I qualified something like twentieth and it wasn’t good. I went back to the truck and Roger (DeCoster) and Reedy helped me out with stuff and I came out and rode better. I was happy with my ride in the motos, I got some good starts and felt pretty good.
I know that bike set-up is very important in the sand so did you go back and make major changes on the bike?
Yeah, definitely. Obviously my bike wasn’t working that great with my practice times so I went back and we adjusted the set height, the off-set of the clamps. Mostly the shock was changed, we made it a little less busy and helped it settle more in the bumps. The linkage rods we put on also helped and that shock change was the major difference for me.
By the end of the first moto I was feeling really good on the track and started catching up to Mossy (Jake Moss) and that local kid (Robby Marshall.) I just knew that I was ok and tried to put to put pressure on him. Luckily, he handed it to me and it was pretty cool to have Aussie’s 1, 2, and 3.
What about that finishing order?
That was awesome for sure, I don’t think that’s ever been done before and I was just happy to be on the podium. Southwick has been both good and bad for me before so just to do well there was great for me. To have the Aussie’s up there with me was even better.
We would’ve had the overall at one point in the second moto, if everything had stood. But it didn’t and I can’t complain because I ended up the best out of all of them.
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| Byrner has finished on the box in four motos this season and five times has gotten fourth. Stone photo |
The week before the race, I know you went down to Florida to ride with Reed and the guys. How much did that help you and what did you guys work on down there?
I went down there to ride with Chad and it helped for sure. He was just giving me pointers and helping me out on how to ride the sand. Just watching him and Timmy (Ferry) ride was great for me, I can see things that they do to help me out. It helped out to watch some good sand riders ride. Plus it rained one day and I don’t know why, but me and Chad went out and rode in it and had a lot of fun. It was like we were kids again really.
And it was funny because that’s what ended up happening in the race, the rain was coming down just like it was during the week.
I was thinking about you saying that you’re not a sand rider and started thinking about that track in Australia where the ’92 MXDN was held. It was really sandy and I was wondering if you raced it there much?
You mean Manjiump?
Yeah, that’s it.
I only raced a couple of races there. They never really had any nationals at that track. Where they had the national at, it was even sandier than Manjiump. The Australian sand tracks are really slow and really whopped out and takes a lot of technique. I think Southwick is softer and slower than what I’m used to as well as the rain and mud, it was more of a survival race then anything.
A lot of guys were telling me that it was impossible to not make a ton of mistakes out there, the track was real sketchy.
Yeah, for sure. You look at your pit-board and it showed your lap times fluctuating like crazy. It was two or three seconds a lap. The track was tough and tricky, whenever you took a risk and just pinned it, you made more mistakes. It was more like a trail ride where you just had to relax and ride and put it in a higher gear. You had to be patient, in practice I struggled ‘cause I was charging and trying to be aggressive. At the end, I felt fast but was twentieth in times. You just had to be patient.
Do you feel like once again, like last year, no one is talking much about you and your good rides?
Nothing ever changes (laughs.) People have their favorites and that’s their deal y’know? I’m used to it, I just go out there and ride my best. I feel like I’m having fun, the team and the bike is awesome and everyone is looking for jobs right now. I’m trying not to stress out about that and about what I’m getting or who is getting as far as attention. I’ll just worry about what I do during the week and the people that matter will pay attention to that.
Yeah, that leads me into my next question, you don’t have anything for next year but then again, no one else really does either. You’re not stressing out about that?
It can be stressful, if I wanted to stress out about it, I could. I’ve always put so much pressure on myself to do good since I came over here that I think it’s affected me and my riding. That was one of things that…I made a promise to myself when I did my knee last year that I wasn’t going to think about it and I wasn’t going to stress out about it. That stuff affects me on the weekend and my results aren’t as good. It just snowballs and gets worse, I’m going to just go out and enjoy being at the races because I’m not getting any younger!
This is it, enjoy it to the end and have fun. I don’t think I should be too stressed right now anyways, nobody has a ride right now. I’m getting too old to keep stressing about it.
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There haven’t been too many more guys that have been overlooked the last few years than Michael Byrne but I talk about him so much, he might be overrated now. Stone shot |
I would just like to see you make it through supercross really, you’re better at that and haven’t been able to ride a full season in two years.
Yeah, me too! Last year I was so pumped up to get at supercross because I had done so well in the nationals. I probably was working too hard, I need to chill off a bit more and have some time off. Try and build to the first round and come in ready. Last year I was pushing hard on the bike the whole off-season because I just wanted to do so well. I feel I’m better at supercross than motocross and it was just devastating to have an injury and miss it. It’s also devastating for the team because they put so much money and effort into a rider that when you go out and miss the season, it’s a big blow to them as well. This year I will be more relaxed and take my time to get into it.
Hopefully, you don’t have to adjust to a new bike as well…
Hopefully, we’ll have to wait and see in regards to that. I don’t even know, I don’t have anything right now.
One of the riders that I was talking to today mentioned your name and said that guys like you won’t be making much money next year and then this weekend I was talking to an agent about the silly season and he was saying that, yes money is tight but he thinks the OEM’s are going to really stick it to the riders for years of over-paying, which is an interesting theory.
Well, I hope it’s not true but maybe it is. Y’know it takes a lot of money to run a program…
Yeah, you’re one of the guys that have told me about the overhead a top rider has to help him keep up at the top. If you want to be serious, you have to have the track, the land, the practice bike mechanic, the water system etc etc…
Yeah exactly. There is a lot of commitment and a lot of your own money that goes into making sure that you’re on top of your game. For sure salaries are going to be affected this year but I think there is still money in this sport, it’s just going to come from the OEM’s. It has to be from outside the industry. The more TV we get, the more live TV we get will just help the sport out. The teams need to get outside sponsors onboard to make up the difference.
