Marvin Musquin, Red Bull KTM, First in 250SX
Racer X: You’re the man of the hour every Saturday. How is it feeling? Are you getting bored or are you having fun out there still?
Marvin Musquin: Not every Saturday because I didn’t win at Atlanta 2, but three in a row now and four overall, so I got to feel awesome for sure. I’m having a lot of fun and training and racing. I’ve got a great wife, a great team, great sponsors, and everything’s working really good. We got a new bike for this season and it’s working awesome. And the team, they put so much effort and adapt the bike when I need it. We’ve been working really good and obviously winning on the weekend. And then [Ryan] Dungey winning right after me in the 450 main event, that’s awesome. To see the smiles on the faces of the crew, the Red Bull KTM team, it’s awesome.
What does mean for your guys’ team, having a sweep?
When you look back and not many teams have been winning three races like that in a row both classes. It’s great for KTM. It’s great for the people that have been working so hard. I’m happy for myself, but I also think about the team and the people in Austria, people that have been building that new bike for us and making it happen, and to be able to race that bike. That’s great.
I know they’re never easy. This looked particularly nasty out there, but you still made it look pretty easy.
Well, I’m really happy about the passes I made really quick after the start and then I was into the lead. It’s the best position. You can focus on your line and do your laps like at practice because no one’s in front of you. And then I was looking back and I could see [Justin] Bogle and [Joey] Savatgy. They were going pretty good and I was a little bit faster so I could get a little gap every single lap. All of a sudden they disappeared. I saw Bogle losing time one lap, and then I couldn't see him the next lap. It looks like Savatgy got a problem with his bike and then Bogle went down. So then at one point I couldn’t see where the second place was. It was really weird, but you’ve got to focus on yourself and not do any mistakes. But the track was rutted and the long rhythm section there, the 3-3-3, it was tough to not do any mistakes. And through the whoops I was jumping so it was pretty safe. I like a track like that because it’s technical and that’s my style.
There were a lot of options in that rhythm section.
Yeah, there was. It was actually cool. I really like that because you could do triple, triple, triple; or double and triple, triple, and it was quite the same. I like when there’s different rhythms like that. It’s not everybody was doing the same thing over and over every lap. And it got rutted, so it’s hard to get the speed and the drive to do the rhythm. That’s real supercross right there. – Holly Wingler
Justin Bogle, GEICO Honda, Second in 250SX
Racer X: How’d that race go tonight?
Justin Bogle: It was good. I felt really good all day. Practice went really well. Heat race was pretty much spot on—holeshot, check out. Main event I got a really good start again and then kind of got shuffled back a little bit first lap. Trying a little too hard trying to make some things happen when maybe I shouldn't have. Ended up jumping off the track on the finish and then went down pretty hard in the rhythm section. It’s all good. With a night like that I’m happy to come out of here with a second. I’m healthy—I’m all good. So we’ll keep working. Back to the drawing board. Come back next week in Detroit and try to get a win.
What was so different about the track?
The track was just tough. It always is here. The dirt’s really spongy and soft and ruts out and the whoops get really sketchy. I think I might have made a mistake still trying to skim the whoops instead of jumping through them there in the main. The track’s just tough here. It’s really rutty and kind of throws you off. Obviously I had some trouble with it tonight. But, like I said, it’s all good. I like Detroit, so feeling good going into next weekend, just keep working.. – Holly Wingler
Jimmy Decotis, Riverside Harley Davidson/Trail Jesters/SOB MX, Sixth in 250SX
Racer X: An eventful night. Lots of mistakes being made by a lot of dudes. Not that many by you from what I could see. At the end of the night you picked off a lot of dudes at the end and got sixth.
Jimmy Decotis: We both know in the past my fitness has never been there. It’s still not where it needs to be. I’ve really been working hard for six months now. If you ask Dungey and those guys it takes 2–3 years to get where you need to be. It’s just baby steps for me. I wasn’t as consistent last year as I have been these last three races, so that’s something to look forward on. But I think I had a fourth in me tonight. I think [RJ] Hampshire was a little bit better than me, but I think I had [Jordon] Smith and [Kyle] Cunningham—just lap six me and Cunningham got into it. They both got me.
Peters was around there too.
[Kyle] Peters was in there, [Colt] Nichols was in there, [Jace] Owen was in there… There was a pack of guys raging war out there; it was sick.
I think tonight came down to who made the least mistakes because the track got beat.
It did. I made sure on parade lap I had my jump line in the whoops because jumping them was easier. Then after the finish I wasn’t doing the table to single all day and I ended up doing that in the main and then the rhythm after the first straightaway, the three in, I hit that every lap in the main event consistently. That’s what saved me. It kept me calm, kept me relaxed. I would rail guys in there and then just block them in the turn before the triple and we’d both double the triple, but it was a pass. I’m happy with a sixth, but not really. We both know what it takes to get on one of these teams, and they want to see a guy like me podium because I’m a veteran and I know what I need to do to get up there.
The positive thing is good ride tonight and three good races in a row now for you. You’re building something.
