Photo by: Hoppenworld
Heading into 2014, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s hopes for a 250SX Western Regional Championship were resting on Darryn Durham, Justin Hill and their veteran, Dean Wilson, but at the halfway point of the series, Wilson stood out as their only hope. Unfortunately, after going 2-1 at the Oakland and Anaheim 3 SX’s and getting into the fight, the #15 went down in San Diego and suffered a DNF that took him out of the Championship hunt.
While on the break for the Western Regional Championship, Wilson joined the Two-Two Motorsports/Discount Tire Racing squad and looked solid on Chad Reed‘s 450. Deano raced four events on the 450, and despite arm pump hampering his main event results, he significantly raised his 450 value heading into the 2015 Silly-Season. He did that by qualifying in the top three at his last three events, having the fastest lap in Daytona and even winning his heat race in Daytona. Overall, I think it was a very profitable decision for the Scottish-born professional.
When the West reconvened last weekend in Seattle, Deano was already out of the 250SX Western Regional Championship race but was hoping to play spoiler with a win. Unfortunately, mistakes on the super-technical Seattle soil got the best of him, and he could only manage a fourth on the night. As it sits now, the #15 is forty points behind Rockstar/KTM’s Jason Anderson in the points and probably looking forward to going outdoors in late May to try and win his second 250 National Motocross Championship in 2014.
After the Seattle main event, we caught up with Deano to ask him about his race in Seattle and find out how he’s feeling heading into the outdoors. You can read that interview below.
Hey, Dean, 2014 Seattle SX is in the books. Would you call it a rough night for you?
Yeah, it was pretty rough—two crashes—and a crash in each race is never awesome. I still won the heat race which is cool, but going into the main, I really wanted to win it. I got the holeshot and then had a little mistake on the first lap. I tried to get back around [Cole] Seely. I caught him, went to try and pass him, lost the front end, and by the time I got up, it was tough. I was back in fifth, and I got fourth—pretty flat race.
After the mistake where Seely got by, you looked super aggressive and on a mission to get back to the front. With the track being as technical as it was tonight, do you think you might have gotten a bit impatient?
Yeah, kind of. It sucks ’cause you hate to look back and think that you could have done something different, but I was just going for the win. Stuff happens, and at least I was going for the win, not going for a third place. I was going for the win, and it just didn’t work out. Silly mistakes on my part and lots of mistakes this year for me, but it’s a really good learning process for me, and it will help me for next year.
Overall, the track was dry tonight which is fairly rare for Seattle, but how did you like the ruts and the track as a whole?
Yeah, the ruts were pretty gnarly, but it was really good tonight. It was slippery in some sections and hard, so it definitely wasn’t the standard Seattle track. It was pretty good, I would say.
Unfortunately, the Championship is out of reach. So at this point, you’re obviously just looking to win a race and possibly be a spoiler in Las Vegas now.
Yeah, there’s really nothing else I can do, but I’m here to win races. It’s like I’m the fastest guy, but it’s crazy. I just need to get it together, and I’ll be fine.
It’s been widely reported that you’re dealing with shoulder injury again. How did the shoulders hold up tonight.
I was quite happy. I mean, the shoulder held up when I went over the bars in the heat race, so I was actually pumped with that, but I kind of jarred my wrist. We’re good, though, my wrist is fine.
Is there any chance of you missing outdoors to fix the shoulder, wrist or anything?
No, I’ll be fine, just jammed it a little bit. I was panic revving a little bit and just totally came up short.
Alright, sounds good. Thanks for talking to us, Deano, and we’ll see you in Vegas.
Thanks.
