Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin came, saw, and conquered at the Geneva SX in Switzerland over the weekend, going 1-2 in the main events to claim King of Geneva honors. It’s a nice little boost of momentum for the Frenchman as he prepares for Monster Energy Supercross in 2014. We rang him up this afternoon to find out how his weekend went, and more.
Racer X: How did the weekend go?
Marvin Musquin: Really, really good. The first practice, it was pretty hard to adjust to the track and the bike. Over there the dirt is so tacky, the tires just grab so much—it’s a lot different than what I’m used to riding in Corona in California, which is just crumbly on top and pretty slippery. So I had to adjust and [Justin] Brayton, Malcolm [Stewart] and Wil Hahn were faster than me in the first practice. I just tried to be smooth and get better every time I got on the track. I got great starts. My 350 from Austria was really, really nice. I had my suspension, foot pegs and handlebars and the rest of the bike was from Austria. I had so much fun during the weekend and riding the track—I was getting better and better. I holeshot the main on Friday and won the race.
I won’t lie—I know Stewart and Brayton crashed when they were right behind me, and that helped me get first place that first night. I knew they were faster than me, especially in the whoops. I was doing pretty good, but for sure that helped.
For the second race, were you thinking overall win or did you want to win that main event, too?
Well, like I said I was doing better and better each time I rode. Me and Frankie [Latham, mechanic] we did some changes to make the bike better for the last main on Saturday. We made a big change on the suspension and I was doing better in the whoops. I was really consistent and never made any mistakes in the whoops. But I was a little slower than Brayton. I was trying to use the left side of the whoops so Brayton couldn’t pass me. But a lapped rider was on the left and I had to go to the right, and Brayton managed to just pass me. I tried to follow him because he was a little bit faster than me, so I followed him as best as I could. I knew I had to stay in front of Wil Hahn to win the event, so after Justin passed me, I tried to follow him and keep my second place.
Marvin Musquin went 1-2 over the weekend to claim King of Geneva honors.
LeBigUSA.com photo
How does this help going into the season? Does it do anything for testing or training or is it just cool and fun?
It was actually both. It was great practice for the next season, to do starts, to be in a race with good riders like Malcolm, Brayton and Hahn. But it’s fun, I get to see all the French riders that I used to see before, and I get to see some friends and my family. So it was both—good to train for next season and also fun to see those people.
So I hear you’ve already decided you’re racing 250 SX East next year?
Yes.
What led to that decision?
It’s just because I really like those tracks last season. Good dirt and nice stadiums—lots of domes. I like the East even if I live on the West. So I just wanted to do that again. I’m going to do a few 450 races on the West Coast as a warm up.
And you’re going to ride a 350 there?
Yeah, I’ll be doing at least two races. I don’t know which ones, exactly, but at least two. That was the only thing I missed last year, maybe. I hope it’s going to help me to be better in the first East Coast race.
The 350, at this point, it doesn’t appear to be any different than any 450 out there. You’re competitive anytime you’re on it.
Yeah I love this bike. It’s like a 250 with a bigger engine. For sure there’s a lot more power on the 350 than the 250, that’s for sure. You can ask Brayton or Stewart how fast it was over the weekend—I got great starts on it. So for sure I’m going to use this bike to warm up on the West Coast races before the East. I love this bike—the 450 is another step, I like this bike when I’m coming from a 250.
Musquin has announced he will race the East Region in 2014.
LeBigUSA.com photo
Everything else good?
Yeah, so far everything is good. We did some good testing and we’re going to do more with the team before Christmas and New Year’s. We want to make some progress with the suspension and even the engine. But I think I’m going to ride a lot to train, just because it’s a bigger bike. That helps with the body. When I jump back on the 250, it’s going to be better.
Hey, you have a new teammate!
Yes. I think KTM just wanted to have a second rider. Obviously Dean Ferris didn’t want to stay in Europe because of the age limit of 23 years old for the 250 class, and he didn’t want to ride the 450. It’s good for him to be able to come to America. I think he’s a good rider. He hasn’t done too much supercross but he’s going to learn.
