For the second year in a row Team USA has finished second at the Motocross of Nations behind Team Australia. And for the second year in a row, Team USA was left scrambling when riders got hurt at the SuperMotocross Finale. RJ Hampshire gladly stepped in to fill the Open class slot, only to break a rib while prepping for the event. RJ Hampshire went on the PulpMX show last week to talk about his injury, riding through pain, crashing seven times on race day, not wanting to let the team down, and more.
Matthes: You came in with a rib injury? I just found this out. What happened? That sucks.
Hampshire: It was such an, 'Are you kidding me?' moment. It was Tuesday, so whenever the whole Deegs and Justin Cooper thing happened. Deegs is out. Justin Cooper is in on a 250. We wear these heart-rate monitors at Aldon’s [Baker] and it’s pretty thick so I run it on the side of my chest, to my chest protector. I just fell in a right-handed sweeper and it was hard pack, and the heart rate monitor dug in-between my two ribs and it popped my ribs out, like right away. Knocked the wind out of myself. So it wasn’t like a hard crash, but it was just weird how I landed. Went to the truck right away. Got all cleaned up and did a moto right after that and was fine. Went to the shop and took a break, came back out to do another moto. I couldn’t even do a lap. It was that painful. So that’s what started it, and then of course you can’t be the guy that’s going to back out on Team USA with a day notice. So, it’s like, 'All right, let’s see what we can do.' Now deep in the hole in two days trying to figure out every way possible to be good enough to go race. That’s kind of where we were, heading into it. I’ve raced with broken ribs plenty of times. They did find a crack on one, but it wasn’t where the pain was. This pain was so bad. It’s hard to explain. It felt like everything tore around the ribs, so there was nothing holding them in place.
So, is that a Toradol shot and good luck?
Yeah. I don't know the FIM rules and stuff, so I’m not going to say. [Doc] G worked on me non-stop, Thursday, Friday. Saturday surprised me a bit, honestly. I qualified second and then that moto was pretty good for where I started. I started outside of the top twenty. Then Sunday you guys kind of saw what happened there.
Did the outside gates get full for the qualifying race, or why did you go to the inside?
We had 35th gate pick, so it was either the two in on the outside or two in on the inside. Someone told me that the black gates have more grip. One of the GP guys told me that. Well come to find out, there was no paint on the middle of the grate, so that was a lie. So, I went all the way to the inside gate and I left the green one open next to me and sure enough, the Stank Dog or whatever rolls in right next to me. So, I gave him a better gate than what I had.
I never heard jack shit about a rib injury coming in from anyone, from your camp or Team USA or anything. So, good job on hiding that.
I wasn’t out there announcing it to everybody. But it was also, if you’d seen me getting ready, you’d seen the whole tape job G had on me. I didn’t really leave the Team USA rig much other than to go sign. Like I said, I’ve rode through a lot of injuries, but this one was tough. You could tell I was riding with not much strength at all. On that track, you needed all the strength you could have.
We don’t just run the Garmin heart rate monitor? We got heart rate monitors that break ribs?
Yeah, I think we’re going away from it. We don’t run watches or whatever, so he runs one that syncs. Anyone that rode with Aldon knows what I’m talking about. It’s kind of thick. That’d be the end of it, because it got me good.
In the second moto, in your first moto, you had the second-fastest lap of the moto.
Man, are we talking about the whole race right now because I have some stories for you.
Listen to RJ's entire video here starting around the 58 minute mark:
Yeah, please do. It looked like a lot.
You guys know what I’m dealing with now. I’m pretty spent from Saturday’s qualifying. Felt good. Didn’t get a great start, but I worked my way into second pretty damn fast. Then Jo tagged me good up top. The last thing I need right now is someone taking me out. I think it kind of surprised Jo. It surprised me too. I guess the cameras didn’t catch it, or the angle of it, so everybody just thought I slid out. Jo hit me good up top. I go down once. I’m like, okay, we’re good. I can still probably get up to third. I make some passes. I passed Liam [Everts] again.
Liam must be like, what is going on with this guy?
So, I passed him again. I feel bad saying I don't know his name, but I didn’t know who he was, the guy that was in front of me in third. He was riding really good. I thought it was an Italian guy, but it wasn’t. He was riding really good. We were battling and everything. If I had my normal strength I wouldn’t have gone down, because he did pull a little move on me there. Gave me a look-back a couple times and acted like he was going to the outside, dove back inside. Brake checked me and I had no strength, so of course I ran into him. Now I’m down again. Second time. Liam gets me back, so I think I’m back in fifth. I’m like, “I can still probably get third here.” Pass Liam again. Then two laps to go, again, just no strength. Came out of a corner, caught the handlebar to my ribs, down. Go from fourth to seventh with a lap and a half or two laps to go. So that’s moto one. Now I get back and I’m like, 'Great, I just lost everything for Team USA.' Got to recover.
We only had about two minutes and we’re ready to go for this next moto. So, I get down there, and Eli [Tomac] gives me first gate pick. Okay, now I have to perform. Whatever. It’s my time, I’m going inside. My start was terrible. Terrible, terrible start. Well, I’m coming out first lap and it’s between us and Australia at the time. I see Jett goes down. Picks his bike up right in front of me. So now it’s like, 'Okay, I think we have a shot at this still.' Jett doesn’t go fast, for some reason, for a lap and a half. He was literally riding with me. We’re passing each other together and he was there. I hit a kicker coming down where I crashed actually the first moto, that third time. I hit a kicker coming down there. Over the bars, bike flipping, forget it. That’s the end of my Des Nations. I’m like, 'I’m done. They’re pulling me off. There’s no way they’re letting me keep going here.' Bike’s all tweaked up and everything. Come by the mechanics area, pit board is out. Everybody is still cheering, everything. I’m like, 'Oh no. We’re still going.' So, I’m making a couple passes and whatever else and then the next lap I see the Honda laying after the finish. So, I see the Honda. I don’t see anyone else. Now I’m like, 'Great, that’s Jett and [INAUDIBLE] they need me.' I’m still thinking, and they’re still cheering. The crowd is still cheering. I’m in 17th at the time and they’re acting like I’m about to win this. I’m in no mindset right now to still be pushing. My bars are tweaked. Front wheel is going the other way. Dude, you guys seen the video. I swapped off a single. Oh, man. I blew through one blowup thing, and just smoked the TV tower. It was like a bomb went off. My gas tank exploded. There was no chance. You were not sending me back out on that track. I was getting pulled off.
