Dean Ferris
“ M
akkaa ! How are ya , mate ?!” CDR Yamaha ’ s newly-crowned two-time Australian motocross champion Dean Ferris exclaims with a hearty handshake as I clamber into the team ’ s factory semi . With throngs of people milling around in the pits outside , at this , the final round of the Australian MX Nationals , it ’ s almost jarring to enter the relative peace and quiet of the team ’ s inner sanctum .
It ’ s the final round of the championship , just minutes from the Coolum beach on Queensland ’ s spectacular Sunshine Coast , but 27-year-old Ferris is as happy and relaxed as ever . With a smile never far away , he has an excited gleam in his eye and confidence oozing from every pore . Dominating the championship and wrapping up back-to-back titles at the previous round certainly plays a part - as does the fact that he ’ s just become a dad for the first time three days prior .
This is a different Dean Ferris to the one who returned home from a tumultuous four-year international career in Europe and the USA two years ago . It ’ d be unfair to say that particular Dean Ferris was beaten down and low on confidence , but even the one standing in front of me now would testify that a lot has changed in terms of his race craft , confidence , demeanor and outright pace . Nothing builds confidence like winning races , and over the past two years , Dean ’ s done plenty of that during this ‘ reset and rebuild ’ phase . Now , with two national MX1 titles next to his name , the easy-going Australian is again preparing to take his career internationally , with the US firmly in his sights for 2018 .
Man , you must be feeling pretty good about life right now – you ’ ve claimed a national title , had a baby and swept the final at Coolum all in a week . Take us through it .
It ’ s been hectic , for sure . We went into the ninth round at Echo Valley , Toowoomba , knowing we had a chance to wrap up the title , and I really wanted to do that as we had a baby on the way . I wrapped up the championship there , then I was pretty much on call with my partner , Renae , and our bub decided to come in the early hours of Thursday . We didn ’ t even go home – we were at a motel on Thursday night and drove to Coolum on Friday for the round of the nationals here at Coolum . Even though I ’ d already won the championship , I was still fired up to win and we managed to do that . It was an epic , epic week , hey !
Both physically and emotionally I ’ d imagine .
Definitely . We ’ d done quite a few all-nighters waiting for bub to come . I ’ m no party animal , so I was pretty knackered . But yeah , emotionally I ’ m on cloud nine after winning the championship and having our new baby girl , Myah , all at the same time .
And Myah was due on the same day as that ninth round at Echo Valley . Did you have plans in place if she decided to arrive while you were racing for the title ?
We weren ’ t too worried about that , as it was a slim chance . We were both pretty relaxed , but I knew that if the baby started coming , I ’ d have to keep doing my job and stay at the track . That round is a home round for me too , so we had plenty of friends and family there supporting us and watching me wrap up the championship . u