Some of the main players from yesterday talk
Some of the main players from yesterday talk
Photos by Mike Sweeney
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Jeremy Martin
Hey man, we know you’re Jeremy Martin; you don’t have to wear your gear around.
MX Sports pulled us aside there at the end of the day and we were doing some testing with USADA. So I just finished with them. Now I got the press conference and now I’m here talking to Steve Matthes. When I win I notice that I get to talk to him, so it’s a pretty good feeling.
You got 2nd today. But still a good day today for you.
Yeah it was a solid day. I like this track. I like the ruts.
I was looking at your results. You did well here last year too as a rookie.
Yes. I had fun out there in the second moto. The bike setup was night and day better for the second moto from the first moto. It was also an awesome day. I got to line up next to my brother, and he beat me, but I smoked him.
I just talked to him. He’s very excited about his 9th overall or whatever he ended up getting. What did you change on your bike, suspension-wise?
Yeah, we made an adjustment to the shock. I was surprised with really how much better it was.
It looks like in that second moto you were like “Okay, I got to get by Pourcel fast,” because you know that guy, to get by him, he’s tough. You looked like you were like, “I can’t wait around.”
Yeah, I got in behind him and I knew I wasn’t going to get him right away. He’s a smart guy. I had to figure out where I could get him. Once I did that I was able to get him and that Unadilla roost hurts. It got the best of me and chipped my teeth today, so got to go see the dentist soon.
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“He’s a smart guy. I had to figure out where I could get him. Once I did that I was able to get him and that Unadilla roost hurts. It got the best of me and chipped my teeth today, so got to go see the dentist soon.” |
Hey, Team USA, you got to be stoked on that.
It’s going to be a pretty cool feeling. We got a good team. I’m surprised they chose me but at the same time…
Why, because you’re just winning the title?
No, I thought they’d go with someone that has some experience.
Stop it. You almost got a 50 point lead in this title. I think it’s good for you to go. But it’s a real cool thing for you. What’d you do on your weekend off before you came here?
I flew home to Minnesota and I hung out with my mom and dad. My dad was showing me all the new changes he’s already made for next year.
Thanks again and congrats on Team USA and congrats on the 2nd today.
Thank you.
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Eli Tomac
Some pee testing going on so that’s why you’re still here. First off, Team USA, you’re the type of guy I think that was really – not that the other two weren’t – but I’m sure you were really pissed last year that you guys didn’t win and now you’re going to go for blood.
Absolutely. I feel like I kind of threw it away. Barcia had the first-turn crash, whatever, we can blame…
Even if you had won I don’t think USA would win.
I don’t know.
No I did the math, I think. You still got second though
Yeah. So we got Martin and Dungey. I think it’s going to be a good team. Sounds like it’s maybe a more sandier base track. I think that’s good for all of us. I love the sand, so if it’s anywhere near sand I’ll be all over it. It is kind of a bummer it’s 5 weeks later but it is what it is. That’s des Nations.
Let’s talk about today. Not a bad day. I’m sure you would have liked to have done a little better. Thanks for the tremendous race in the second moto. That was awesome.
Second moto was a battle. Go back to the first moto really quick, I was just a little bit off on my rear shock kind of feel. I couldn’t turn and I got a little tight and the KTM boys ran away. Second moto, almost got the holeshot. Brayton again. I don’t know if he’s got NOS under his butt or what.
Filthy too, Filthy had starts too.
So guys must have NOS or massive amounts of horsepower and traction. I almost hole shotted, led a couple laps. Actually apparently I was riding too slow and Trey squared me up at the bottom of Screw You and after that it was battle on. I was like, all right, I’m pissed, I got passed by Trey. I was feeling like I was going to win it early on. So I made a run at him a lot, or for a pretty long time.
And it really looks like it took a mistake by you to let Ryan get by you. Then what do you do from there?
Well, yeah, it was so one-lined that it was tough to pass and the lappers were absolutely terrible. That’s all I’m going to say about that. It wasn’t that bad in the second moto but the first moto was terrible for lappers.
From watching it I think the lappers jacked a lot of guys up. It seemed like lap times would vary a lot. It must have been a problem.
It was. It was jacking everyone. It wasn’t just my problem. They were really bad. It was tough to make a pass and me and Trey were going so fast, I couldn’t really find anywhere to pass. I was right on his wheel but I wasn’t going fast enough here or there to really get by him. I got close once at the bottom of the Sky Shot, bombed the outside but it just wasn’t enough.
And then you were just eating rocks of roost the whole way.
Nasty rocks of roost the whole way, yes.
I was talking to Chad earlier and the told me he felt – of course you were faster than him today so who knows – but he felt like a rider could only go one speed today, otherwise the track really wouldn’t let you go balls out. Do you agree?
I’d somewhat agree because there was like that one line that was kind of holding you, and a lot of the ruts were super jacked. They were square. You’d go straight in and they’d do a 90 degree out and you couldn’t even get the step-up before the one big hill, because the ruts were so messed up. I’d somewhat agree with that, that it was limiting guys from really holding it completely wide open.
