Dean Wilson is right at the top of the list of dudes that surprisingly don’t have rides for 2017. Wilson spent two years at Red Bull KTM, but two years of injuries have left him out of a job there, and there simply aren’t enough spots to go around for all of the 450 riders right now. So what is he going to do?
For a while, Dean was hoping to maybe get a spot on RCH Suzuki, and the good folks at VitalMX.com even let him borrow their RM-Z450 test bike so he could get used to one. But the RCH deal for him isn’t going to come through (we believe the team will end up signing Justin Bogle and keeping Broc Tickle), so now it’s on to another plan. Yamaha had some money set aside to support JGRMX this year, but that team switched to Suzukis, so there’s maybe a chance the factory Yamaha squad might have some extra budget that could be used on Dean. Such a deal is definitely not imminent, but there’s a chance.
For now, Yamaha gave him a bike to ride so he can get used to it and stay in shape. Otherwise, no deal yet. Our man Steve Matthes talked to Dean about it all on the PulpMX.com show on Monday night.
Racer X: You were a Team Suzuki privateer, and now you’re Team Yamaha privateer.
Dean Wilson: It’s definitely not the best, ideal situation to be in but it is what it is. For now, I’m just riding, training, doing what I’m supposed to do and hopefully things will fall into place.
I’d heard that there might be a spot at Yamaha for you. Obviously the JGR thing—they have some budget. Chad [Reed] is only doing supercross. I can’t see them going into outdoors with just Cooper [Webb]. That seems a little risky. You think they’d want a second top-10 guy, top-five guy. Maybe there’s something there. The fact that you’re riding Yamaha, is that just because your buddy had a Yamaha or something?
We got a meeting with Yamaha, Keith McCarty, and it went pretty well. He’s a pretty old school dude and says the way it is. It was a pretty interesting meeting we had. It went well though and he was kind enough to let me borrow a bike. So pretty much honestly how it went was he said, “Let’s get you on a bike and see how you like it.” And that was it. I said I love it. I love the color blue.
It is a good bike. It’s fast.
I know it may not have the best rep and that, but I’ve probably rode it about five times now and I actually really do quite like it. I think from my taller frame I have a little bit more room in the cockpit which is nice. So I’m actually enjoying it right now and I’m having a lot of fun riding.
The Suzuki from what I understand, that was a Vital MX Suzuki that you had for a little bit there?
Yeah. Also we were talking to RCH and then they had Bogle and Tickle. At that point I didn’t really know what was going on. I was just riding a Suzuki in case I ended up racing one. It’s kind of hard to just go buy a bike and then get real comfy on the bike, set it up, get all your stuff on it, and then a week later you sign with another manufacturer. It’s tough. I probably rode the bike like three times. It was good. I enjoyed that, too. I thought it turned really nice. It was a little underpowered, but other than that it was all good. So thank you to GuyB [Steve Giberson] and Michael Lindsay [at Vital MX] for that as well.
Getting on a Yamaha, did you notice immediately how much more instantaneous bottom end, how much more power the Yamaha has?
Yeah, I really like the engine. I haven’t rode the bike on a really rough track so that’s one thing I haven’t really properly tested it on, but I think the engine’s really, really good. I don’t even think you have to do anything to the bike really. I feel like right off the bat I like where the power’s at on the bike. I was pretty stoked on it. I felt good on it.
I do like the fact that you’re not sitting at home and putting on social media how the industry turned their back on you. Instead, you’re actually riding different bikes and trying to make it happen.
I’m riding, I’m still training with my trainer. I’m riding. I’m still keeping in shape. Toward the end of the nationals is when I was all about killing myself because I was stressing out so bad about the whole situation but now it’s like, dude, we’re in November. I should be on a supercross track. I’m just so far past the stress point and it’s just like, okay, if things happen I’m just going to have to work a little overtime, which I’m totally fine with. I’m just riding, keeping in shape, and I’m actually really enjoying riding right now. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m having a lot of fun. Even though I may not be in the best position in my career, I feel like I’m in a good place. My knee is feeling good. I just feel good.
