How about the rain toward the end there? It seemed like it got sketchy off the grates up top.
Yeah once I saw Justin’s [Barcia] and Hanny’s [Josh Hansen] main, they were sketchy and just getting off the grates up there was kind of a nightmare. Obviously, the conditions are the same for everybody, but it was such a bummer because this event is all about scrubbing and staying low and being super-fast. Anyway, it just wasn’t enough for the win. It was a bummer.

What’s maybe the toughest thing to learn about the two-strokes for this event that maybe most people don’t think about?
Well just all in all, the bike rides so different. Like, you have to clutch it out of some [areas] to keep it alive. You have to ride a two stroke and then a four stroke and then you’ll know what we’re talking about. Just because you have to be so precise on all the jumps and we don’t come out of turns. You come at it wide open and just timing everything is pretty difficult, and it makes it exciting but it's definitely hard.

Yeah, I was going to ask because even in your Terrafirma 94 video when you rode the ’96 [Honda], it was like you didn’t want to triple some stuff. So how hard is it to build the confidence to do that, for example?
Yeah and especially if you just do it for the day right? That’s what makes it so hard. So I rode the bike for a little bit on Thursday and then I had practice here yesterday. For that, I adjusted to it very well, but there’s just no real testing that goes into it. I was out at the track with Mitch, and we did a couple of little changes, but it wasn’t like we were testing and testing. And I don’t really know, I don’t think anybody really does, but man it’s an experience that I love to do. That’s why I decided to come here again as well. Yeah, it was fun.

Talking about the bike and working with Mitch a little bit. How cool was that experience to build that up and come out here on a Yamaha like that?
It was the best. I had the best crew behind me. The bike ran absolutely flawless. That’s why I chose Mitch to begin with. I couldn’t have asked for a better crew.

It’s been a little bit of a wild offseason for you so far so how nice was it to come to an event like here and almost decompress and have fun again?
No, totally. A couple of the events that I’ve done lately have been nothing but fun and I feel like that’s exactly what I needed in my life. To me, it shows me in my riding, and I just feel comfortable and I’m having fun. That’s when I go really well.

Was it a little wild to come right back from Cardiff and jump on a two-stroke and now you’ve got to head to Australia?
It is, but like I said, I feel like it’s exactly what I needed so I’m just embracing the travel and it doesn’t really bother me too much. Obviously, it’s going to be one of the longest flights I’ve ever done tomorrow. I’m flying to Australia. You leave Sunday and get there Tuesday. So, it’s crazy to think about, but all in all, I feel like I’ve had a really good schedule. I’m kind of recovering well and I’ve just had a really good mix of training and I feel like that’s why I’m going well right now.

Lastly with this event, it was at a new place like we said. How much different was today’s track compared to when we went to Pomona before?
Well overall, we had a lot of rhythm sections with quads and things like that. The pockets were really tight, and it was peaky. We had that big tabletop in the middle which was different and that was just fun. You wouldn’t really think that you could make up some time, but I was able to stay really super low off of it and gain a lot of time. So, it was cool to see.

That jump seemed like it was fun to throw whips and other stuff off it too, right?
Yeah totally! It was gnarly when we got here the first time because it’s very blind and had a long takeoff. The way the landing was, it kind of had a knuckle on it. But once you jumped it, it was fine. It was just hard to do it the first time because you can’t really see where you’re going.