Some transcriptions of the post race Pulpcasts for those that are audio challenged
Some transcriptions of the post race Pulpcasts for those that are audio challenged
Me: Nice day today; 1-1 and you were fastest qualifier today. Safe to say you wanted to break that two race winless streak, and you did it in a nice fashion.
Ryan Villopoto: Yeah, it was good. Had a good practice; got the time bomb, so that was cool. Didn’t get the greatest of starts in the first moto, actually both motos but seemed like it was a little worse the first moto. Made quick work and was able to get up front and then pull that gap. It’s a bummer to see Dungey’s bike break and to win that way, but it’s Outdoors. That’s part of it. These things are hard on equipment. I have to take it and I will take it. It’s good for us but it’s a bummer. Nobody likes to see that, especially me.
We were talking before the first moto. You didn’t go as far inside with that number one gate pick. Is that because you read Observations last week?
No, but it didn’t really… I think inside would have been better.
Further inside?
Further inside.
And also we talked about that tabletop line; I said to stop going outside and you did in the moto. So that was good. I’m glad I can help you out.
Yeah, you must have a good eye for lines.
Second moto Stew, you caught him pretty quick, but to his credit I think he hammered down a little bit and maybe surprised you a bit. Probably the best race we’ve seen from Stew, giving you the best race he’s had all season.
Yeah, he rode well. We came together and I ended up getting…
Off the track.
Yeah. We hit and I shot off the track. But he rode good. The track was really gnarly and a lot of inside lines that were kind of the only ones to take. A little bit hard to pass in a lot of areas, so when he was riding so good it made it really tough to just make a choice and get around him right away, because he was riding too good. So it took some time to figure out where I was going to pass him.
Actually that brings up an excellent point. You’re about the third or fourth guy I’ve talked to that said they weren’t a fan of the changes that Red Bud did here because it did hurt passing, it did hurt lines.
I think the track was good. I think if it would have been less deep and the ruts wouldn’t have been… some of them were three feet deep, if not more. That’s what I think hurt them. I think the changes were good. But if the ruts wouldn’t have been so deep where you could go to the middle… They started to kind of groom the outside to get things working out there, and they did. So I just think it was a little too deep and a little too wet to start out.
You’ve lost two races in a row until this one. Did you – and this is probably a dumb question because you don’t think like this – but were you a little more determined to win today than usual? You had to stop the streak a little bit that Dungey had and you made it happen. Bike breaking or not, you were going to probably win both motos. Anything different this week? Any more desire?
No, definitely got a lot of motos wins and a fair amount of overalls. But he has turned it up and he’s been riding a little bit better. He’s closed that gap a little bit. But we went back and did some testing before Southwick, made our bike better. So I think we’re in a better position kind of like where were came into the beginning of the season. It seemed like we came in a really good spot and then it kind of faded away. This seems like we’re kind of back there. And that’s just evolving and testing and working on things and coming up with new things. Everybody knows that you just can’t ride the same thing all the time.
I thought you did specific sand testing for Southwick, but no it’s testing just in general?
Testing in general.
So it worked here too. Any panic from you early in the motos with your bad starts, or semi-all right starts? Were you thinking, uh oh, what am I going to do here? Or just sort of keep the game plan the same way? You really dropped your lap times on lap 2, 3, 4. Makes me think that you were, not panicking, but you were making a conscious effort to drop the hammer.
In the first moto I felt really good and it didn’t really feel like…
I thought you were cutting the track.
It really didn’t feel like I was pushing that hard to do what I was doing.
Four seconds better than everybody some laps.
Yeah, I felt good and the bike was working really well. Like I said, we’re kind of back into that good spot again.
Enjoy your week off. What are you going to do? You going to ride, you going to take it easy? You going to shoot anything? What’s the plans?
Just keep doing what we’re doing. With the unfortunate day that Ryan had we do have a points gap but everybody knows that Ryan’s the type of guy that keeps putting in the hard work and keeps plugging away. As quickly as it happened to him it can happen to any one of us. So we just got to keep getting these moto wins and these points.
