Hughes that hadn’t done much. He
had been hurt all year. Before he was
hurt, he didn’t do a lot overseas.
Ryan won the first race and I got to
go against Grant Langston for the
first time and we were just banging
bars and passed Roncada down that
hill on the last lap.
That was one of my favourite
overtakes of all time. Was it
something you planned or just an
opportunity you saw?
Almost every lap I got somebody
there ‘cause I was on a 125 against
500’s, and I just kept standing the
downhills.
Everyone’s like, “you’re gonna die”.
I’m like, “well, I can’t pass them on
the uphill, so let’s do it”.
What was it like working with
Roger De Coster?
It was funny because the media built
it up as though we didn’t get along.
But he was like a father to me. Same
like your father would be in a lot of
those situations.
He didn’t understand the freestyle
but this is coming from a guy who
showed up with a Ferrari and a fur
coat to Carlsbad. But like, as much
as he gave me s**t, I’m like, “You
mother f***er. You would have been
the exact same guy if freestyle was
around when you were.”
So De Coster was a huge
motivation. A huge help. Someone
that always had my back. You know,
it was really cool to have him on the
team. He was team manager when I
was at The Nations.
The narrative as a fan or viewer
in the early days of FMX – around
when you were first seeing it in
the X Games – was that it was
anti-establishment within MX.
Did it feel like that? Did it cause
you any problems with your race
team?
I had problems with everything. And
I think, as long as you’re winning,
it’s okay. My first year, I broke my
ankle at X Games trying to back flip
in 2000 and I didn’t tell anybody. The
talas - it’s not a big bone, but it still
hurt. I didn’t say s**t until after The
Nations were over.
I thought you went on to win
outdoors and supercross that
year?
Yeah, so it was good. I think that the
56 | FreestyleXtreme.com
biggest thing was still that if you look
at a magazine like Racer X - I love
Racer X and I read it - but they hate
freestyle.
They hate me still. That older
motocross generation thinks
freestyle’s the antichrist and is
gonna ruin the sport. When really,
it just opens it up to so many more
people.
I guess to some, anything that’s
not traditional is going to look like
a rebellion with an attitude…
I wasn’t doing it like that. Brian
Deegan came in and basically is a
big, both middle fingers in the air,
f**k you.
I just like to have fun on my dirt bike.
I came in as going, “I just want to
see what my limits are and push
myself, and freestyle allows me to
do that.” I like to jump in racing. I’m
trying to see how low I can stay and
that’s boring. I mean I want to win,
but at the end of the day, I want to
go back out on the track and hit the
big jumps. When I’m practising, I
want to hit the big jumps.
So I was teammates with
Carmichael - his first lap to the finish
line was his first timed lap. Every lap
was timed; every lap was exactly the
same line. He could’ve taken out 99
percent of the track because he only
used an inch of it, and only certain
take offs and landings.
Whereas someone like (Kevin)
Windham never hit the same line
twice. So, to have both of these
guys as kind of role models...
obviously, Carmichael went a lot
further, but Windham as an icon.
And someone that was that talented.
It showed me a lot about what
makes a champion and what makes
a phenomenal rider. It was really
cool.
I guess it’s two different
approaches to the race. Speaking
to Ricky, he felt the key to his
championships was staying
detached and not getting into
battles you didn’t need to –
keeping his eyes on the points.
With the other approach being
where you see a guy come past
you and you’re like “I’m having
you!”
That’s why my career was so short.
I was like, “I’m going to win every
race! Every race matters!” u