Venezuela’s Lorenzo Locurcio has spent a lot of time racing in America, from amateur days at the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National at Loretta Lynn’s, to breaking into the pro ranks with teams like Rock River Yamaha. His racing journey eventually brought him to MXGP, where he became teammates with Spanish veteran Jose Burton. This year, the duo decided to move their efforts to America, and race a few rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. They’ve done really well! Lorenzo went 9-9-10 at the first three rounds, Butron went 8-10 before a rough one in Thunder Valley and 21st overall. Locurcio currently sits sixth in 450MX points!
Kellen Brauer spoke with Locurcio after Thunder Valley.
Racer X: Alright Lorenzo Locurcio, down in the first turn in the first moto and all the way back to 12th, better second moto. Take me through your day.
Locurcio: Yeah, it was really good, I didn’t feel the greatest in practice to be honest, I was like a fish out of water. Struggled a lot with bike set up but thankfully my suspension tuner comes to all of the races so I was able to talk to him a little bit and kind of go a different direction. So for race one I felt better, I just got together with a couple of guys in the first turn, so I had to come back to 12th almost 11th. And second moto I got a good start, I was mid pack and then I worked my way almost to eighth and then two laps to go I made a mistake and then [Garrett] Marchbanks got around me. I tried to make a push to get him back but I didn’t have anymore in the tank. It was getting a little sketchy out there with the track so I decided just to save it for next week.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 550 |
| 2 |  Dylan Ferrandis | Avignon, France  | 399 |
| 3 |  Aaron Plessinger | Hamilton, OH  | 386 |
| 4 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL | 338 |
| 5 |  Adam Cianciarulo | Port Orange, FL | 328 |
| 6 |  Garrett Marchbanks | Coalville, UT | 255 |
| 7 |  Ty Masterpool | Paradise, TX | 242 |
| 8 |  Fredrik Noren | Lidköping, Sweden  | 219 |
| 9 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 207 |
| 10 |  Grant Harlan | Justin, TX | 176 |
So you said you made some bike set up changes for today, was it just the track that felt a lot different to the machine or was it something entirely different?
Honestly, we haven’t really tested so every single race and then at home we have just been searching. The races have been a lot different than the practice tracks to be honest, at the practice track I feel great and then when I come here I just [groans]. So that’s been the main issue, like I said today felt a little better. So hopefully this week we can get some testing in and hopefully come back swinging for High Point.
Are you guys based out of Florida then? Testing in Florida and all of that?
Yes, we are based out of Moto Sandbox in Claremont so that’s where we call home.
So I am assuming you are excited to go to High Point and start these east coast rounds?
Honestly yeah. A lot of people say the championship starts on the east coast so lets see if that’s true [laughs].
After three rounds you guys are both doing really, really well, are you little surprised that things have gone so well or were you expecting this?
No, I know the field is not fully 100% so I do expect this, but I was expecting even better. With my injuries and all of that coming back I am taking it slow. I don’t want to get hurt again, I want to just build. I want to go from less to more, that’s the plan. Sometimes I just forget about that and I get real pissed like after the first moto. But then I have got to remember that four months ago I was in the surgery room getting surgery so just have to be patient. I know I have a lot more in the tank, I’ve just got to catch up. I’ve got to get better at my fitness, I’ve got to get better at my mental, so slowly it's coming.
I know last week you guys said you are looking at funding trying to get to all of the rounds, any news on that? Any more direction towards getting some funding?
Yeah for sure we’ve got hit up a couple of times so hopefully you’ll see in the next couple of weeks the new title sponsor for the one race. And we keep looking so if anyone wants to join in just email me, I’ve got all of my information on my Instagram it's @LorenzoLocurcio_ and you can just dm me, email me whatever and we can get it set up.
