What’d you think of the 250 on a supercross track?
It’s a lot quieter than the PC bike, which is different. It doesn’t seem like it’s as fast, but right away I was comfortable. I went into it trying not to think about it too much. So, I adapted really well. Each time I’d get on the 450, I’m pushing it more and more and more, so I’d get a little bit more comfortable. No problems yet. I’m stoked.

You’ve had a green front fender in front of you your whole life.
Yeah, I think maybe that’s why I’m so excited about it. It’s been a long time. We’ve always had the opportunity to maybe go somewhere else when my contracts were up with Kawasaki, and it’s just been like, “We’ll stick it out.” The bike was really good when I was on an 85. We were like, we just can’t move. Kawi is our home. So, it’s always been a discussion around the house when it comes time. This is the time that we switched up. I think we made a good switch.

Was it a pretty easy decision? When this offer got put in front of you, was it kind of cut and dry that this was the direction you wanted to go, or were there other options that you seriously considered?
There were some other options that I considered, and there were a lot of phone calls back and forth on what I was comfortable with. I think I just needed a change. Obviously, Mitch’s [Payton] team is a really good team to be on, but it was time just to have something new and relearn something and have that fun back into it of having a new front fender in front of me. That’s what it came down is that. I think it was just time for me to move on.

Do you think you will benefit from being one of only two 250 riders on the GasGas team instead of on a team like Pro Circuit or Star where there are a lot of 250 riders?
I think I’ll learn more of that when we go racing.

Could you see it helping, though?
I think so. Obviously, you’re going to get all the focus when there’s only two 250 guys instead of five. I think it will help with some things, for sure. I couldn’t really answer that until we go racing.

Two-year deal?
Yup, two-year deal.

I never got the sense that Mitch was 100% stoked with you over the years. Sometimes you went backwards in races. You had a nice end of the year this year. It felt like for as much as you’ve been Team Green and as many titles as you’ve won in the amateurs, Mitch was never all in on you. I’ve been wrong before, but I think Kawasaki is going to regret this a little bit.
I could say a lot. Mitch has obviously had my back since 65’s and all the way up through. I didn’t even have a pro contract the last two years and he took me under his wing and gave me the opportunity to have one and a half pro outdoor seasons. So, I thank him a lot. But there are times where I’m like, he didn’t even tell me good job this weekend. But that’s just Mitch. You can call him an old man. That’s just how he works.

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