****
Me: Great first moto. I thought you were cutting the track at Budds Creek and I think you were cutting the track again in practice because you were three seconds faster. Second moto, would have liked to scene what would have happened without that fall. Could we blame Osborne? Is that Osborne’s fault?
Eli Tomac: We could. Let’s just blame Zach. I think it was almost Karma because it was like the teammate thing, like Zach let off. Like, “Oh, I’m going to let Tomac by.” But then I crashed in the next corner and took us both out. Maybe we’re supposed to race each other hard and I’m supposed to earn it. So I think the moto gods were like, no, Tomac has to earn it. Which kind of sucks, but… I’m this close to putting it together all the way. We didn’t lose any, but I really, really want the red plate.
Well, yeah, it’s got to be a bit frustrating because Kenny’s a great rider. He’s riding great. But I think there’s no doubt in most people’s minds your speed is better. But like I said and I’ve written, it all comes down to your starts and maybe some mistakes today. You just can’t seem to stay away from the small stuff. It’s small, but it’s there.
It’s getting better though too. That’s how good me and Kenny are this year, like 1-2. It feels like disappointing, which is just crazy, because we’re always battling for that first spot. I think anyone else would be totally stoked on that. But we’re so close this year it’s just like, 1-2 feels like it wasn’t a good day. It’s crazy.
In practice you were three seconds better like we talked about. Did you know when you were out there, were you like, hey, I’m flying? Did you have some secret, better lines? What do you think was the secret for you to be that much better than the rest of the best riders in the world?
I was using outsides and everyone was just goat trail to the inside and they were big old hooked out ruts. I was going on the outside on the off-cambers. I knew it was all about momentum. Because it was super deep in the morning, too.
That’s funny that you say that because RV just finished telling me that you couldn’t go outsides, it was too sloppy and shitty and you had to go to the ruts. Maybe by the time your practice came or whatever you could do the outsides?
Yeah, well the second practice, that’s when the outsides came into play. I wasn’t using every one, but there were two or three that made up those two or three seconds.
So weekend off, what are you going to do? Train?
Oh, yeah, just burn 40s all day. No, take a few days off, probably get back on the bike Wednesday or Thursday or something. Who knows. Hang out with cousins, family. Go play some golf. Go sit on a boat. I don’t know; do something.
Next year we just saw your contract signed. No secret you were pursued by a lot of teams in the pits. Talk about re-signing with GEICO. I don’t know how many years it is. But you’re a 450 guy. Talk about that process, how stressful it was, how stressful it wasn’t, and how happy you are to be back.
Yeah, it’s good to get something done because I was kind of a free agent there from the end of the Vegas Supercross and that area. So it’s been a crazy process. That’s about all I can say.
I’ve been around a lot of riders as a mechanic and stuff. It really affects them. It does get in their mind. It’s a lot of money and a future decision. It maybe is distracting a title bit, right? It’s a good thing, but it’s probably a little distracting.
It really was. It just wasn’t an easy decision. You always look at the money, you look at the bike, you do this, you do that… It’s a tough decision. it’s the decision for the premier class. It’s the top pinnacle of our sport, so it was tough. That’s why I did take those few months to finally say, hey, I believe in this program now and we can actually get something done.
I guess the flip side is a lot of riders would love to have three, four, five teams chasing them, right?
Yeah, exactly. I’m here complaining about “oh my gosh, which team am I going to ride?” and half the guys don’t even make a salary. It’s just crazy.
It is, but it is distracting at the same time. I’ve been there. It’s all you can think about as a rider. Thanks very much. Good job today. See you at Washougal.
****
Me: First moto crash. From what I understand you were pretty far back. Second moto was so-so, on a track that you love to race on.
Chad Reed: Yeah, horrible start but then actually kind of found myself in the right place at the right time a couple times and actually made some good passes the first half a lap. Then went one of the outsides and I was actually behind Brownie. He lost the rear, got sideways, and I had nowhere to go. Clipped him and crashed. Kind of had to come back from, maybe not quite last but almost last.
