The 450 class in Pro Motocross took a hit when Eli Tomac went out in round one. Then Jorge Prado had bike problems at Hangtown in round two, Aaron Plessinger's day ended early, Chase Sexton has had ups and downs, literally, and more. The field is still deep, though, and the battles reflect it. At Hangtown, RJ Hampshire had a huge battle with Dylan Ferrandis, and Ferrandis got the better of it with fourth overall (Hampshire was sixth). Ferrandis battled his teammate Justin Barcia, too!
Still a solid weekend for RJ, and Barcia made big strides since round 1. Here's what they said after the event.
RJ Hampshire
Racer X: RJ, kind of a weird track today, but let’s start with that battle in the first moto with you and Dylan Ferrandis. I can’t believe how long you two went at it, it was the longest battle I’ve seen in a long time!
RJ Hampshire: Yeah, it was a dog fight there. We were battling hard. I had him passed a few times and he got me back. I was out of tearoffs pretty early so I was doing a bunch of wipes. I’d stay back a little bit, then make a push and try to get him. I was really fired up, he almost put me into a pole, and he put me off the track again on the last lap. All in all I felt good, I had a bit more fight in the first moto. It was a fun battle, I just wish I would have gotten him at the end.
I saw you go off the track in that top corner up there, is that what you’re talking about?
That was the least of my worries. He put me off the track on the last lap, but on the Fly 150 [triple] he almost put me into the pole going off the face of it.
That would have been bad.
I had to check up and I cased the crap out of it. But yeah, it was a good battle.
I saw him pull over after and put his hand up for a high five and you rode right by. I thought, ‘Oh, someone’s not happy.' [laughs]
Yeah, I raced him really nice. There are a lot of talks going on right now and I don’t want to start any relationships off on a bad foot. I should have maybe been more aggressive with it, but still, we were top five in that moto so it was a good fight. He was riding well.
It was fun to watch.
Yeah, I’m sure the fans loved it, and I’m sure the team was fired up in the headsets. But the rider wasn’t too stoked, I’ll tell you that. [Laughs]
What was it about this track that made it so hard to pass, other than the bike in front of you?
There was one pretty fast line, and you had to get lucky if you went to an outside line. To have the traction with the paddle on, it was gnarly out there with that tire. And you had to have it for the start. I couldn’t keep my rear down, it was everywhere, dancing like crazy on me. It was a very sketchy track, especially that second moto.
Anything you picked up to work on for next week?
I’d say my starts, but my second moto start was actually a lot better, I just blew it in the second turn and Deegs [Haiden Deegan] and I came together. I don’t know, maybe just be a little more aggressive when I’m there. Maybe make a pass a little quicker.
How much more aggressive can you be?!
I don’t know. I’m pretty happy with these first two rounds, I’m P4 in the points. I’m pretty happy leaving here.
Yeah, and supercross didn’t go great, so it’s probably nice to be back in this position outdoors.
Yeah, it’s great, especially being in the position I’m in looking for a ride and stuff. I still have a lot to show, and as we head east it should get even better. We have a little bit better of a plan for the bike for next weekend and moving forward, which should help with those second motos. I’m excited. I also gashed my hand, wait until you see the picture of my hand when I came off. It doesn’t look too bad now, but wait until you see the picture of my glove, my whole glove was full of blood. When I set it down the blood was just all around my glove. I got hit early with roost, and it was hard to hang on.
Justin Barcia
Racer X: Justin you had a great battle with your teammate [Dylan Ferrandis] for a while I want to talk about, but before we get to that I just want to hear how your day went in general.
Justin Barcia: I’ll start at practice for you. We came here with a completely new bike, like a new bike comparted to Pala, so we felt like we’d be in a good spot. Practice was a struggle, we were a bit out of the ballpark so we made some changes for the first moto. Got some arm pump, struggled, squeaked into the top ten. Chase [Sexton] went down so I’ll take that. Second moto, good start, had it up there, got a little arm pump, made the bike a little bit better. It seems like we’re starting to figure things out just a little bit. If I can go Pala 17th, Hangtown tenth, if I can keep trending in that direction I think it’ll be okay. Dylan and I did have good battle.
Yeah it was fun to watch.
[Laughs] I mean it was fun, but, you know, we don’t really get along that good so it was a battle.
You don’t get along that good?
Nahhhhh.
I didn’t know that.
No!? But we know our positions and we know what’s good and what’s not good, so we had a great battle. But no, have don’t get along since, like, day one. [Laughs] Since way back in the day. It’s cool though.
I didn’t know it was still going on.
[Laughs] I like that.
Well I don’t know, I just thought all that had been done and dusted! I guess not. That makes it fun.
[Laughs] We tried, we tried.
Well now I’m completely off track with my questions.
[Laughs] I’m sorry.
How’s that engine outdoors? Especially for you?
It’s really strong. We change some stuff today. We didn’t really, I don’t want to say we change the engine, but we changed parts to move the engine around for the second moto and it was really good, traction wise. This bike gets a lot of rear traction. I’ve been saying, ‘We need to get it to break loose somehow,’ and Ryan Cox, our engine guy figured something out for the second moto. I think that’s going to help us moving forward a lot. But the engine, yeah, it screams, it’s fast.
Does that match you well? Because you like to ride it up there.
Yeah, I ride it up there, but we’re still figuring the chassis. Once we figure everything out, like, the engine is super good. We don’t need any more power, it revs super high, I like it. It rips. If I had a little bit better gate pick I would have had holeshots today. I was first nearly in the straightaway, but in the corner it was the guys to the side of me. It’s a good engine. All together we’re chipping away, it’s just taking longer than we want. It’s hard because myself and my teammate, we ride so different. His settings don’t even compare to my settings.
So there’s no crossover with data.
We can’t really help each other, which kinda sucks.
You wouldn’t anyway though.
No. [Laughs] Nahh, we would! [Laughs] I like this interview.
Hey it wasn’t very rough out there today, at least it didn’t look rough compared to a normal Hangtown.
[Puzzled look] You know, I sat down with the team after and asked, ‘Has it always been this rough?’ It’s so dry right now, everything is way harder right now. Hitting everything is way more, like, brutal on the body. It didn’t look as rough, but there were so many square edges and chop. I feel like they’re probably in a drought out here. I don’t know.
No, we’re not, I live out here. We’re not in a drought right now.
No? We’re not? We’re okay? Okay, I don’t know.
But this region is always like this in the summer.
I think it was just a little drier than it’s been in the past. I thought it was rough as piss.
Well, I guess this is an example of a dumb journalist assuming things about a track he didn’t ride.
[Laughs] Not at all, it’s just different. We’re also learning a bike, so maybe it’s not that rough because we’re learning. It’s challenging.
I talked to some other guys who said that they were having a hard time passing because it wasn’t quite as rough. Jo Shimoda said it was hard because everyone could go fast from corner to corner.
I can see that. I got passed a few times, so I don’t know. [Laughs] I don’t know what these guys are telling you dude. I watched the 250 race and for them it was a lot smoother. Shimoda behind, I think Romano, it did look really hard to pass.
That’s the exact battle Shimoda was referencing when I talked to him.
I think for the 450s the ruts formed a little more and it was a little easier if you held it on longer. It’s definitely different than usual for sure. I love how they do the start here, for sure, the rip it up and till it every moto. It’s so good.
All right man, well thanks for your time and keep trending in the right direction.
Thanks for the best interview of the day. [laughs]
It was probably your only interview if it was the best.
[Laughs]
