Gone are the days of the 1990s when you could literally party all week and then race to win on the weekend. “I heard Emig was pretty gnarly. It was a different time back then,” Dakota Alix told us earlier this week. Yes, Emig, Stephenson, McGrath, and company had it made.
Now you have to be on a strict regimen and a lot of riders have flocked to training facilities around the country for their programs. Alix has been at Millsaps Training Facility (MTF) full-time since 2010. Last season, Alix spent his first season under the KTM Orange Brigade team’s guidance to learn as much as he could, despite the fact that he wasn’t ready at all. Although he was coming off four knee surgeries, racing himself back into the groove was the only option he had. Regardless he took it all in stride in his first year and now is doing his own program in 2016.
Alix finished twelfth at the Atlanta supercross so we thought we’d call him up to get an update on his life.
Racer X: Let’s talk some dirt bikes, man. I feel bad because going into the season we didn’t talk to you. Now that you’ve gotten a holeshot in the heat race and a twelfth in the main event I don’t want you to think that’s the only reason we care.
Dakota Alix: It’s all-good, no worries. Once the outdoor season ended I did my own thing and stayed on the down low. I trained hard down at MTF to get ready for these races. It went pretty good, but not as well as I wanted it to go. Now I can prepare some more going into this next weekend.
You’ve been at MTF for a long time now, so you have a good program set in stone. However, after last season I don’t think anyone expected you to come out with a twelfth in Atlanta.
Yeah, for sure and I’m completely okay with that. In 2014 I had four knee surgeries and the last one was in December of that year. It was tough getting ready for last year. It was tough, but I regrouped. I stayed at MTF, which is awesome for me. I can’t thank Colleen, Bryan, and everyone else here enough. They provide a really good base for me and they push me to be great everyday. They are like a second family to me now because I’ve been here so long.
You’re obviously one of the most long-term riders at MTF. Who do you ride with down there now?
My first time coming here was in 2008 when I came here for a camp. Ever since 2010 I’ve been here throughout the year. Mainly I’ve been riding with Anthony Rodriguez, Martin Castelo, Jordon Smith, and my good friend Jordan Bailey. It’s really great riding with those guys. We push each other. I don’t get to ride with Jordan that much, but he’s always keeping it fun for me. He’s the goofball of the group. It’s a fun environment and I really enjoy it.
Who is usually the fastest guy when you log the lap times? Does it change daily, or is there some sort of pecking order?
It depends. I haven’t ridden with Jordon in a while, but he was a little faster than me in December. Lately I’ve been the fastest in the group, which is good, but I’d rather someone be faster. That way I can chase someone and get faster. Whoever is the fastest usually has someone to chase anyway because you want to be faster than the guy trying to catch you. Every single day here is like a race replica, which is really awesome. The most important part is that there are a lot of really fast guys here.
That’s always a good thing. Let’s delve a little bit into the past for a bit. You were on the KTM Orange Brigade team last year. How was it being on the team?
I don’t have anything bad to say about the team. It sucks that they shut down and everything. James Coy the team manager did a really great job. I am extremely grateful for his help. We are still friends to this day. Going into my professional debut I wasn’t ready at all. At Mini Os in 2013 everything was going great. I won a title but then I broke my knee, which obviously put a damper on things. I had four surgeries on that. James and my mechanic Brad still stuck behind me. Unfortunately I couldn’t get them any results either, which is too bad. You really can’t expect much coming back from four surgeries.
Everyone needs a learning year, especially when you’re racing some of the best riders in the world.
Yeah, I wasn’t really expecting anything. I knew I wasn’t coming in prepared, but I wanted a learning year and that’s what I got. I learned a lot and that’s all you can ask for. I didn’t come in with any expectations. I knew I wasn’t ready whatsoever.
That makes sense now looking back on everything. Man, I’ve got to tell you, your RedBud crash scared me so bad. I was standing right there.
Dude, that was gnarly.
That was one of the worst crashes I’ve ever seen in my life.
I wish someone had gotten a good video of it. It was a scary one for sure.
Of course it had to be your buddy A-Rod that you crashed with.
It’s funny because Anthony and I had to share a hotel room that night. We went back and we weren’t pissed at each other but we weren’t very happy at one another. We had the rest of the night together. That’s one I’ll never forget. I can look back at it and laugh now. It sucked at the time because that was a painful one.
Thankfully you guys could share a hotel room that night.
Oh yeah, for sure. It’s not often when two guys crash that hard that they both walk away fine. Anthony hit his head a little bit and I don’t even remember what I got. I think I hurt my knee a little bit, but nothing major. I was able to walk away from it. I was really thankful for that.
Colleen has us go through sections side-by-side with one another, so now we tap one another on the shoulder to let the other one know what way we’re going.
Yeah, I’ll scrub this way and you scrub with me, right?
Yeah, let’s see if we can survive this one.
Right. Let’s talk about Atlanta a bit. It’s kind of your home race now. One of my bosses Steve Matthes said that you had stock graphics on your bike. Is that true?
Yeah, it’s kind of my home race. A lot of people I train with and a lot of my coaches were here, which was great to spend time with them. As far as my graphics go they weren’t stock. I had Chris Ackerman design my graphics, but I don’t like busy graphics. I like a plain, simple bike and since I’m doing my own thing this year I was able to do that. Chris wasn’t pumped on the idea of plain, but that’s what I want to run. I think it looks pretty good. The only thing that was stock was the rear fender. I was supposed to put those on, but I didn’t get around to it.
Well, the next time you see Matthes show him they aren’t stock and to quit giving out false information.
[Laughs] I will.
You said you’re doing your own program this year. Who is helping you out and what’s it looking like for you.
I have a lot of people helping me out this year like MTF taking my bike to the races this year. Factory Connection Suspension, Dunlop tires, FMF, Chris Ackerman, Stheart Clothing, and Fox gear are helping me, but otherwise I’m doing it on my own. I’m trying to get good results and see what it turns into.
Do you get to fly to any races or are you just driving?
The only ones I’ll be flying to will be Detroit and Toronto. I live only about five hours away from the Boston round, so in between Boston and New York I’ll stay up there and do some outdoor riding. I’m going to drive to St. Louis and Indianapolis because it’s only about ten hours. I actually drove last year, but I didn’t have to. I prefer driving over flying.
Don’t like to fly?
I don’t mind flying, but even it’s a short flight it still stinks because you’re still traveling all day. I like to relax and do my own thing. Anything under ten hours I like to knock out with a drive.
I agree with you on that, it takes forever. Let’s end this on a good note and talk a little bit about your ride in Atlanta.
I was really pumped on my heat race. It was good to get a holeshot and lead a little bit. I was pumped on getting a third. I was kind of bummed on my main event because I almost had the holeshot. Then [Shane] McElrath went to the inside and squirreled out into the bales. I should have had a second place start, but I was shuffled back to around eighteenth instead. I was pumped on my riding. I passed guys to get to twelfth, but I was mad at myself for the first corner incident shuffling me back. I had fun on the night and I haven’t been able to do that for a couple of years, so I felt great.
Did you not have any fun because you put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform?
Yeah, it was probably that. It was mostly because I was hurt a lot with my knee. I also was taking it way too seriously. Now I’m a little more laid back at the races. I think that will help me in the future, but I don’t know we’ll have to see.
Who would you like to thank for helping you out this season?
I definitely want to thank my mechanic Kristian for working really hard on my bikes and having them dialed. Also, Brooks Hamilton KTM, Factory Connection, MTF, Fox, FMF, Stheart Clothing, Dunlop, 139designs, Mobius, Fuel, Think Technology, Dubya, and my parents and sisters for all of their support.