Now the lead man in the JGR/Toyota Yamaha assault for 2015, Justin Barcia has rolled the dice and gambled big that his new partnership will get both him and the team what they all desperately want: an AMA No. 1 plate. After a day of burning a whole lot of fossil fuel through his Yamaha YZ450F motor, Justin Barcia set us straight on his new relationship with JGR.
Racer X: Justin, it is Wednesday, October 2, 2014, and it sounds like you’re back in Charlotte, North Carolina. What’s shaking?
Justin Barcia: I’m actually at my mechanic’s house and we just got done with a bike ride about an hour ago. We just had dinner and we’re just hanging out.
You’ve recently started working with Johnny O’Mara. Johnny mentioned to me that he has you on a pretty strict and regimented riding and training schedule. True?
Yeah, definitely. I’ve been on a pretty strict program working with Johnny O’, and it’s going pretty good. I’ve been riding my dirt bike a lot and definitely riding the bicycle. Maybe riding the bicycle even more than the motorcycle!
How’s that going?
It’s going awesome. I’m feeling the benefits of it already. Just getting back on the dirt bike, and the bicycle feels really good. I’ve only been going for a few weeks now, but I really notice it a lot. I’m extremely tired, that’s for sure. Hopefully I’ll get over that hump pretty soon.
Have you ever trained this intensely before? I know Johnny has a particular way of doing things.
Yeah, it’s definitely different. I’ve always been a hard worker, that’s for sure. I’ve always ridden my dirt bike a lot during the week. But bicycle-wise, I haven’t done as much as this, that’s for sure. It’s a game changer for me, and I think it’s going to help me a lot. I’m kind of getting addicted to it a little bit. I can’t wait to ride my bicycle every day, so it’s pretty cool. I’ve kind of got the bike bug.
Johnny mentioned that he’s really pleased with how well it’s been going with you, and that he already sees some really positive developments. Good stuff, huh?
Yeah, he told me that, too. We’re working hard and we want to be on top next year, for sure.
How long have you been in North Carolina and getting yourself tuned-in to the Gibbs organization?
So probably halfway through outdoors I got up here because I met a really good doctor through Gibbs. His name is Doctor Anderson, and he fixed my ankle. He did pretty much a full ankle reconstruction. I’ve been up here for a few months for that. I’ve just been recovering and doing therapy and stuff. From there I went back to Florida and started riding my bicycle a little bit, and then when I was released from my Honda contract—that was like a week ago—I started riding again. I’ve been up here on-and-off and I really enjoy it up here, especially right now since the weather is awesome. It just turned fall and it’s great for bike riding and the JGR guys have a great track up here to test on. It’s been going good.
Did you have a pretty good idea of what the new motorcycle was going to be like, or did you just get on the bike and start riding it and see where it all shook down? Does that make any sense?
Yeah, it does for sure. Honestly, I went in pretty blind. I rode Hondas pretty much my whole career. It was a big jump for me to commit to it, for sure. I knew it was the right direction, you know? I knew it was the right direction with all the guys here at Joe Gibbs here. He’s an amazing guy and a great person to deal with. And then Coy [Gibbs] and Jeremy [Albrecht] and all those guys are awesome. I didn’t really know what to expect with the bike, but since I started riding, I’m so happy and I feel so comfortable on it. Honestly, I started with a base setting on the bike and we haven’t really veered from it too much, so that tells you a lot.
Technically speaking, what did you like about the new Yamaha? Anything specific or just an overall feel?
The bike is so much different than the past bike I was riding. First off, I like power and this Yamaha is a rocket ship. I mean the engine is so fast…it’s really fast. The chassis is awesome. I mean, I can ramble on about the bike and how different it is than the Honda. It’s just a completely different motorcycle. It’s hard to say what’s different about everything, but the biggest thing is the motor. The thing is super-fast but still controllable. We have some good stuff to work with.
At JGR, to a large extent, the team is built around and fully focused on you. How is that? Different?