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Trey Canard
Late here at Unadilla. You just got out of a meeting. You had your best race of the year. You won the moto, dominated. What could you possibly have a meeting about?
I wouldn’t be here too late but I couldn’t pee, so it took me two hours to pee. But we just wanted to debrief on some stuff.
Tell them don’t worry about it. No debriefing needed after today’s ride. Fantastic job. Fell in the first moto, real bad start in the first moto, otherwise we didn’t get to see the race we wanted. That second moto, between all 4 of you guys, it was a really exciting race.
It was fun, it was really fun. I was just pumped to lead some laps. I was watching those guys behind me, especially Dungey and Tomac. They seemed to be on it.
And the lappers seemed bad.
They were. It’s just hard because there’s so many lines and it’s hard to get out of the way.
First moto, just what happened off the start? Can you pinpoint it? What happened?
I don’t know. I kind of got together with Chad.
You were about 21st or something.
Yeah, I was pretty far back. I just got together with Chad and had to shut off, and here the first turn’s a little hairy.
And what about the pass on Eli?
Yeah, the first one I made was at the bottom of Screw You. I just kind of cut underneath him. I didn’t really think I was going to pass him just because it’s kind of a sketchy place. And then he got me back and I kind of was able to hold onto it a little bit.
You made a comment to me last week, “I got 3rd in a moto and I’m not on the podium.” It’s a tough deal. So this has to feel pretty good.
I’m pumped. It felt really good just because I haven’t won in a long time. And I’ve never won an outdoor moto. It was just cool. It’s cool for the team and I’m happy because you start to doubt yourself for sure.
Really? You start to doubt yourself?
Yeah, I hadn’t won in a long time.
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“I’m pumped. It felt really good just because I haven’t won in a long time. And I’ve never won an outdoor moto. It was just cool. It’s cool for the team and I’m happy because you start to doubt yourself for sure.” |
How much of today’s performance could be attributed to the suspension change you made on the bike? I can’t help but think it’s not coincidental that you rode great and your team looks like they made a pretty big, drastic change?
It helped a lot for sure. It’s not just that change. We’re making a lot of changes and we just figured, not that 3rd’s on lockdown but we got a good gap and definitely out of the championship so we wanted to try to improve our bike as best we can and we want to try to get all the options we can.
It looked like it worked.
It worked really well. I was really happy with it.
Even you got to be pumped too, you were the fastest in both practices and the track was pretty different from the second moto that you won. So you went fast when it was a little sloppy, a little soft, and then in the last moto of the day when it was harder packed and the ruts were harder packed, you won again. So it looked like it worked across all ranges.
Yeah, I was really happy. I just had a better feel for it. I don’t know what it was about it but I just seemed to agree with it. I was really happy. I’m stoked. Hopefully we continue to make good decisions and build a little more momentum before next year.
Was Knowles pissed that you won the Oakley Bomb?
I don’t think so. I think he was pretty happy.
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“Then second moto I got a killer start. I was running 4th I believe behind Bogle. Went down third lap, fell back to about 17th, worked my way back up to 12th, then I had another big crash. But it wasn’t a bad rookie debut. Just build on it and get ready for next weekend.” |
RJ Hampshire
Your pro debut. I didn’t realize this but Red Dog said you crashed a couple times in each moto. I know in the second one for sure, but what’d you think?
It was pretty good. I had a lot of fun actually. First moto got out to a decent start, made some good passes early. I was running 8th I believe, pretty strong. Made a mistake, went down, and regrouped and got 11th, so that wasn’t too bad. Then second moto I got a killer start. I was running 4th I believe behind Bogle. Went down third lap, fell back to about 17th, worked my way back up to 12th, then I had another big crash. But it wasn’t a bad rookie debut. Just build on it and get ready for next weekend.
What was the biggest surprise for you?
I don’t know… The competition was good but I’d say the track. The track was gnarly today. It was tough, real tough. The ruts definitely got… The whole track was a rut pretty much. You had to just pick it and go with it.
How was your nerves?
Really wasn’t nervous coming in. I had a decent time in qualifying. I qualified 9th. Just went with it like that. Got decent starts and I’ll be up there. I don’t want to say it but I feel top tens for the next two will be good.
Did you have any guys sort of saying “welcome to the pros, here’s my front tire.” Did you have any of that?
I had a few actually. Number 17 tagged me pretty good. That was what happened the first moto. Anderson passed me, I passed him back and I guess he didn’t like that a little bit and showed me a wheel and we both went down. Got back up and then Seely came and did the same thing to me. But it was fun. I was out there battling with the guys and to be battling with them as a rookie for my debut, I was pumped on that.
How was Tim Ferry today?
Tim’s solid. He’s always solid; just look at him. Red hair and everything.
Eating ice cream, eating M&Ms?
You should probably share. Getting a little sore. I need it.
Thanks, man. I thought you did pretty good today. Showed some speed and like you said, a top ten won’t be too much for you from here and who knows, maybe even higher.
