Photos by: Andrea Barnett

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 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 guys 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.

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This week’s “Privateer Showcase” interview is with Yankton Motorsports / ARLO / Race Tech Suspension / Strikt backed Cody Gilmore. Cody was our first ever Race Tech presented “Privateer Showcase” feature a while back, but since then, the #374 has been struggling with one injury after the next. The survivor got himself healthy, though, and is back to contesting the Monster Energy Supercross series in the 450SX class.

Cody made his return to Supercross action in Daytona and missed the main event there and the next weekend in Toronto, but last weekend in Detroit he put his privateer Kawasaki back into the main event. Cody was one of only four true privateers in the main event, and after twenty laps he was still able to throw four Championship points on the board with a seventeenth.

After Cody’s first main event of ’16, we caught up with him to talk about his night in Detroit.

Cody's first gate drop of 2016 came in Daytona. Photo by: Andrea Barnett
Cody’s first gate drop of 2016 came in Daytona. Photo by: Andrea Barnett

Cody, back to racing a couple weeks ago. Welcome back to the main event. How was it out there for you?

Oh man, it was awesome. It feels good to be back. I’ve been hurt for the last few seasons, so it’s been since 2014 since I’ve been racing Supercross. Man, it took me a few weekends to kind of get the hang of it—and to be honest, I’m still not feeling comfortable yet—but I felt way better tonight and got some riding in this week which I haven’t been able to do much yet. Yeah, it was good; it was tough. I haven’t been training for 20 laps—I’m just trying to build myself up for 6 laps right now—but it’s good just to get back in there, and I think once I make one, I can keep the ball rolling and kind of get the hang of it again, you know, get that fire back.

 

Yeah, we’ve seen you do that in the past. A couple years ago I think, you made one and then I think you made the rest of them, so hopefully this is a lead up into something like that again.

Yeah, that was the plan. My ultimate goal is just to come here and get a little bit more experience, and then we have a two week break. I wanted to really buckle down and get a lot of training done and start feeling comfortable on the bike again and just start it off by making a main. It’s going to give me a little confidence going into the last five or six rounds, and yeah, the plan is to make them from here on out for sure.

 

You looked great in the heat. I think you finished top 10 in the heat, and then you were right there in the semi. Man, why the hell did you have to make us bite our nails to see you barely make it in? I thought you had the LCQ.

Yeah, man, that was tough. I got ninth in the heat race there and then was running like third or fourth. I battled with [Chad] Reed and [Jake] Weimer a little bit. That just felt good to get back up there and see those guys. I made a few little mistakes. I don’t know if I kind of, after a few laps, started thinking about it a little bit too much, and I fell back a little ways. I was in sixth and wasn’t even there to fight for fifth. I kind of knew right then, I’m like, “Man, this sucks—missing it by one—but at the same time, I better go out and make something happen in the LCQ,” you know? So, yeah it was good. It was fun.

 

Technical track tonight. What did you think of it? Pretty hard packed dirt it looked like, kind of slick out there and very technical.

Yeah, super slick and super rocky. You’re just sliding a lot out there and the whoops are really slippery and short and steep, so it made it really hard to get through them, but if you could get through them clean, you were able to save a little bit of energy and not try using so much dropping down in them things. So definitely, the track wasn’t super gnarly as in the rhythms and big triples or anything, but the dirt definitely made it tough for sure.

We expect the #374 to be a regular in the 450SX main events from now until Las Vegas. Photo by: Andrea Barnett
We expect the #374 to be a regular in the 450SX main events from now until Las Vegas. Photo by: Andrea Barnett

How weird is it going from your first race back on an outdoor style track in Daytona to a regular Supercross? Second race in now, are you feeling better than you did last weekend?

Yeah, for sure. I wanted to race Daytona just because I like Daytona. I wasn’t really ready. I’d only rode two weeks up to that. I’d only been on the Supercross track two days before that. So, I just kind of wanted to come back, and I don’t know, I just have fun at Daytona, but last weekend was definitely an eye-opener for me on just not riding Supercross tracks lately. I was super sick the whole week before and I didn’t get to ride any at all either, so last weekend, I just went out, rode around and I wasn’t even going to race the night show I was feeling so terrible. But this week I got three days of riding in, which I haven’t done that one time since I started riding again after being injured. I kind of knew I was going to be good this weekend or at least be way better, in a better position, so I was just glad I was able to get in there and do some battling, you know?

 

Where have you been riding at through the week and getting your training in on the road?

I’m staying with Blake Wharton right now. I just got back down to Texas here after Daytona. I went and stayed down there for a few weeks and kind of just lived on the road. Right now I’m staying with Blake and riding a few Texas tracks, and I’ll probably be there until the season’s over and then back to Omaha, Nebraska.

 

Is Blake Wharton kind of helping you out, almost like a riding coach, or are you guys just kind of riding together?

To be honest, he hasn’t been home one day since we’ve been there. I’m just living in his house. He’s been out playing some music and recording music over in Nashville, so he’s been super busy with that, but he doesn’t have a bike or nothing. I’m still good friends with him. The whole Wharton family’s been awesome to me my whole career and I’ve been friends with them for a long time. They’ve always taken care of me. That’s why I decided to go back down there. He’s taking care of me and letting me stay with them, and he still has a Supercross track. It’s just weeded over, so maybe I’ll get out and work on that thing a little bit too.

 

So what’s the plan for the rest of the season? Will we see you at the rest of the rounds?

Yep, that’s TPJ [The Privateer Journey] hauling my bike, so I’ll be at all of the rest of the rounds until Vegas.

 

Well, hey, congrats, and welcome back again to the main event. It’s awesome seeing you there.

Thanks, man. Thanks for everything.

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