Photos by: Hoppenworld
Just a month ago when you heard JGRMX/Yamaha’s Justin Barcia‘s name mentioned in a bench-racing session, the topic was always his mediocre results and how those results were a long ways away from justifying the high price tag the JGR team ponied up to hire him. We constantly write about the saying “you’re only as good as your last race” seemingly being penned for Supercross and Motocross more than any other sport, and the quickness at which tickets for the Bam Bam bandwagon express are selling out is a perfect illustration of that. I guess the only other sport we can draw a close comparison to is boxing; just ask Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson. Going from “Zero to hero” or vice versa is always one mistake or moment away.
Heading into round six at Budds Creek, Barcia had one moto podium, one overall podium and was fourth in the 450MX Championship—74 behind Ryan Dungey and 37 behind Ken Roczen in second. Since moto one at Budds, Barcia has gone 3-1-2-1-2-2-1-2, scored four-straight overall podiums, won two of the last four overalls and now sits tied for 2nd in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450MX Championship with Roczen. With that, Justin’s zero podiums in Supercross and his lackluster start to outdoors have been quickly forgotten.
At Washougal last Saturday, the #51 qualified off the pace in tenth in the mud, but the tenth gate pick didn’t stop Barcia from pulling two more holeshots at round nine. Barcia led wire-to-wire in moto one and led the first twelve laps of moto two before a small tip-over in the Washougal mud erased his first ever 1-1 day in the 450MX class. Barcia remounted and went back after Dungey, but after a couple more mistakes in the Washougal slop, Barcia settled in for a second place in moto two and another second overall finish.
After the race, Barcia sat down and answered some questions. You can hear what the #51 had to say in his “Race Rewind” interview below.
Congrats on the day. We know you well enough now to know you’re not happy with the second in moto two. Give us the overall of the day for you and how you feel it went. It was quite a performance.
I think it was a good day for sure. The first practice, I wasn’t very good. I was like tenth. I think I make the team nervous in practice because I’m just not very good at practicing. I think they’re starting to figure out that I’m just not a great practice rider. But I was third-fastest the second practice. It was just the times from the first practice were faster, so that’s where I was at. But the first moto was great. Edged out Phil [Nicoletti] on the start. Racking up those starts has been good. I just got it down, so it feels good. I just kind of ran away with it. I think we were twenty-six seconds or something at the end. So that was good. I had a fun first moto. It was pretty slick, a little more muddy. Started drying out toward the end.
Can you tell us about moto two?
Yeah, the second moto was a barnburner for sure. Ryan [Dungey] was on my tail the whole moto. It was fun. I could feel him catching me in spots. When you’re a rider, you can kind of hear the bike behind you and kind of figure out where he was faster, just by going off the sound. I stole some of his lines, and then got into lappers. I kind of broke away a little bit there. We were pretty close. Our times were super close, and then I made a big mistake down at the bottom of the hill and just pushed my front end. I just blew it.
We’ve talked about it before—riding with Dungey putting pressure on you. Were you pretty happy with yourself up until the point where you made the mistake, because of the way you responded again?
Yeah, it’s awesome. Racing with Ryan, it’s good racing with him because he’s a really respectful rider. I’m getting better about that too, just kind of maturing a little.
So it’s not Bam-Bam anymore, just Bam?
Yeah, I don’t know. I am who I am, but I do respect him as a rider. He’s won a lot of championships and stuff. It definitely hurt today. This is the hardest loss for sure because I felt like I maybe could have held onto it. It was good. I had a fun day. I enjoyed the track a lot. I’m from New York, so I do like the mud. People come up to me and they’re like, “Today’s your day—it’s muddy!” And I’m just like, “What, I can’t ride in the dry?”
We know you can.
Yeah, but the fans, they don’t know. It’s okay. But I had fun. That first moto obviously was really, really fun. And second moto, I think it was even more fun because it was a battle the whole race. I just am disappointed in myself for making that stupid mistake. I got up and I was a all juiced up. I rode a little crazy for a lap and then almost tanked it and went into the fence. And then Ryan got away.
It’s hard to over-ride the 450, isn’t it?
Yeah, I can do it though (laughs).
How different is it coming to the races now? Over the last four races you’ve obviously turned everything around from where your season was. Is it a lot different coming to the races now?
Yeah, it’s not so much different really, but it’s nice to know I have the speed and the endurance and stuff like that to run the pace for the whole race. I’m putting myself in good positions to be a threat every weekend—that definitely feels good. You know honestly, I haven’t changed anything. I just keep doing what I’ve been doing on and off the bike. Just finally I’ve kind of turned it around.
How good was that JGR 450 hooking up? I watched you almost pull a couple good “Larry Loop-outs” going up Horsepower Hill.
The first practice, it was really slick, and I used a new rear tire today that I haven’t raced with. Doug from Pirelli came back after the second practice and said, “How was the straight traction?” I said, “Did you see me almost loop out up the hill like three times?” So the straight traction was super-good. That bike’s so fast, but the good thing about it is it’s controllable. In Supercross, it was too fast for me. It was just a little out of control. Over time we learned things, and the bike’s awesome right now. It’s really fun to ride.
Next week we go to Unadilla. What’s the plan for the next two weeks for you? Just normal training, testing? Anything extraordinary?
Not so much. I’m really happy with my bike. I actually tested all this week a few things. Actually didn’t change anything. Just kind of learning things and trying stuff and seeing what the bike does. Just sticking to my program. Ride my bicycle a lot, ride my dirt bike even more, and have some fun. I haven’t been back to Florida in a while, so I’m going to go back this coming week and hang out with my family a little. I think Dirt Shark’s coming down there to do a little video. Just keep it normal.
When you go to New York, is it more of a ruckus because of the amount of people that want to hang out, get tickets, and all that kind of stuff, or do you enjoy the fanfare?
I just tell people I can’t get tickets. (laughs) I learned that the hard way. I used to get so many tickets, and now it’s just, I can’t get tickets anymore. But I love New York, and Unadilla’s a good place. Me and Ryan have actually battled there before, so I’m looking forward to dicing it up there. It’s a good racetrack. Hopefully it stays dry and we’ll get ten lines all over the track and it’ll be really good racing. I’m definitely looking forward to that. The fans there are one of a kind. They’re cool. (laughs)
New York people. (laughs)
Yeah, New York people; I know them well.
Congratulations again and thank you for what was really an entertaining race. It was a clinic in the mud today.
Yeah, definitely. I had a lot of fun and it was great racing with everybody today.