I mean it’s awesome, for sure. In the past, I never felt like I was “the” guy, so that was always a little bit tough. So being here at Gibbs is just awesome. I talk to Coy and he puts a lot of pressure on me to be the main guy and to go out there and win races and stuff. You know, that’s what I like. That’s what I want to do. I want to win races. The team is awesome. I mean from Jeremy to Coy to my new mechanic Ben and my practice mechanic Nick, it’s a whole new crew. It’s a big change for me, and it’s a definitely a really good change. I’m so happy right now already, and things can only just go up from here. And so far from the couple of days I’ve tested, I’ve gotten really good feedback. Everyone is really happy with my riding since I haven’t ridden for a while. It’s been really easy to work with the guys out at the track. They come up with a couple setting that I try. The communication is awesome. I’ve never had the communication before with the whole team. Usually, you only communicate with one guy. That’s why they call it a team sport. Everyone is involved. It’s not all about me going out on the track and winning the race. Obviously it takes the whole crew to do it together and to do it right. Going from the NASCAR stuff to the moto side, it transfers over and that’s actually pretty cool. These guys know what they’re doing.
If you ask around, the general consensus is that you, Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen could be the three main players in the drama that will be the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross Series. Do you see it that way?
We’re obviously the young up-and-comers, but there are way more guys than that. There’s the old guys and the guys who have been around a little bit and then there’s the young guys. My goal is to go out there and do some damage. For me, this year I’m starting fresh. I put together a whole new program. I hired Johnny O and I moved to a new team and I have a lot of new sponsors in place. I feel like I made a lot of the right decisions. Now it comes down to the hard work in the off-season and being ready for Anaheim 1. For me, I just need to worry about putting in the time on the track and getting used to the team and training hard. It’s never easy. No matter what you do, it’s not going to be easy and that’s why I love racing. I love the challenge in it. It keeps me motivated. I just always want to do better and work harder and win races. It’s going to be a tough year, for sure.
Will you do the Monster Cup next weekend?
It’s tough to say, but I’ve been riding a lot and I’ve been putting in the time and the speed is coming around. Obviously, I can do ten laps like nothing. I’ve been working hard at that and that’s no big deal. My goal is to do Monster Cup. I’m not going to say I’m going to do it yet, but it’s looking real good, that’s for sure. I would give it a 95 percent chance.
Do you have any offshore races lined-up this off-season?
Yeah, definitely. I’m going to go over to Italy and do the Genoa race. I’ve raced over there a few times. I really enjoy going over there. I’m also going to do Bercy this year. Those are two races that I usually do every year. For me, I like going over there. I can have some fun and the fans are pretty crazy.
And as far as the rest of the off-season?
The goal in the off-season is to be between North Carolina testing and basing myself at my home in Florida. My trainer will be there because Johnny O will be coming out a lot—almost every other week. Yeah, it’s going to be an action-packed off-season for me. I wouldn’t even really call it an off-season. It’s going to be pretty gnarly! [Laughs]
You’re known as a very aggressive rider. Will you continue to race the way you have? And do you think you ride over aggressively?
I have rode over-aggressively in the past, but in the past year or two I think I’ve gotten pretty good with not riding dirty or anything like that. My style has definitely changed quite a bit over the time, especially now training with Johnny O. It’s not just about training off the bike; it’s also about training on the bike, and he’s got some great tips for that too. Things will be a little bit different, but I’ll still be the aggressive rider I’ve always been. I’ll never lose that. I love some great battles, and block passing and banging bars.
So as far as this video…you were the stunt driver, huh? You drove the No. 54 car!
Yeah, I did drive. Everyone thought we needed a stunt driver, but I was like, “I can drive the car!” We knew Coy drove some cars and stuff before and he was doing some donuts and whatever and I was like, “Coy, let me get in this thing. I can drive a car pretty decent.” So I ripped out of the garage and threw about ten burnouts in there. It was so much fun. It was awesome.
How did you get that big Nationwide car to do spin donuts like that?
Dump the clutch and full gas! That thing had some serious power. People are going to be pumped on the video. We got some sick whips, we were killing it in the whoops, and we blew up some corners. We drove some cars and we have some hot chicks in it. You can’t go wrong with that. We had the stellar crew out there. We were really killing it. The Dirt Shark did a great job with the video.