If you don’t get something, would you go West Coast privateer, on an Andy Wilson [Dean’s dad] tuned machine?
Yeah, it’s a possibility. You never know. Or I’ll just do Canadian Nationals or whatever comes up. What I said was that this year I don’t really care about the money. It’s not about the money. I told Keith McCarty that I would ride for free. I wanted to have a year healthy and just a good year. I made pretty good money the past few years, so if I can rebuild myself this year it would be good. Good equipment, good team. I don’t care about the money.
It’s probably a good attitude to have. Just “Hey, let me get a bike. Give me a bonus program.” You’ll make some money from gear, and try to get yourself rebuilt a little bit.
Exactly, the best years I’ve had in my career are the years that I got paid way less, and those are the years I cherish the most. Like 2010-2011 I had great years, and obviously I’ve been hurt ever since after that. But those are the two years and it wasn’t about the money. Right now I don’t think it is either. Obviously you can’t live life completely and not be about the money at all, but at least I’ve got to give myself a true chance. If I don’t have it, then find something else to do or do something else.
How old are you?
I’m 24.
You’re just so young. I think you’ve got the right attitude.
I got good people behind me, like my family and friends and [agent] Tony Gardea. We’ve got good people keeping me in line.
I’ve talked to Jake Weimer about this. It sucks but it’s a fact of life that there’s going to be injuries and guys are going to call. If I’m some guy, I’m calling Dean Wilson to ride my factory bike for an injured rider. You never want to see anybody hurt but you’ve been on the other side of that. There’s also that option too. Just stay ready, be ready, and someone will call because unfortunately someone’s going to get hurt.
Exactly. Like I said, I’m training, riding. I got this Yamaha and I’ve just been riding outdoors. I rode Saturday, Sunday, Monday, then riding tomorrow. I’ve just been enjoying riding. Hopefully something will come through.
The guys at MOTO the Movie tell me that I’ve got to see your part in this movie. You went out to Florida Tracks and Trails and there’s some camera they brought out. There’s only 30 of these cameras in the world. They cost $350,000 and they used it on your segment. What’d you think? How was your segment in “MOTO [8] the Movie?”
It was really good. We went to Florida Tracks and Trails which was about two and a half hours from Clermont. It was a pretty insane facility, the amount of dirt they moved there. It’s just like a theme park of motocross. They’ve got tracks for everything. It’s a pretty sweet place. So to have that expensive camera there, and I came up with this idea that I should do a water crossing even though I’ve never done one before. So it was like across this pond and it was one of those things that kind of started small and I was starting to move my way out. So I just watched a couple Kevin Windham videos [of him going across a pond] and then pretty much was fifth gear pinned going like 80 miles an hour going into the water and I just gripped my knees, made sure my feet didn’t blow off, and we made it. So the camera filmed that. It’s amazing; it’s like a National Geographic camera. That thing was treated like it was a baby. I was surprised they brought it out to the dirt.
It’s kind of neat when you have somebody who’s invested a lot into the movie and wants to put you on the screen.
It was really good. I enjoyed it. It was one of those things it was before I came back outdoors so at least I didn’t have to stress about racing on the weekends, so I took a couple days out of my program. I was still training but you know how it is when it’s during the season and you’ve got to do camera stuff and you’re stressed because you know you have to do your motos. So I didn’t really have that which was nice, so I could put in the time for it.
Would you go to Canada outdoors or Europe if nothing comes through?
Well, there’s nothing in Europe, is there?
I don’t know. Probably not.
There’s not. I was talking to Valentin Guillod at the Glen Helen GP. He was kind of in the same boat and he’s on the Honda team now, but there’s not really a lot out there either. But I’ve had a few phone calls from a few teams in Canada as well, but I would like to stay here.