Main image by Kellen Brauer
Aaron Plessinger was the lone Red Bull KTM rider who experienced the full spectrum of what the new KTM chassis is like both indoors and outdoors last year. Despite breaking his arm halfway through Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Plessinger did achieve a podium with the new bike indoors before pulling in another two podiums in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. It was a solid year, but not exactly what Plessinger had in mind.
Heading into 2023 with all that experience under his belt, Plessinger is happy go lucky as ever as he looks to put himself back up front again.
Racer X: Pretty up-and-down year, I feel like, in 2022. There were some highs. There were some lows. Eventually it seemed like you kind of figured out your footing a little bit outdoors, but maybe a little bit too late. How do you review from 2022 what you learned about the bike and what you learned about yourself and turn that around for ’23?
Aaron Plessinger: Yeah, it was kind of tough getting hurt the seventh round and having to chill and not do anything, watch my teammates kind of develop this bike and me kind of not really do much, but sit around and watch. So, that was tough. Then outdoors, I started out really, really rough. I kind of found what I was looking for about halfway through, and then it got better about three-quarters of the way through. Then by that time, it was a little late. So, I think we learned a lot last year. I definitely did. Definitely a bigger change than what I thought it would be, but overall, I had a lot of fun last year. Southwick and Ironman were super sick, super fun. Then I just kind of came into this off-season open minded and just wanted to have fun. That’s what I’ve done. They have developed this bike really, really well. Once I left here after testing in October, I really haven’t touched the bike too much. There are some things that I’ve done, but nothing huge. So, I think our window of adjustment or whatever is way, way bigger than what it was last year. I think we’ve learned a lot from last year. I think this year is going to be really good. I think we’re in a good spot. My fitness feels really, really good. I’m excited. I’m having fun.
I remember talking to you guys a little bit last year and one of the things you guys were struggling with was things that you would work on during the week sometimes wouldn’t translate into the weekend. Do you feel like throughout the year you guys kind of ironed through that, and you feel that that’s a problem that’s solved now going into ’23?
Yeah. I think what I learned from last year is just ride what you brung to the race. It may be hard some days, but there will be some adjustments. You just can’t make it too major. You can’t turn a race day into a test day. That never really works. That’s something I learned in outdoors and just kind of keeping it consistent. Ride what you know and don’t make huge changes. If I did that a little bit better last year, I think I would have been in a little bit better of a spot. But, overall, I think I just take it race by race. I definitely think we are in a way, way better spot than we were last year. Big window. I think I’m ready to have fun. I think everybody sticking behind me is ready to have fun. I’m ready to win some races and hopefully contend for this championship.
At this stage of the off-season, there’s still a month left to race, but like you said, you’re not making too many changes on the bike right now. So, what are some things you’re still wanting to iron out before we go racing in a month?
I really don’t have much. If these guys come up with something that they want to try or they want me to try, I’m game for it. But overall, my base right now is good. I’m loving it. I can predict what it’s going to do. There’s consistency. I’m flowing on it. It’s really fun right now. I’m enjoying riding this bike and I’m enjoying the off-season.
From an outsider’s perspective, the year before last year, you were battling for wins in some cases, and then it was a little tough but sometimes you’d get on the podium this past year. You still always seemed to be happy and have a smile on your face. So, at the end of the day, what is satisfying for you? Are you happy when you go to the race and you feel like you gave it everything and the bike felt good, or do you want a specific podium result, a goal, a win?
At the end of the day, it’s hard for me not to be mad in races I don’t get top five, or I don’t get the best finishes. Obviously, I’m going to be mad or I’m going to be upset with myself, but it’s hard for me to get mad because look at what I do for a living. A lot of people would kill for this job. I recognize that. It’s always fun to me to race. A lot of these guys don’t get along, but in reality, I’m racing a bunch of my buddies that I grew up racing with. So, really how could you be mad at that? I think I’m going to go into this year, and I want to win some races, definitely. I’ve already got the third. I’ve got the second. I want to win races. I want to contend for this championship. I know I have the ability. I just got to put my money where my mouth is and just sack up and do it. I know I have the talent. I know I can be up there. I know I belong up there, especially now with the bike working as good as it is. It’s just on me. I need to put everything together and just put my all into it. I know I can do it.
In terms of looking at the season as a whole, we’re obviously going to mid-October now, so it’s going to be a pretty long grind. How do you view the strategy of the year where it’s kind of a marathon, but you obviously have to perform every single weekend but not burn yourself out at the same time. How hard is it to balance that?
It’s definitely going to be hard because they were saying all these big, popular series have playoffs, which I get, but they also have a six-month off-season, to where our off-season is very limited, to say the least. We ride from October until January when the season starts, and then we’ll go to October… So, it’s pretty much a twelve-month process this year. Which is fine, but I think my strategy in it is kind of my strategy always. Have fun. I think as long as I do that and I don’t overthink things and I’m doing good and I’m getting good results, I think my strategy is going to play out.
If you get a win, have you ever thought about what the celebration is for the first 450 main event win?
[Laughs] I don't know. I’m going to surprise myself. I have no clue what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be something wild. I’m not saying I am going to ghost ride the bike, but I might. It could happen. There’s no telling what I could do. The possibilities are endless. I don't know. In 2018, a lot of those came just right off the top of my brain, and I didn’t really prepare for them or do anything. It was there and I took the opportunity. So, it could be dancing. It could be a flip or two. It could be standing on the seat doing a wheelie down the thing. It’s going to be exciting, to say the least. So, look out for it.