It’s like the motocross gods are like, 'That’s it, RJ. We’re done here.'
Yeah. You fans cannot keep cheering for me this at this point. My life is at risk out here. How the whole day was going, that was my seventh crash. Two of them weren't necessarily my fault, but how I was riding was so dangerous. I just finally got over that edge, I feel like, where people don’t think I’m out there going to kill everybody.
All year long we’re like, 'RJ is so good.'
Here’s the thing. If I had an ego like most of these guys, they would not have raced over the weekend. One hundred percent with what I was dealing with, no way they’re lining up. But I had that mindset where I don’t care if I’m going to go out there and get beat. I’m going to do everything I can. Jo definitely started it that first moto, and it was just downhill after that. Maybe if I wouldn’t have had that moment, it would have been all right and I could have held it together. That started it and, man, it was ugly after that. Thank god Eli was ripping there in that last moto. When I got to the pit area I was like, “Oh no.” Look up at the scoreboard and I see he was in second. I was like, “Thank you, Jesus.”
I would have loved to see your reaction when you were like, “Oh, wait. That wasn’t Jett. That’s just Ferrandis.”
I’m looking at the board and I see Jett was in fourth at the time. I’m like, 'What were you guys cheering for?'
We needed that Rocky 4 meme. 'Throw the damn towel!'
I was so confident when I came around after completely endo'ing. I don't know if you guys seen the first crash, but it was a big one. Everything tweaked up. It was that big. The cameras were not good over the weekend, so a lot of the things were missed and I guess they missed this one too. I don't know how because Jett was near me also. It was a big one and I guess no one seen it and they were still cheering me on. So, I had hopes.
We said on our review pod, 'RJ, oh no!'
Each one of these crashes, I have ribs that are popping around. It was probably within an hour of Jo hitting me and me hitting the wall. There were six moments. It was just to the point where I’m like, 'There’s no way. This bike is done. Get me off the track.' Then I’m sitting in the mechanics area and they’re like, 'Do you want a ride back?' I’m like, 'I don't know. What do I do at this point? It’s all on Eli.' Podium, do I even belong up there at this moment? I’m going to fall off the podium.
They took one of your scores, so you were good.
The only thing I kind of look back on, is even if I would have gotten second in that moto, the second moto, I would have had to beat Jett in the third moto. Even if I’m at 100 percent, beating Jett is very slim. Even having that crash, he was still riding a lot faster than the rest of us. So realistically second was probably what we had even without me crashing seven times.
You were a last-minute fill-in in France a few years ago and you didn’t crash seven times, but you guys got fifth or whatever. This one, you absolutely sacrificed yourself to get second. So, which Des Nations was better? Was it this one just because you got on the podium, but you need to sit in the freezer for a week now?
These Euros probably think I’m just a hazard everywhere I go. That’s what it’s coming down to. I honestly enjoyed France the entire trip, everything. Whenever I came off the track that second moto this weekend, Malcolm [Stewart] is out fishing right now in the Gulf of America, and I’m out here risking my life. After my fifth crash, I was regretting it a little bit at that point.
By the way, for no money. For zero money.
I’m in the hole now because I had to do all the therapy this week just to be able to ride. It was heavy. But the whole experience, it was still awesome. We got to camp at the track with the family and stuff. The team and the sponsors, that’s what it comes down to. The sponsors were so last-minute also, so they rushed everything to get it there for me. And then I’m going to pull the plug and be the guy that’s the reason USA is showing up with only two guys?
What would they have done? Did you think about that or ask anybody?
At that point, I think Wednesday I called Nate [Ramsey]. They know how tough I am usually, and I haven’t really been able to get on a dirt bike and not be able to ride, and that’s where I was at Tuesday afternoon. I could not ride. Whenever the gate drops, I can flip a switch and kind of shut off my pain, but at this moment it’s going to be a stretch. So, my head was not right out there on the track, just from all the crap we were doing. But again, if I didn’t get tagged by Jo we might not be in this situation. I know it surprised him too, because he hit me so hard, he stopped. He ricocheted back. It looked like I spun out. But it sent my rear wheel all the way around off that dang cliff.
I literally was thinking about Liam out there as you were going by him and crashing. Liam must be like, what is this guy’s deal?
And we battled the Saturday moto. Once I passed him, he just followed me the whole time. We’re pitting out of the same rig. I don’t know him really that well. He’s like, 'Man, you were getting really loose there at the end of the moto.' I can’t be like, 'Yeah, I’m out there with about zero strength,' and whatever else. So, I’m just like, 'Yeah, kind of how it is.'
Were you exhausted? Were you excited to get second?
I was more kind of just worried about what Eli thought about that, but even he was like, 'We’ve gotten beat by the Aussies all year. Kind of where we were.' I couldn’t really have done much more. They didn’t even really know what I was dealing with at that point. It was still awesome. My second moto should have been better than what it was, but still we got to at least use that score. And my Saturday moto was pretty good. I got a better gate pick.
