Supercross went decent for Josh, his best main event result was a seventh, and he ended up eleventh in the points at the end. The motocross season was a frustrating one for a guy that I’ve always thought was better outside. There were some injuries, some crashes, and then some more crashes with Josh eventually ending up fifteenth. The final blow came when JGR let the friendly, quiet Summey go. We called Josh to see what he has going on for 2009.
Racer X: Josh, before we get into your 2009 plans, talk to me about that Endurocross that you just raced in?
Josh Summey: Yeah, it was fun. Kind of a bummer for me not to qualify. I think those guys I was racing had done that type of racing a time or two before! I had fun, it was a neat experience and I didn’t have too much trouble. The small rocks were the toughest more than anything else, they were pretty hard. Some of the obstacles I didn’t think were too tough, but Huffman and those guys were telling me that when you throw fifteen other guys out there and some lappers, and you have to choose lines, it gets kind of difficult.
I didn’t see anything but the main event results, did you come close to qualifying?
It was kind of tricky. I think there were forty or so riders and they split it into three heats and they took three from each heat. I actually started pretty good in the heat, I got the holeshot and (Mike) Brown snuck it inside of me, but I was still second. Mike Lafferty kind of fell over on me in one of the rock sections and pinned me there for a bit. I caught back up to fourth and missed it by one. In the semis and LCQ’s they only took one guy, and in my semi I was kinda battling with a KTM guy they had brought in and ended up in second. I missed it by one again. It was still fun to do for sure.
So what do you have going on in 2009?
Not a whole lot right now. I’m kind of waiting on some things to come together right now and fall into place. I’m waiting on an MDK/KTM deal, and it seems that is changing every day and they’re waiting to see what they are going to do. I’m talking to Cernic’s Kawasaki as well, that would be for supercross and the Canadian nationals. {QUOTE}
Here comes the question, you had better equipment this year, yet you did worse. Looking back on the year what do you think went wrong?
Well as far as supercross, I think I did better. I improved there for sure. I had some bad luck at the first round and missed the main but I think I did pretty well there. I did crash pretty bad at St Louis and missed the main there. I had some top ten finishes, some seventh places. I definitely think I improved there. As far as the outdoors is concerned, I think during the week I would run one pace, and then come Sunday have to step it up a lot more. I didn’t have many people to ride with during the week, (Gavin) Gracyk was injured all the time, and I think that hurt my practicing. It seemed that when I got to the race, I would find myself having to run a faster pace, and I would find myself on the ground more than I would have liked. I still had a couple of decent outdoor finishes but it didn’t go the way I would’ve liked. Like you said, I was on better equipment and should’ve done better.
Do you look back on your Gibbs Racing experience with nothing but love?
Yeah, for sure. It was a great experience for me and everything was great. It was awesome being around people that are so intelligent and have worked with so many good riders in the past.
I think the coolest thing was the fact I lived five minutes down the road and I had someone to take me practicing and work on my practice bikes afterward. It was great to have and was a first class operation the whole way. Not that Moto XXX wasn’t good for me, it was a great experience and helped me get to where I am now. It’s just last year I would go ride, then have to work on my bike for the next day and then somehow fit training in there somewhere. It makes thing a lot easier and a lot less stressful for me, riding for JGR.
Can you ride the 250 class? I don’t know if that rule has been changed yet.
I’m not sure, but I’m looking for a 450 ride with being a bit heavier guy. It would make it more difficult for me off the start in the 250 class and it would hurt me for sure. But I would be open to talk to anyone for sure.
Do you have an agent? How can people get a hold of you for a ride?
I kind of do things on my own. With the salaries that are being offered out there, if I had an agent, they would end up taking a lot of what I can get from a team. It seems like it’s a bit easier to do it on your own. People can email me at summey80@aol.com or they can email you (matthes@racerxill.com) and you can give them my number.
