These “Privateer Showcase” interviews presented by Race Tech Suspension at MotoXAddicts tell the stories of the guys in the trenches week in and week out just trying to chase their dream of racing professional Motocross and Supercross. While the riders at the front of the pack get the money, the T.V. time and the glory that goes with it, there’s a huge pack of kids just hoping to become regulars in the big show. We will talk to them and get their stories about trying to break through to that next level with little or no help.
This week’s “Privateer Showcase” is Justin Ashburn. The twenty-three year old from the small town of Sparta, Tennessee joined the Monster Energy Supercross series back in 2014 in the 250SX class and has been doing everything in his power to become a regular in the night shows. Justin got his Supercross career off the ground and found out what it was like to race under the stadium lights for the first time at the 2014 St. Louis Supercross. For a kid from town with a population that wouldn’t even fill much more than a single section of the Edward Jones Dome, it had to feel like an amazing accomplishment.
Being a bigger kid, Justin moved up to the 450 in 2015, but a sickness and an injury pretty much cancelled the year out for him. The #455 will return in 2016, though, and we decided to give him a call and find out a little more about where he came from as his goals for the upcoming season. You can hear from Justin in his “Privateer Showcase” below.
Justin, these interviews are about the guys trying to get to that next level, and letting people get to know them. First off, where are you from originally?
I’m from a small town in Tennessee—Sparta, Tennesee.
Where did you start riding dirt bikes? What was your local track out there?
I got my start in the backyard. They called it the Cycle Shed. We knew a guy that had a son that rode 60s at the time when I was riding 50s. We’d always go out there, and we called it the Super Shed. So we started there and used to just ride for fun and games. This guy was like, “Maybe you should take him to a race.” From there, one thing just led to another. We went to one race and I got a KTM 50. Then we started doing the winter series, the Victory Sports indoor races. Basically we’d run all the Victory Sports stuff like Muddy Creek and one thing led to another, from 50s all the way up until I turned pro.
Did you do many amateur National events—any Ponca City, Loretta Lynn’s or much of those events—while you were coming up?
Yeah, I went Loretta’s. We went 10 times in a row. I got a 13th, 5th, 2nd in the nation over the years. I never ran the big bikes there. I always seemed to have bad luck on the big bike with qualifying. I broke my leg one year, wrist the next and my back after that. Basically all I ran at Loretta’s was the 50s, 60s and 80s. I got a 5th in the 60s 7-9 class and a 2nd in the Mod class.
So, yeah, you had some decent success coming up. Who were the riders you looked up to the most growing up in Tennessee? I know you had Mike Brown ripping out there when you were a kid.
Yeah, I looked up to Mike Brown, [Jeremy] McGrath and [Ricky] Carmichael. Those were the guys I always looked up to.
What was a week like for you as a kid trying to take it to the next level? Did you go the regular school route or home school?
I went to public school. Basically, I would go to school and go straight to the track at 3:30. I would ride until dark and do it all again the next day.
Did your pops do any racing when he was younger?
No, he rode, but he never really raced. I had a brother [Mike Mahan] that raced four wheelers and was a three-time National Champion on those. I’m not 100% sure what classes he won in, ’cause it was actually before I was born.
Did you guys get any kind of support coming up through the amateur Nationals?
None really, we were buying our own bikes. When I was coming off 80s, they had just changed the rule that said if you ever went to Loretta’s on the Supermini you had to run B class on the big bikes. At that time, I got hooked up with a guy that got me a Yamaha ride, and they were giving us bikes when I first went to 125 B. At the Regionals for Loretta’s in the B class I broke both my wrists. I had a compound fracture on my right one and they had that in a cast for a year. They had to do skin grafts and everything on that, so that wasn’t a good start to that ride.
When did you make the leap to the pro class locally?
I would say probably 2009.
In 2014, you decided to give Supercross a go, and you actually did quite well. Was it always a dream to take it to the next level, and what was your first Supercross race?
Yeah, as a kid I always had the dream of racing Supercross. I wanted to actually try to make money at it. My first Supercross was on a Lites bike, to make it so I could race the 450 class. I started on the East in 2014 at the Texas round—Arlington. It was a big eye opener. I had never even been on a full Supercross track until we showed up to race in Arlington. It was kind of like, “Wow, that’s nothing like I’ve been riding.” I had raced Arenacross and won a few and podiummed at some, but it was nothing like Supercross.
How many did you do in ’14?
I did all of the East rounds in 2014. The best I did was a 14th in the LCQ in St. Louis. It was our first year, and we didn’t really know what was going on. We struggled with stuff like sound. All the way until Daytona, I kept getting my fast laps docked for sound, and it would prevent me from going to the night show. In St. Louis, I rode the entire practice wide open like a race and got in. Even though I wasn’t passing a random sound test, they couldn’t take away every lap. They only took away a few laps. Luckily, I had fast enough lap times during the entire practice.
In 2015, you moved up to the 450. What was behind that decision?
I’m a bigger guy, and the 250 is so much money and only so much power, especially when some of these guys are 120 or 130 pounds. Last year, I was trying to stay as little as possible while still being strong and healthy. I was like 170 pounds, but that’s still heavy for a Lites bike. I thought everything, money-wise with building a 450 versus building a full blown 250F race bike, would be easier on me since it’s all out of pocket.
Did you guys have any real help in ’14?
Nope, nobody.
Video of the crash that took Justin out of 2015 season.
Were you able to get into the show on the 450 at all in ’15?
No. Last year, I don’t want to say it was terrible, but I try not to think about it. Before the season started, I got real sick. I thought it was food poisoning. I kind of milked it out and missed qualifying at A1. I didn’t go to the doctor, but after three more rounds, I decided to go to the doctor and they said I had stage two pneumonia and bronchitis on top of that. After I told the doctor what I did for a living, she said, “If you value your lungs, you’ll stay away from dirt and race fumes.” She said I could cough so hard that it could collapse my lungs, so that ended my West Coast races. I loaded up, took the medicine she gave me and recovered. Then, Ben Riddle called me up and said he had a track they just rebuilt at a compound in Georgia I could come train at. So I went and did that. Then, it looked like I was going to get into the show in Atlanta, but I guess I came up a tad short on a little triple. It clipped me and I was done for a while.
What’s the plan now for 2016? Are you planning on all seventeen rounds?
Me and Motowhips [Justin Myerson] are going to start training for Supercross. He helped me out a lot last year, and he’s doing it again this year. Yeah, we’re planning on doing all 17 rounds. Justin, with Motowhips, is helping me out, and if we can stay good and healthy, we’ll start training for outdoors.
What are your expectations for 2016 then? What’s the dream?
I’d like to make all the night shows and make some money on the way to fund each week, I guess. I want to make a point this year, to prove I have what it takes to be on a team—like a smaller team, instead of like a factory Honda or Suzuki. That way they’ll be like, “Oh, he has what it takes.” For once I would like somebody else to worry about the bikes and all I would have to do is ride. I think if I stay healthy and get some seat time, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Well good luck, and thanks for talking to us. Any sponsors you would like to thank?
Yeah, Motowhips, Rekluse, Yoshimura, O’neal, MB1, ODI, Cycra, Dirt Candy Graphics, Bell, Atlas Brace, Matrix Concept, Vertex Pistons, Eks Brand, Works Connection, Dunlop, Rad mfg, Vortex, Hammer Head, CV Products, Motostuff and Motool.
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