Last September journeyman racer Josh Grant rode a factory Monster Energy Kawasaki to a second moto victory, and with it, an overall runner-up finish at the season-ending United States Grand Prix at sweltering Glen Helen Raceway. Grant, who had also competed aboard a TwoTwo Motorsports-backed Kawasaki during the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross Series and Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, was hoping there just might be a home for him with Kawasaki factory team come 2016.
But a ride with a championship-caliber team did not materialize for the Californian and he watched the 2016 supercross season get up and running without him. But that was then and this is now. After a spirited “off the couch” (his term) ride at the recent Daytona Supercross aboard a Suzuki, Grant started receiving text messages from the crew at Monster Energy Kawasaki. You see, Wil Hahn was injured badly during a heat race inside the Georgia Dome and the Irvine, California-based racing outfit would need a rider to tail gun for lead man Eli Tomac henceforth. Grant, who has some recent experience with the team, fit the bill.
Taking a quick break from packing up his gear bag for an immediate trip to Detroit, Michigan for tomorrow’s supercross event in the Motor City, Grant quickly got Racer X up to speed on his march back to the front lines of the sport.
Racer X: Hey, Josh. Well, word has it that you’ll be riding a Monster Energy Kawasaki this Saturday night at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. True?
Josh Grant: That is true. Yep, I’ll be there.
Excellent. Well, if I have it right, the last time I watched you race a Kawasaki was last September at the United States Grand Prix at Glen Helen Raceway.
[Laughter] Yep. That was it. Glen Helen was my last ride on a Kawasaki. That was about five months ago. So, yeah, it’s been a while since I got on the green machine.
That race went quite well for you. That afternoon you won a moto and ultimately placed second overall to the new MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre. At the time were you hoping that the effort you put forth was going to translate into a ride with the team in 2016?
Yeah, I mean for me, that kind of was my goal at the end of the outdoor season with them. Leading into the GP my kind of goal was to maybe solidify myself and maybe earn a spot on the team, but unfortunately things just didn’t work out the way they were supposed to and they ended up having to stick with Wil [Hahn]. Yeah, I was hoping to be on that crew for ’16 but it didn’t work out.
From that point forward, did any of the high profile teams come calling on you during the off-season?
Not really. I was trying to work on a few things and even thinking about maybe possibly doing something on my own when I realized that there were no spots open worthwhile, or at least worth going out and risking it all for. I was trying to set up something on my own and it didn’t end up working out, so I just sat on the sidelines.
As we all know, riders started getting hurt before the season actually even started. Word had it that a number of opportunities may have come your way, but you wanted to hold out for the right thing. Any truth to this?
Yeah, for me, in the position that I was in, I always told myself, “I’ll never settle for less than I think I’m worth.” Unfortunately those were the kinds of offers I was getting from either satellite teams or just from other random teams and there just wasn’t anything that I was really interested in or that made sense for me financially. I opted to sit out until something opened, or an opportunity opened that could actually benefit my career instead of actually hurting it. From there, I decided to sit on the sidelines until something opened up.
What made you decide to load everything up and race the notoriously tough Daytona Supercross?
I was sitting out there with my boy at home and he was asking me, “Hey dad, are you going to race again? Are you done racing?” I don’t know… Once he said that, something just sparked inside me that I wanted to go race. It brought a new fire to me. I told him, “No, were not done. We’ll go do another race. We just need to figure out which one it’s going to be.” Luckily I had some bikes from a couple of months before and everything went down and I went out and got my own sponsors and some people helped me out to build a bike, so that was good. I had about two weeks leading up to it and I was like, “Well, I guess the next race coming up is Daytona.” So that’s where we went. I just knew going into that round that I would have a little bit better chance of being up there because it was an outdoor-style track. It worked out the way it the way it was supposed to.
I’m contracted with Kawasaki to now do the rest of the supercross rounds, all twelve of the outdoor rounds and the MXGP races which will be at Charlotte and at Glen Helen.
You had not raced in quite a long time. Did you expect to fare so well at Daytona? A lot of people were impressed with your end result there.
Yeah, I was surprised that I did as well as I did. It wasn’t like I had an expectation to go win; I just had an expectation to go have fun. I wanted to be inside the top ten, which is a realistic goal. It was one of those things where I just wanted to get up there and do good.
When did you first catch word about a potential Kawasaki deal?
Well, actually the way it kind of all happened was that I was on my way to Chad’s [Reed] house the week before Daytona and my buddy and I were driving and we were in San Antonio heading out towards Florida and we stopped to grab some dinner and watch the heat races from Atlanta and saw that Wil went down and so did Shorty [Andrew Short] and [Phil] Nicoletti. Not but a couple seconds later did I get a text message asking me if I was able to race the next weekend. I had some obligations to some people who had helped me get to where I was at, so I wasn’t able to do anything, but we started kind of talking at Daytona. I was really excited to even have the opportunity to talk to those guys. Unfortunately, Wil got hurt and that sucks, but that’s just part of our sport. I’ve been on the other end of that stick as well, but at the same time, the way this industry is working right now I was just like, “Alright, I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity.” They asked me if I’d want to do Toronto, but to get something going in that fast of a manor was pretty hard to do. We needed some time to kind of get ready, get on the bike and have some time to work on some things. I didn’t start riding until this Monday.
How did that go? How did you feel when you got on the bike?
I’m a guy that adjusts very easily to riding different bikes, so I was always comfortable on the Kawasaki. Especially with the new changes they made with the frame and stuff. I was really excited to see how it would work and how it would suite my style. Once I got on the bike it just felt like I was riding really well and was really comfortable and wanted to push forward.
Having worked with them before, did you fall into step with the team pretty quickly?
I had a great experience with them working with them for the outdoor series, and obviously with the GP round that we did, so it was very easy for me to adjust. I know those guys pretty well. I really feel good with the team and I feel confident in the bike. I have no second guesses, for sure.
Going into Detroit tomorrow, what are you hoping for? For your first time out, what will make you happy?
I think a realistic goal for me is to be inside the top ten. I think that I’m very capable of doing that and I did that at the race at Daytona. I feel pretty comfortable with that. It’s just a matter of getting a good starts and letting the cards fall the way they do. At the same time, I don’t want to rush myself into something that isn’t there yet. I’ve had three days on the bike before this round and even before that, like I said, it had been a few months. I definitely want to take it easy and want have some fun and start to get to know the bike a little bit better and just start building some momentum leading into the outdoors.
I remember speaking with you in the pits at the Las Vegas Supercross last May and you talked about how stoked you were with the fact that you had been able to compete in all seventeen rounds of the series. I would think that sort of momentum will help you come this Saturday and all points forward. Thoughts?
For sure. At the end of the supercross season last year, that was one of my goals. I wanted to finish all of the supercross rounds and Chad [Reed] helped me achieve that goal and to also have the support from Kawasaki, I felt really good about it. I’m just stoked to be able to link back up with this team and move forward and hopefully have some successful races.
And once the supercross series wraps up, from what I’ve learned, it appears that you’ll be doing quite a few the outdoor races, as well. True?
Yeah, I’m contracted with Kawasaki to now do the rest of the supercross rounds, all twelve of the outdoor rounds and the MXGP races which will be at Charlotte and at Glen Helen. I’m going to race pretty much for the rest of the year and I’m pretty excited about it.
