Photo by: Hoppenworld
All season long during the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, we’ve been writing about how surprised we are by Wil Hahn‘s rookie performances on the 450. I have to be honest, though, after introducing us to his newfound raw speed in Oakland and then scoring a fourth in Atlanta, I’m now surprised he has not found the podium yet. But you need not look any further than his average position after one lap for the year to see that it’s his starts that are keeping the #23 from finishing on the box. Wil has raced nine rounds in 2014, and his average position after one lap is twelfth. Problem solved, Wil: get better starts.
That seems easy enough, but last weekend at Daytona, Wil’s trend of making life harder than it needs to be continued. Wil finished lap one way back in seventeenth, but somehow worked his way up to sixth by the end of the main event. It was without a doubt the ride of the night and an awesome display of Wil’s fitness on the brutal Daytona circuit. Still, at this point, Wil is looking for more than great charges from the back; he wants a podium. With rides like that one, though, and with Kevin Windham and Ryan Fedorow pushing him on a daily basis, I’m sure he’ll be stepping onto the box sooner than later.
After Daytona, Chase Yocom caught up with Wil to talk about his Daytona SX. You can read what Wil had to say in the interview below.
Wil, fresh off the track from the main event, dirt still on the face—how was it out there?
Ah, I love coming here. This place is brutal, it’s hard, it’s a grueling race, and I always look forward to coming here, but I didn’t give myself a chance out of the gate tonight. I had to keep plugging away, pick dudes off, and everyone was making mistakes. Tough track tonight, so basically I just gotta go home and do my homework. I gotta get out of that damn gate, so my main goal right now is to fix my starts and go from there.
I didn’t see what happened, but did you get caught up with Alessi when he went down on the start?
No, luckily, I avoided that. I was already in my own cluster on the outside. (laughs) No, I avoided that and just had to keep my head down and charge all the way ’til the end.
Yeah, you went from 17th to 6th, so you definitely had some speed tonight. (laughs) What was working for you out there tonight?
Just my Honda, my GEICO Honda was working for me tonight and the homework I’ve been doing. Between my trainer Ryan [Fedorow] and Kevin [Windham], it’s been working. I’m just going to go back and keep doing my homework.
Where were the good passing spots tonight? It looked like there weren’t a whole lot of passing options tonight, but you somehow made it happen.
You just kind of had to throw it in. You had to wait for a mistake, or the whoops were easy for passing tonight. Or kind of like I said, just powering through. You just gotta be a little bit more aggressive and show them a front wheel.
What did K’dub have you working on this week to get ready for Daytona?
We were just working on a whooped out rough track and just keeping it fun. That’s what he’s doing for me. I’m with his kid; we’re hanging out. We’re really keeping it light, but when it’s time to work, we work hard. Like I said, between him and my trainer Ryan, I don’t know of a better program we could have going right now.
Thanks for your time tonight, and congrats on a great ride through the pack tonight, Wil.
Thanks.
