Sometimes numbers don’t tell the whole story. Dylan Ferrandis started last season on Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing with 4-6-5 scores for the first three rounds, which is actually slightly better than this year’s 5-6-6 finishes. However last year was soon derailed at round four when he collided with Ken Roczen and suffered a huge concussion. He came back for motocross and struggled with the new YZ450F, setting up a downward spiral that left him considering retirement.
Ferrandis was no longer enjoying his bike or his team. What he wanted was a Honda, and he got one when Phoenix Racing set up a 450 program for him, in conjunction with Factory Connection. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener, but Dylan’s love for the Honda has proven strong so far. When we saw him in December, he was happier than perhaps we’d ever seen him at any point in his career, and the love affair has continued at the races. After round two in San Francisco, he won a heat race and took sixth in the main. He came off the track and told Phoenix Honda Team Manager Heath Harrison that the bike was “perfect.”
Not sure if a rider of Ferrandis’ caliber has ever uttered such a word.
The wet, sloppy San Francisco conditions were good to him, but he didn’t find the slippery muck in San Diego as favorable. Still, though, he delivered the exact same result, sixth again.
“I liked A1 and San Francisco,” Ferrandis told our Steve Matthes. “San Francisco I was feeling really great, and I think I could have fought for the win, but my crash off the start was a bummer. But today I was off the pace. This dirt was really slippery, and I had no feeling with the track. I tried to charge and yeah too many mistakes. Struggled with the bike and yeah off the start I spun and was like dead last, then when Chase [Sexton] crashed I jumped on his bike and did some damage to my bike. It was a bummer to do a whole moto like that, but even without that, I didn’t have the pace. I had no feeling on this track.”
“San Francisco, we had big ruts to hold the bike, today was so slippery it was insane,” he said. “After San Francisco I was like Pirelli tires are the best, we’re better than anyone. Today, I questioned myself. I think it’s just me.”
It’s the first small hiccup after two great days at the races with his new team. Don’t worry, he’s still just as happy, even after a bit of a struggle at round three.
“So far it’s awesome, I’m having fun again and this is very important,” he says. “The vibe is good, I enjoy coming to the races and I enjoy the team. I think that’s something I lost the last couple of years. These guys are awesome, they’re busting their ass to help me do good, and so am I. That’s something that was missing the last few years, and I enjoy racing again.”
As for the results, it’s not a podium or a win, and it’s actually about the same as last year, for but for a new program, he’s more than happy, joking, “Well I’m a privateer so maybe that’s why I’m underrated."
“I mean, I'm very stoked to be in the mix, you know, like I think [I’m] in the championship,” he told our Kellen Brauer. “I'm not too far. I'm happy about that. If someone would have told me three months ago I would be in this position, I would have signed straight then, you know?”
Off-seasons are littered with stories of riders switching bikes and teams and enjoying the honeymoon with the new squad. Then the races come and reality hits, and often bites. Three races in, Ferrandis is still very happy with Phoenix Racing Honda and Factory Connection. It was Factory Connection owner Rick “Ziggy” Zielfelder’s involvement that gave Ferrandis the trust in this new venture, and its key to note that several members of the old GEICO/Factory Connection Honda team are involved in this new Phoenix program. The more Dylan learns, the happier he gets.
“Now that I’m very into it and he’s [Zielfelder] explained his program with Factory Connection, I feel like there’s no one in the world that can beat them with suspension,” says Ferrandis. “It’s insane. I’m very lucky to be in the position I am today.”