Pretty far.
Yeah. Basically just the other guys that crashed on lap one, I was basically battling with them and got back to I think 13th or something like that. So bit of a bummer. I felt like I was a top-ten guy both motos. Honesty I feel like I’m at least riding a little better, able to give some information to the guys now that we’re going a halfway decent pace and try to make some progress with the bike. For me, my biggest weakness right now is I’m maxed out and that’s kind of my maximum and I need to be able to kind of go past that to be able to pass guys like Alessi and all that kind of stuff. So just kind of still not where I want to be. It’s definitely not fun to sit on some dude’s wheel for 35 minutes and just get roosted the whole time and think that if you had some clear track you could go a little faster. Just still not good enough and not riding good enough to make it happen.
I didn’t watch the video but I guess you were pretty vocal about the track on press day. What did you think overall today at the end of the day? RV right now was like, I didn’t like the changes; I thought it only allowed you to go insides for the most part. But what did you think?
Yeah, I agree with RV. Awesome race track and they got great dirt here. I just don’t understand why…
He said it was too soft.
You’re putting words into my mouth now. I mean, it’s the same as what I said on Thursday. They put so much sand and wood chips down. The whole weekend you’re like you’re riding in the mud and it’s just uncontrollable. And then they do work to the outsides so it’s like the first few laps everybody just pins it wide open on the outsides and then finally we have to switch down to the insides. I’m not a fan of it. I think pretty much I would imagine everybody else… What RV says, I agree 100%. It would just be nice if they didn’t do that, then all the lines would be fine. It’s a pretty sandy track anyway. But the wood chips I’m not a fan of.
I ran into some fans of yours here at Red Bud and they were like, hey, Matthes, what’s up with Chad Reed? I’m like, I don’t know; he’s struggling a little bit out there. And the guy was like, “I don’t care – he’s Chad Fucking Reed!” And that made me think of this question: the fans are still there for you. You still got these guys that just love you and you’re their guy, and it doesn’t really matter where you are, 1st or 30th. That has to feel good.
The fans has always been pretty kind to me here for sure. When you’re battling for 13th in the first one and 10th in the second one it’s kind of nice to get some love. I’m starting to get more and more Kevin Windham comments.
Scary and good.
I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it is what it is. I maintain the fact that when I’m 100% I still feel like I can run up front with these guys. But it’s hard to make it happen. I think the tracks have been real rough this year, which is good. It’s been tough. My starts have been off and my pace is off, so it’s just an uphill battle from the beginning. But I think for the most part we made some good progress this weekend.
And you have the fans.
And I got the fan support. So even when I do make it back to the podium, it’s going to be fun.
2004 was the last time I saw your mom and dad, I think when you flew them in for the Fuel gate race. You were going to clinch it. You flew them in. And then we got that penalty at Yamaha, and they were effed. I saw them here again today. So I don’t know if that’s their second or third race ever, or what, but it’s cool to see them.
Yeah, they actually came out in ’08 and then they came to my birthday in ’09. So the last time that they were technically in the US was in New Orleans in 2009. But this is their first time to the east coast. This is their first time to Nationals. They were last week in Southwick. It was my daughter, Kia’s first birthday on Monday. So that was pretty cool. It was kind a special moment that we haven’t shared any birthdays with my parents so it was kind of cool that it was our daughter’s first birthday and they were here. They fly back to Australia tomorrow. Dad’s got a business he has to run back there. It was kind of fun. It was a shame I couldn’t ride a little better and give them something to cheer about. But as gnarly as my dad has been when I was younger he hasn’t made any comments that kind of piss me off at this point.
But you said he was gnarly as a kid.
He was pretty gnarly and he has made zero comments about my riding at this point, so pretty interesting. I know he’s biting his tongue and he’s “motherfucking” me behind closed doors to mom, but he hasn’t said anything to me.