For sure. A five, a six, and a six is something that I haven’t done in a long time, and it’s good to get up there with those guys. I have the speed. Today I was sick all day. Practice I babied it. I was sixteenth and eleventh in both sessions. Just happy that I actually laid it down in the main because I didn’t expect to even ride the way that I did. I was really sick today, so I’m okay with it. – Steve Matthes
Luke Renzland, CycleTrader.com/Rock River Yamaha, Eleventh in 250SX
Racer X: It’s never good to go to the LCQ in the 250 class. That’s scary stuff. And then you actually had a restart, which helped you a lot.
Luke Renzland: I was in qualifying position in the heat and made, I guess you could call it, a rookie mistake the last lap in the whoops.
Right over the bars.
Yeah. Hit the tough blocks. I heard I made the SX-mo on Supercross Live, so that’s pretty cool, but it wasn’t good for my qualifying, so onto the LCQ. On the first start I actually came out dead last. I went around the scoreboard, I went off the track, I was in the wrong lane. I picked up some cheese fries on my way by. After the first lap I guess someone went down and unfortunate for them, but it was fortunate for me. Lined up again after the red flag and ended up with the holeshots, made some adjustments behind the gate. This dirt is super sticky, so I had to make some adjustments with just trying to get that wheel to spin a little bit.
Like starting hook hide or something? What’d you do?
Just scooted forward on the seat a little bit and kind of revved my RPMs up a little bit more. Anything to get the bike to kind of want to bite a little less. But from there on the main I lined up way on the outside of course, LCQ gate pick. Got actually a really good jump. Went into the first turn with the lead pack and kind of got shuffled down a little bit, just because I was so wide. I came out like fourteenth and by the end I worked up to eleventh. I knew that I should have been way higher than that. I’m not satisfied with eleventh or anything in the teens anymore. I know it’s time for me to be up in the top ten more consistently. Just need to make some adjustments with my aggression in the main events. I know we’ll get there. Rookie, we’re making some progress, but I think I’m coming into Detroit with a little more hunger—that’s for sure. – Steve Matthes
Mitchell Oldenburg, Arma Energy/MotoSport.com Yamaha, Thirteenth in 250SX
Racer X: We talked before practice and you were like, “I can’t go down; I got to stay up.” We know you’ve got the speed. In the main, tough blow two laps to go. You were up there though, riding well until then.
Mitchell Oldenburg: It’s frustrating. I know I have the speed. I know I’ve got the fitness. Just got to put a race together. It was good for thirteen laps.
You were like seventh or eighth?
I think I was seventh. I just passed [Vince] Friese in the rhythm section before that. I kind of got my second wind and was ready to hammer down and get the guys in front of me and just came together with Peters in the air—no one’s fault, racing incident. Just went down and had to finish the race out.
You could see when you got up, you kind of threw your arms like, “Not again!”
Like I said, it’s frustrating but it’s racing. You can’t get speed during the season, or it’s really tough to get speed. I know I’ve got the speed. I know I’ve got the fitness, and working hard with all the people back home at Fit N Wise Sports Medicine. Just taking care of business at home and I do my homework, I do everything right—just got to put a race together. Eventually it’s going to come.
Let me guess, hit your knee on the handlebars?
Yup, big time. I got a handlebar to the thigh and she’s pretty swollen right now.
Overall on the season, you’ve topped the board once. You were up there for a long time at Daytona. There’s been some crashes, but I think overall your speed’s been good. What do you think about the season so far?
It’s a learning season for me. I’ve never been on a team, never had this much confidence and time coming into a season. It seems like every time you get on that next level you’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to crash. It’s just part of it. This is racing motocross. No one said it was going to be easy. Nothing’s going to be handed to you. So I’m just going to go out there and work my butt off this week and hopefully come back in Detroit and be inside that top ten, top five, maybe even on the podium. I’m ready to do the work. I’m ready to be the guy to beat.
How’s the Arma Energy Yamaha?
It’s awesome. Jim Lewis, Merge Racing, we’ve been working hard getting the settings put in. Suspension, motors, everything’s awesome. Bikes were good the last two years, but I finally feel comfortable on my bike every day I hop on it. It’s good to know that these guys want it just as bad as I do too. – Steve Matthes
Martin Davalos, Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna, Fifteenth in 250SX
Racer X: That race was pretty interesting for a lot of people.
Martin Davalos: Well, for me I’ve been dealing with a little bit of some health issues and I just wanted to save my whole energy for the main event. I got a great start and just kind of lost a little bit of focus and just crashed. I should have gotten on the podium for sure tonight. I felt like I rode all right. The track was pretty tough. It got rutted in the main event. Just excited to get this bad luck out of the way.
Like you said, you did start great, you were running great, but after you crashed did you just mentally shut everything out or were you in pain? What happened the second half?
I was in a little bit of pain and it took me a little bit to get up and going. Obviously my handlebars were bent and stuff, so it was kind of hard to get adjusted again and get going. But slowly but surely got adjusted and made it work out as good as I could. I don’t know what I ended up. It was a tough night. I felt like I had the podium in me and threw it away. – Holly Wingler