5 Minutes With... Kevin Windham
April 9, 2009 2:11am | by: Steve Cox
GEICO Powersports Honda’s Kevin Windham has had a tough go of it this year by most accounts, but even so, he landed on the podium in Jacksonville and is sitting tied for fourth in the points standings with only three rounds to run. When that’s a bad year, you know you’re pretty good. We talked to Windham after the race last Saturday night.
Kevin Windham: We were struggling at the beginning of the season, and I think that the last few races, I’ve been where I needed to be. My laptimes have been up on the board, and that’s impressive, and it’s hard to get to, because there are some guys in practice who can do some real glory laps. It’s hard to get up there in this environment, especially when you’re coming from the back. So I know I’ve had the speed. The problem that I’ve been having now is different from the beginning of the year. The GEICO Powersports Honda team has really put their head down and done their homework, and we’re where we need to be. I just needed to get off the line, and tonight was proof of that. The leaders obviously had their own race, but they’re in a category of their own right now. If I can keep getting up there and keep building confidence, I can make a charge up there and be knocking on their door. That’s a tough feat, and it’s almost cocky to say something like that because they’re riding really good, but I’m still building confidence and still getting to where I’m at my most comfortable on the bike. As long as we’re doing that, I’ll continue to build speed.
Early in the main event, when you moved into third, Andrew Short was behind you, and you just pulled away...
I know Short’s nursing an injury, but [Josh] Hill was riding good, and I think he was back there, and the 800 was back there after he went down, so there was some tough competition all over the track, and I felt good about pulling away from them. But once again, I’m a rider that wants to keep focusing toward the front, and there are still two humongous hurdles – the biggest hurdles in supercross – out in front of us.
No, but we’re working on it. Every day it seems more and more important. Last year was a long off-season, and my daughter’s going to be really upset with me because she can’t wait for daddy to be off, but I really think I want to do some outdoors, and I want to try to get that going right now. A lot of steps need to be taken from where we are right now to where we need to be fore that to happen.
Have you ridden outdoors at all?
[Laughs] Yeah, Glen Helen, ’07. That was the last time I rode an outdoor track.
You won that last moto!
Hey, yeah! Technically, if I came back and won, I’d have like a streak! No, but I don’t ride a lot of outdoors, and this year I really wanted to try to figure out what I wanted to do. When I got done, I was done. I didn’t pick up a bike for a long time, and I didn’t run, and I didn’t train – I didn’t do anything. I got up to like 208 or 210 – way heavier than I ever should be – and it really felt like what it was going to be like to be retired. This year, even if I don’t do the nationals, I’ll do a little bit different plan from that and do some exciting races, even if it’s not the motocross series. It’s too early to tell, but at the same time, it’s almost too late to make a decision, so we need to hurry up and get on the ball.
When you were 210, was Dottie [his wife] bummed? Was she like, “Is this what I have to look forward to?!”
No, she was pumped with the 210, because I told her if I didn’t get back to racing for a long time, it was going to get up to 235! It didn’t give me enough time to get that big.
Kevin Windham: We were struggling at the beginning of the season, and I think that the last few races, I’ve been where I needed to be. My laptimes have been up on the board, and that’s impressive, and it’s hard to get to, because there are some guys in practice who can do some real glory laps. It’s hard to get up there in this environment, especially when you’re coming from the back. So I know I’ve had the speed. The problem that I’ve been having now is different from the beginning of the year. The GEICO Powersports Honda team has really put their head down and done their homework, and we’re where we need to be. I just needed to get off the line, and tonight was proof of that. The leaders obviously had their own race, but they’re in a category of their own right now. If I can keep getting up there and keep building confidence, I can make a charge up there and be knocking on their door. That’s a tough feat, and it’s almost cocky to say something like that because they’re riding really good, but I’m still building confidence and still getting to where I’m at my most comfortable on the bike. As long as we’re doing that, I’ll continue to build speed.
Early in the main event, when you moved into third, Andrew Short was behind you, and you just pulled away...
I know Short’s nursing an injury, but [Josh] Hill was riding good, and I think he was back there, and the 800 was back there after he went down, so there was some tough competition all over the track, and I felt good about pulling away from them. But once again, I’m a rider that wants to keep focusing toward the front, and there are still two humongous hurdles – the biggest hurdles in supercross – out in front of us.
No, but we’re working on it. Every day it seems more and more important. Last year was a long off-season, and my daughter’s going to be really upset with me because she can’t wait for daddy to be off, but I really think I want to do some outdoors, and I want to try to get that going right now. A lot of steps need to be taken from where we are right now to where we need to be fore that to happen.
Have you ridden outdoors at all?
[Laughs] Yeah, Glen Helen, ’07. That was the last time I rode an outdoor track.
You won that last moto!
Hey, yeah! Technically, if I came back and won, I’d have like a streak! No, but I don’t ride a lot of outdoors, and this year I really wanted to try to figure out what I wanted to do. When I got done, I was done. I didn’t pick up a bike for a long time, and I didn’t run, and I didn’t train – I didn’t do anything. I got up to like 208 or 210 – way heavier than I ever should be – and it really felt like what it was going to be like to be retired. This year, even if I don’t do the nationals, I’ll do a little bit different plan from that and do some exciting races, even if it’s not the motocross series. It’s too early to tell, but at the same time, it’s almost too late to make a decision, so we need to hurry up and get on the ball.
When you were 210, was Dottie [his wife] bummed? Was she like, “Is this what I have to look forward to?!”
No, she was pumped with the 210, because I told her if I didn’t get back to racing for a long time, it was going to get up to 235! It didn’t give me enough time to get that big.
