This wasn’t the year that Justin Barcia or his team, Honda Muscle Milk, wanted to have. The Bam-Bam we all saw win two 250SX titles and 450SX Monster Energy Supercross races wasn’t able to win a race last year and as a matter of fact, he collected just four podiums in fifteen races. He was also injured early in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship and spent the summer rehabbing for 2015. Next year Barcia will take his talents to the Toyota/JGR Yamaha squad and have Johnny O’Mara as a trainer. For pretty much the first time in his life, he’ll be looking at a front fender that’s not red.
I called up Barcia to talk about this past season and his new program.
Racer X: Big news, it’s official now. You’re riding for Toyota/JGR Yamaha for next year and beyond. You must be pretty excited about it.
Justin Barcia: Very excited. I couldn’t talk about it forever. People knew but it wasn’t public, so that kind of stunk. But I’m really excited. It’s a lot of great people over there, a lot of hard workers. A great atmosphere over there, for sure. Especially being around the NASCAR guys, which is really cool. There’s a lot of good stuff going on over there, and it makes me feel really happy.
Your contract was up and I’m sure you had interest from a lot of teams. What made you want to leave Honda and go to JGR? I’m sure a guy like you, you could have went to a few different places.
Definitely. There was a ton of options for me. I had a lot of meetings and met a lot of great people, so that was pretty cool. But I leaned towards JGR. It just went really good when I had some talks with Jeremy Albrecht and Coy and also Joe Gibbs, the coach. It just seemed like the right thing for me to do, a fresh start. They’re based up in North Carolina, so that’s a plus for me for sure because it’s not too far from my place, so that’s awesome. It’s a good bunch of people over there. I was looking for a fresh start, so that’s kind of what made me lean towards those guys.
I don’t know how much you’re into NASCAR, but it seems the riders they hire really get into it after joining the team. Is this something that appeals to you?
I was never into NASCAR honestly. I’ve watched it every once in a while, but now I’m into it more just because seeing what goes into it and being able to walk through their NASCAR shop and see that. I watched my first NASCAR race not too long ago, and it’s pretty mind-blowing. That wasn’t why I went there, but it’s really cool for sure.
Are you cleared to ride from the injury you suffered outdoors?
Getting there. Just been riding my bicycle a whole lot. I can’t wait to get back on the bike. I can’t officially start riding the new motorcycle until October 1. But the injury’s going good. Just been rehabbing it, riding my bicycle a lot, working out—all that fun stuff.
It’s amazing that you went with JGR without ever having ridden a bike! [Note: Sarcasm alert]
For me, I wanted to be with a great team and great people. The last few years have been extremely tough for me, where I was at, so I was ready for a fresh start. They’re just good people. It’s nice to know that I was really wanted. They really made the push and put the effort into it. I could have stayed at Honda, or I could have went somewhere else and made more money or did something like that, but that wasn’t why I did it. I was ready to do something new and actually be around people who are pumped on me, so it was cool.
I really thought you were going to be Villopoto’s toughest challenger for the supercross title in 2014. You came off a really good rookie year. You had lots of speed and some wins. What happened?
It was just tough. I didn’t have good communication with some guys over there. We really struggled with chassis, suspension...all around, motor; it was everything. We just couldn't get it right, and it was extremely frustrating mentally, physically. I was having crashes that shouldn't have happened because of things. It was just a lot of stuff. But as you can see now, toward the end of outdoors, I was paying pretty close attention to the races. They made some big changes to the bike [Trey Canard’s bike]. They switched suspension, which is huge.
I couldn't believe they did that. That’s a massive change for a team like Honda.
I couldn't believe it either! I was kind of surprised because they didn’t want to make any of those changes while I was there. So, pretty crazy.
Anaheim 1 was great for you. Then Phoenix kind of didn’t go your way. Does it just start snowballing from there and every week it gets worse and worse?
I wouldn’t even call it snowballing; I’ll call it a blizzard! It was tough, man. It obviously is super disappointing because I was a Honda rider from day one. I was there for so long. They actually did try to keep me, and it was cool they felt they could make things better, but for me I felt maybe it was time in my career to make a big change. It just wasn’t going right. But I do have a lot of respect for Honda and the company. They’re an extremely great company. I’m very grateful for everything they’ve done for me. It’s pretty cool. I always as a kid wanted to ride a factory Honda and did that. The winds are changing a little and we’ll see what happens.
Do you think you missed Erik Kehoe a little bit too? He was somebody that you just gelled with.
Erik was a great team manager. I’m not really sure what happened, why he left or whatnot, but we got along extremely well. That was a big reason I signed at Honda because Erik and me got along so well. He was the type of guy who raced before and would do anything to make the bike better. That was kind of tough over there because I wanted to make changes a lot and really didn’t have a lot of say. Losing Erik was extremely tough. I think that was definitely a big deal for me.
You moved from one Honda legend, Jeff Stanton, to another in Johnny O’Mara for a trainer/coach. Talk about that decision a little bit. I understand that you and Stanton are still cool. It’s just one of those things, huh?
Me and Six-Time [Stanton] are still great friends. We still talk on a daily basis during the week and stuff like that. I think it was just a fresh start for everything. I talked with Johnny for a while, and I think he’s going to take my training program to the next level for sure. I think it’s going to be good. We seem to get along pretty well. It’s definitely not going to be easy, that’s for sure.
You didn’t call me for a trainer/coach?
I forgot. You told me to hit you up but I just forgot.
Another change for you: no Schnikey [Mike Tomlin] as a mechanic. You and Schnikey are still buddies, but a little bit of a change. As a former mechanic, I like to see guys stick together and it’s too bad you guys couldn't make it work.
Huge change. It’s a huge change. Me and Schnikey have been best buddies for a long time. He’s been my mechanic since I was in my last year of amateur. That’s the thing; when I went to Honda they told me I could bring my mechanic. Then when I was going there, they told me I couldn't bring him. I fought so hard to get Schnikey over there. That was a huge thing too, because I was told I could bring him, and then when I signed the contract they said I couldn't bring him. It was kind of crazy. I fought so hard. That shows that I’m the type of person that wants to stick together with someone. Schnikey was the best mechanic I’ve ever hard. He always did everything perfect. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring him with me to JGR. It’s definitely disappointing. I love that guy. He’s an awesome mechanic.
Some guys never get to keep their guys more than a couple years, so on the bright side, you were lucky to have him for that long.
Definitely. I’m really grateful that I had a mechanic almost... I don’t even know how many years it was, but it was a long time. We stuck it out and it was awesome. We had our ups and downs, but it was good. We won two supercross championships in the 250 Class, so that was cool and some 450 races.
Any plans on doing the Euro races or the first time we see you race will be A1?
I’m definitely keeping my mind open; that’s for sure. I’ll just have to see when I get back on the bike and see how everything’s going. I definitely would like to do Italy and the new Bercy; I think it’s called Lille this year. I like Bercy a lot, so that’s my plan is to go to Genoa, Italy and Paris and race.
Do you know what kind of gear you’re going to wear or anything like that?
Pretty much all the same stuff for the most part. There are some few changes but nothing too crazy. Definitely Alpinestars. I’ve had a great relationship with Gabriel there. He’s really taken care of me. Love those guys.
