Open Mic: Toronto Interviews

Justin Brayton, JGR Toyota Yamaha, 4th in 450SX

That was solid. Right in the mix.
Yeah, I’m back. Bummer that I went away for a little bit but I had some unfortunate stuff happen and that’s part of it. To be there 17 weekends in a row is tough. As you saw today with RV getting sick and me a couple weeks ago, it’s difficult but that’s part of it. It felt good to be back tonight. Top five in all the practices. Fairly good heat race, and then good start in the main. Ran up front. Like I said at the beginning [of the year] I’m racing with the guys that I should be racing with and we were tonight. I was fairly happy with it. I think a podium would have obviously been awesome. I feel like we had the speed at times to be there but I’m excited also for St. Louis, kind of a home race. Good momentum into that.

Some of the jump combos that Stew was doing, I think you had some of them also. You seem to have some different rhythms out there.
Yeah, I actually did that triple-triple before the finish first, like on the second lap. I’d been thinking about it all day—I think everyone had. But it was just super rutty. The takeoff was really nasty. But they must have fixed it right before our main. On the parade lap I’m like, man, that face looks good. So I kind of tested the transition in-between the three-three and I went for it second lap and it was no problem. Then they said Stew picked up on it when he was behind me. Not sure exactly how much faster it was but for sure you stayed out of the ruts and it was just more consistent lap after the lap. The other rhythm was getting me, though. That thing was so tough. I think everyone had some issues with that. One lap I’d hit it good, the next lap I wouldn’t. It was difficult.

Was it the ruts or getting cupped out transitions?
Yeah, it was definitely more the ruts and once the ruts got deep it was like there was like a hole at the bottom of the jump and then you had to go three or four over the table top, the second jump. You had to really land in that pocket just perfect. So that was hard for me to do lap after lap.

I’m assuming there wasn’t massive wholesale changes to what you did during the week or the bike? You might have changed a few things. But it’s not massive stuff?
It’s not massive at all. Mainly confidence and just the feel with the track and your bike. You’ve got to want it. For sure, a lot of it’s mindset. We changed my bike a little bit, not much. I didn’t get to ride much this week. It was raining most of the week. I got to ride a little bit on Thursday. So it wasn’t like I went home and we changed a bunch of stuff and now all of a sudden I’m back. Unfortunately with food poisoning and last week in Detroit I just had bad starts. I crashed in practice. No excuses at all but it just wasn’t jiving for me. I struggled and that’s what it is. Not going to go celebrate a fourth but also glad to be back where I belong. – Jason Weigandt

 

Roger DeCoster, Red Bull KTM team manager (Dungey 3rd and Roczen 5th)

Talk about your team’s night. Kenny Roczen, mentioned on the podium he might have over did it this week. Ryan had another solid night.
Kenny had the lead for about half of the race and he was happy with his bike but his legs got tired so he could not ride the way he wanted to ride anymore. But I have to give it to James [Stewart] though. This was an impressive ride and one of his best.

Dungey and Roczen are both having good seasons. Kenny’s behind Ryan now in points but Kenny’s got more wins. Talk about their season so far. Are you happy? Which guy are you happier with?
They trade back and forth. It’s nice to see that they are in the hunt. I was still hoping for a little bit better. You always look for that first place. It’s cool to see Ryan in second place. That’s good but I feel we still need to improve.

Roczen’s contract negations are a hot topic. Can you talk about it? What you know, if you hope to keep him…
Of course I hope to keep him but there’s so many rumors I’m not sure what is true and what is not true anymore. Of course I will like to keep Ken and everybody on the team would like to keep him. We do everything we can to give him the best support possible. At the end it’s his decision and we live with what he chooses to do. – Steve Matthes

Alex Martin, CycleTrader.com Rock River Yamaha, 7th in 250SX

First, take me through the heat. What happened there? It looked crazy.
It was rough. Honestly I just rolled off the gate. I don’t know what I was doing. It was terrible. Just caught up in all the madness. People were going all over. Some guy came through the whoops real fast on the inside and just went up high and I couldn’t touch with my short legs and tipped over. [Laughs] Then I couldn’t get the bike started so I was just way, way back. I was like 15th I think at the finish. In the LCQ finally put it together, good start, and just rode behind [Matt] Bisceglia. Really wasn’t even too interested in passing him. I was in second, I’m fine with that. I didn’t want to pull a Jeremy Martin and crash on the last lap while leading. [Laughs] Just made it safe to the main.

In the main, another solid ride, top 10. I think a lot of people forget you missed all of supercross a year ago. Are you getting that supercross feeling back again, that comfort level?
Yeah, for sure. This is the sixth weekend straight that we’ve been racing and it’s just been getting better every weekend for me. I’m comfortable on the bike and the confidence is coming back for sure. It definitely affected me the first couple rounds, not racing last year, because it’s not quite as fresh in your mind and your body, but I think we’re starting to come back around now. The whole program with Rock River Cycle Trader is really consistent so it’s allowed me to really build each week.

And you’re a rider that likes consistency, to have things in order, and this year it seems like you have that in this team. How much is that helping you?
It’s been huge. I just love the people. The team is awesome. They have a good team morale as well in the pits and that really helps out. You enjoy being at the races. You enjoy being here and I think that’s a big key. – Chase Stallo

 

Kyle Cunningham, SmarTop/MotoConcepts, 8th in 250SX

Take me through the night.
It went all right. We had pretty good times in practice. Decent heat race. I went into the main and got a rough start, made my way up and just made some mistakes at the end. Just didn’t ride that great the last four or five laps which is a little bit of a bummer. We had a fourth last weekend, eighth this weekend. Go home, do some training, do some riding and see what we can get figured out for next weekend.

The back rhythm section looked a bit tricky. What was your strategy there?
The rhythm was gnarly. The dirt here was pretty crazy. It was real rutted and would form some kickers in places. That’s kind of where I messed up. I was going on-off three every lap and there at the end just started messing it up. That just led to one thing after another.

With tracks like these that are difficult, it intensifies how important the start is.
For sure. It wasn’t too easy coming through the pack the first few laps. That’s what changed my race last weekend, [I] got out front quick and stayed loose and rode well. But this weekend just back to another bad start and weaving through people. End of the race I’ve got to be stronger. So go back to Texas, work with my pops and see what we can get figured out. – Chase Stallo

 

Wil Hahn, GEICO Honda, 14th in 450SX

Did you hit that tuff block? Is that why you went down?
Yeah.

I think Peick did it.
I don’t know who did it. I just know I was in the air and I’m like, well, lift the front and hope for the best, and it didn’t treat me very well.

And then you got up and pulled in the mechanics area?
I pulled in. My steering was really, really bad crooked. Just one of things, out of your control. Nothing you can do about it. Just ride it out, hope for the best. Bummed out, but I didn’t give up, so you got to be proud of that.

Track tonight, tough. Maybe the best one of the year. Maybe just because I’m in Canada, but I really liked it.
For sure the best Toronto I’ve ridden, by far. Best dirt we’ve had here. No rocks. They got rid of all the rocks. Everything about this tonight was a good racetrack. Very technical, rutty, and just tricky all around. I would agree, it was one of the best of the year for sure. – Steve Matthes