Due to injury, Davi Millsaps hasn’t ridden a round of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross since the 2012 season with JGR Yamaha. Last year, he rode the USGP of Glen Helen with BTOSports.com-KTM-WPS and finished 11th overall with very little prep time.
Signed to a supercross only deal with BTOSports.com-KTM-WPS, Millsaps, wanting to stay fresh for the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season, signed with KTM Thor Racing to race the Canadian Nationals in 2016. At the first round of the series this past weekend at Whispering Pines in Kamloops, B.C., Millsaps went 2-1 to claim the overall in MX1.
Directmotocross.com caught up with Millsaps after the win.
I want to talk to you about that second moto there. You got off to good pace and got a good lead going but then Colton Facciotti and Matt Goerke started closing up a bit. I did overhear you took it a little easy out there in the end?
To me the track was pretty brutal. I was riding a good pace in the beginning and I got a good gap. Once I got that gap I knew I didn’t have to go that pace out there the whole 35 minutes. The track was rough and dangerous as it was I didn’t want to end up on my head. I backed it down and hit my lines and it has been a long time since I raced two motos so I wanted to make sure I had it in me. It got to the point though that if I had to do another lap I could have. It was just to the point if you win by 20 seconds or 1 you still win.
I am only going to get stronger from here and I need to get my starts in order and just have fun. Colton rode a great race. He was a late charger. It definitely keeps you on your toes and it is fun for us and the fans. It is not fun for the fans when I had a 25-second lead. The battle for second was fun. I heard them cheering for them. It makes the sport more exciting and that’s why the fans come—for great racing.
You were pretty comical up there on the podium talking about next week at Naniamo. You kept talking about the different stories you have heard about it.
You hear so many stories about Naniamo. Since the moment racing in Canada was even a thought, me coming to Naniamo was the only track everyone said was one 99.9 percent of them don’t like it. There is one person who likes it and that is Kaven Benoit, my teammate, and he is the only person who has said it was good and he has led every lap there for the past two years so he must ride it really well. I came here with an open mind and I will go there with an open mind. Now knowing kind of what to expect is going to make it easier for sure.
Read the rest of the interview here.
Check out a Photo Report and Video Recap from the first round.
