Interview by: Chase Yocom Words by: Dan Lamb – Photo by: Simon Cudby

Since winning two back-to-back MX2 World Championships and heading to America, Marvin Musquin has struggled with one major injury after the next. In fact, before he even set foot on American soil, the Frenchman tore his ACL preparing for Monster Energy Supercross with a warm up race in Bercy. After landing here, things didn’t get much better. After recovery from his knee, he broke his thumb in his second race in the US, and that was followed by even more painful setbacks.

In 2013, though, the #25 finally showed everyone why Roger De Coster and the Red Bull/KTM team had stuck with him. Marvin battled hard for the 2013 Eastern Regional 250SX Championship, and after seven podiums and four wins, he fell just three points short of winning the Championship. Soon after that successful season, though, Marvin was once again bitten by the injury bug. Instead of carrying that momentum into 2014 Supercross, Marvin was forced to watch from the couch and wait for a later time.

On track Musquin is an animal, but off track he likes to try and keep it light. Photo by: Simon Cudby

With Marvin’s success in 2013, most had Marvin at the top of their favorites list heading into the 2015 Eastern Regional 250SX Championship, but there were question marks. After so much time away from racing, the biggest questionwas could he pick up where he left off, and he quickly answered that one. At the opener in Arlington, Marvin got the start and simply rode away from everyone for his first win of the year. That was followed by a hard fought second at the Atlanta 1 SX and his second win of the year last weekend at the Atlanta 2 SX. With a 1-2-1 scorecard, the former World Champion has a ten-point lead and looks well on his way to graduating to the 450SX class with a Regional 250SX Championship on his resume.

After his second win of the year in Atlanta, MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom caught up with Marvin in the pits for a quick “Race Rewind” interview. You can check out what Marvin had to say below.

Marvin, flip flop from last weekend with you and Jeremy Martin. You came out the victor tonight. You got to be feeling pretty good about that.

For sure.  It was a pretty decent day.  I was the fastest in qualifying. I felt pretty good. Track was tough,  we have big whoops and a lot of riders went down in practice. I didn’t want to go down for sure.  It was pretty sketchy.  I didn’t get a great start in the heat race. I was third but not riding the way I wanted to, but I still got to second. Then I went down, did a stupid mistake and got fourth. So I was not too pumped on that heat race, and you always want to do good, before the main event, in the heat race.  I was a little bit mad, but I figured I can still do pretty good.  I actually got a great start, and that was the key tonight. I led all 15 laps. Really proud about what I did tonight. It was great. Tough track. I was consistent and really smooth.  That’s exactly what I wanted to do. Jeremy got second and was really quick and I proved that I was a little faster, so that was good.

Two out of three rounds in 2015, have ended with Marvin front and center on the podium. Photo by: Simon Cudby
Two out of three rounds in 2015, have ended with Marvin front and center on the podium. Photo by: Simon Cudby

Any changes on the bike throughout the day?

Yeah.  We made little changes with the bike on the gearing, on the suspension. I have the best team out there, Red Bull/KTM, and great bike.  Then when I’m on the bike I get to do what I do best.

 

From last week to this week, was the dirt pretty similar? Did it change some? I know they threw some sand in there this week.

Yeah, they threw some sand in. It was different too with sand section actually. That bridge was pretty cool, and I think the dirt was a lot better than the last week. I think they watered quite a bit and they did a great job.  So I’m pumped on that. That was the best track of the year.

 

Did you teach Ryan Dungey that heel clicker that he pulled a couple weekends ago?

No, yeah, well, I kind of did. Sometimes when we’re done with motos, we have some fun, throw some whoops and some heel clickers. I actually gave him some advice because he was struggling a little with that heel clicker. In Dallas, it was his best one ever.

Musquin throws the Heel-Clicker every time he wins and it's becoming a familiar sight in Monster Energy Supercross. Photo by: Simon Cudby
Musquin throws the Heel-Clicker every time he wins and it’s becoming a familiar sight in Monster Energy Supercross. Photo by: Simon Cudby

Speaking of that. How was it training with Aldon Baker this year?  I know you and Ryan are spending a lot of time at Baker’s Factory I believe it’s called.

It’s awesome. We have a great time.  I’m pumped that Ryan is now moving down with us. We go cycling together. We go to the gym. It makes it really fun. We also have Jason Anderson and Adam Cianciarulo. We have a great group. Aldon is a great guy too. We do the work and we have fun, so it’s great.  We just have to keep doing that. I improved a lot this year with Aldon, so I’m really happy about that and I want to thank Roger [De Coster] and everybody on the team.

 

Next weekend, Daytona, are you looking forward to that track?

It’s going to be a different race, and physically it’s going to be tough. So that’s good. We’ll see what we can do there.  Definitely a crazy race there, that’s for sure.

 

Are you guys going to get on the outdoor track a little bit this week?  What’s the game plan?

We build Daytona SX sections.  We got the base of the property down there in Florida. It’s black sand, and we built the supercross track with white clay. So we just build a sand section.

 

I was up there interviewing Ryan. He said that the finish line jump was too small to pull the heel clicker. You proved him wrong though. You threw a pretty good one.

Well I can pull a heel clicker actually in the rhythm section. I don’t know if you remember in Washougal, in the whoop section I tripled and pulled a heel clicker. I didn’t touch my feet, but I was pretty close. That’s exactly what Ryan told me. He said the finish line was too small. I’m just really happy for him that he won. He’s proving right now that he’s the best and the bike is working really good and it’s awesome to both get the wins.

Red Bull/KTM has swept the wins in both the 450SX  class (Dungey left) and the 250SX (Musquin right) at two of the last three races. Orange has become a powerful color in American SX. Photo by: Simon Cudby
Red Bull/KTM has swept the wins in both the 450SX class (Dungey left) and the 250SX (Musquin right) at two of the last three races. Orange has become a powerful color in American SX. Photo by: Simon Cudby

You’ll carry the red plate into next week. You just extended your points lead. How pumped are you on that?

I feel like I could have won last weekend at Atlanta 1 so I could get more points. Those guys are doing really good and I just want to get great starts and that’s going to be good.  Yeah, it’s nice to have the red plate.  It’s the first one of my career in the United States. It’s awesome, and I just want to go race by race and do what I do best.

 

Thanks again and congrats.

Thank you.

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