Words by: Dan Lamb, Interview by: Chase Yocom – Photos by: Hoppenworld
There’s nobody we’ve talked to that is bummed to see Southwick back on the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship calendar, but few were probably more pumped on it than JGRMX / Monster Energy / Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. Barcia is originally from New York and spent a fair number of days as an amateur pounding out laps in the sand of Wick338. On top of that, BammBamm’s rev limiter, blowing out berms style has no problem finding traction on the outside of a soft Southwick sand berm.
Justin’s season has not been what he nor the team expected coming off a 2015 season that saw Justin winning two overalls and landing on the podium in six of the last seven races, but heading into Southwick, things were beginning to turn around for the #51. Justin’s season started off rough with 7-11-7-5-11 scores at the first five rounds, but last weekend at RedBud, he scored his first moto podium of the year and finished fourth overall—tying Broc Tickle for 3rd overall but losing the tie breaker because of his moto two score. It wasn’t a win or his first overall podium of the year but enough to brighten the light at the end of the tunnel just a little.
At Southwick on Saturday, Justin wasted no time becoming reacquainted with the Massachusetts sand. Justin put his JGR / Yamaha on top of the leaderboard in timed qualifying and took the #1 gate pick to the motos for the first time in 2016. The good mood didn’t last long, though, when 100 yards out of the gate in moto one, Justin found himself on the bottom of a first turn pileup, but Justin went to work and carved his way up to a sixth in moto one.
In moto two, Justin got off to a much better start around fifth, and after passing the two Frenchman—Christophe Poucel and Marvin Musquin—he settled into third behind Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen. In the end, Justin was over a minute behind the Tomac-Roczen battle for the lead, but his 6-3 was enough to score him his first overall podium of ’16. Hopefully this is just the beginning and we can see BammBamm battling his former 250MX rivals for wins as the season winds down.
After the race, Justin joined us in the press tent for the post-race press conference. MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom was there to ask some questions with the recorder running.
Justin, you were the fastest qualifier today. You had a crash in the first turn of the first moto. Tell us about that start. I saw some replays, but I didn’t see exactly what happened or how you got brought into it.
Yeah, definitely. Unfortunately in first one, I got pinched off a little and a couple of guys came over and I lost my front end. I had my work cut out for me, for sure. Man, it was challenging. Fighting through that pack was tough. There was a lot of guys, and the track isn’t like it used to be where there’s two lines everywhere; it’s a little more one-lined. It was pretty hard to pass, but I think I did a good job coming from outside the top twenty to sixth. And I closed in on other guys, but I just ran out of time. Unfortunately, I had to use a lot of energy in that first moto, and in the second moto, it left me a little dry. (laughs)
Looking at the season so far, coming on strong last weekend and it was good for you this weekend. It was good for you with a third overall. Are you starting to hit that stride that we saw last year, in the second half of the season where you sort of lit it up, pulled holeshots and had great finishes?
I sure hope so. That’s definitely ideal. I’d like to come on strong right now, but I’ve felt like I’ve been riding pretty decent all year. I’ve just been searching for the right setup. Me and the team have been working super hard to get me really comfortable with the bike, and I feel like I was a little soft on the soft side with the suspension for a while. That was more me and a comfort issue, and I just kind of needed to get over that a little bit. And we needed to find the right setting. I feel like today showed that we have a good bike. I felt good and I turned some really fast lap times in the first moto. In practice, I was the fastest. You know it hasn’t been like that in a while. I think this weekend’s kind of like the turning point a little bit, and I hope to bring that into Millville next week ’cause I like that track and I think it’s similar dirt to this place. It gets more ruts, but it should be good.
You finished on the podium in 2013. You were the fastest qualifier and got another podium. Does this track just suit your style or is it your past experience?
I think the track suits my style well. It’s a lot different than it used to be. I don’t even consider it the same track now ’cause it’s so much different. Back in the day I can remember it being super whooped out, and I’m sure all the guys here have seen that before when they were coming here five years ago. It was pretty brutal. And it was brutal today but in a different way. It’s got a firm base and it gets a lot of square-edge, choppy high speed bumps. But I did enjoy it a lot. I really love this place. I love the area up here and I had a good time. It’s nice to have that big cushion ’cause I do hammer the throttle pretty hard.
You guys made a change to the front end a race or so ago. How much of a difference did that make for you?
It’s been a few races now since we changed the forks a little bit, and it’s been so—I would like to say—foreign to us ’cause we haven’t ran that fork in a while. We’ve just been kind of building up to a stiffer setting. I like the super soft setting; it was super comfortable, but racing it just wasn’t the right setting. I think we’ve been making a lot of progress on the bike. Unfortunately, it’s taken a while to do. I would have liked to obviously find the right setting right away, but we’ve been working at it. It hasn’t been an easy season for sure.
This is the first podium of the season for the JGR team. What was the team atmosphere like when you got back to the truck?
Everyone’s definitely happy. We keep it pretty level. Motocross can be like a rollercoaster, so we were definitely happy. Third place isn’t really what we want. It’s way better than what we’ve been struggling with. Obviously, the top step is what we want, and I think the team and me are capable of that. It’s just taking a while to get there. I feel like today, if I wouldn’t have went down on the start [of moto 1], maybe things would have been a little different. You know, who knows, but all in all everyone was very happy. We were happy with the bike. We feel like we made a lot of progress and I felt pretty good today. I just wish I could have saved a little energy for the second moto. I just went super deep the first moto, and I had no choice; I had to. In the second moto, I just kind of felt a little flat, but all in all if I would have got better starts today, I would have been better off. It’s all good.
How was the prep this week for the sand track? Did you guys go up to Club MX?
I did a school up here this week at this place called Winchester that I grew up racing at. I didn’t ride too much; I just kind of chilled out and taught. There was like 31 kids there I was teaching for two days, so it was very new to me. I’ve never really taught that many kids. I’ve worked with pros before at my house and stuff. I think maybe telling these kids what to do maybe put it back into my head a little bit, and maybe that’s why I rode a little better this weekend. (laughs)
Could this podium be the spark you needed?
I sure hope this could be the little spark. I was very, very, very happy to qualify first. I felt super good. I had some good laps, and I was like, “Alright, I know I got the speed now.” Like I said, I need to put a few things together, and I feel like I’m starting to come around. I’ve been pretty good. I’ve been working super hard, so hopefully I can stand up on the podium more and more.
