Photos by: Chase Yocom – Words by: Dan Lamb
How quickly things change in motocross. Leaving round three of the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro MX Championship at the Thunder Valley National for a weekend off, Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin had three-straight podium finishes, an overall win and the red plate with a solid 16-point lead in the 450MX championship standings. Unfortunately during that week off, the Frenchman tore the meniscus in his left knee and has been trying to ride through the pain ever since. In the next four motos, Marvin went 16-6-7-DNF and, in just four motos, had to painfully watch his 16-point lead melt away into a massive 34-point deficit.
Heading into RedBud last weekend, we thought maybe the better decision for Marvin was to call it quits on the championship to get his meniscus surgically cleaned up, but he looked like his old self. The #25 qualified three-hundredths of a second off of pole position and went on to be in the podium fight all day long. In the end, a 3-3 day for Marvin gave him his fourth podium of the year but, more importantly, some much needed confidence moving forward.
After Marvin was done with the podium celebrations and press conference, Chase Yocom caught up with him to talk about his day at RedBud, his knee injury and more.
Marvin, 3-3 on the day for you. It’s not exactly where you want to be, but under the circumstances, you have to be excited to be back on the podium.
Yeah, for sure—that was the goal. I’m almost back to where I want to be. I was able to practice in good conditions this week. I’ve been doing a bunch of leg exercises to help the knee to get stronger and gain more confidence in the leg when I’m riding. That’s exactly what’s happening right now. Two weeks ago, I didn’t know if it was going to happen. I had lost all my confidence and strength with my leg and just couldn’t do what I wanted to do on the bike, especially with my left turns. Even just riding and holding the bike with my legs hurt my knee. Right now it’s a big difference in a short time so I’m really happy.
Was there any thought about maybe pulling out of the series and getting it fixed? What were your thoughts—and maybe the team’s thoughts—on that?
Yeah, maybe. We don’t want to be between fifth and tenth, you know what I mean. We need to battle for podiums and wins. If you’re not 100%, it’s not easy. We gave it a second chance, some work and it’s paying off. I think we’re going in a good direction. I have my surgeon in France who knows me really well and knows my knee from two ACL surgeries on my right knee. Right now it’s on the left knee, but the ACL is fine. I’m just a little hurt on the meniscus and all the ligaments. Overall, the knee and some movements are a little bit unstable. With ____, we are working on a new brace, and it’s working really well.
What did you think of the track today. Obviously, they made some changes to it. I don’t think it affected the 450’s over Larocco’s Leap because you have so much power, but they also put in a bunch of sand.
I thought it was good. Like Jason [Anderson] said at the press conference, last weekend they were expecting a lot of rain, so they didn’t prepare the track as much as normal. That’s why it got hard and not so many ruts, but today we had a real track. It was so bumpy. The bike was bouncing around and we tried to work on setups, but it’s hard. I was happy. There was a lot of ruts. It was a little bit sandy. I really enjoyed the track even though it was rough and tough—that’s motocross. The way they did the Leap over there coming from the right, that was actually pretty cool. I enjoyed it.
What do you prefer to race on—a track like last weekend that was kind of smooth or more rough? I guess you are kind of more familiar maybe with the harder smoother type tracks from the GP’s? (laughs)
It depends on if you are going to Belgium, Holland or a sand track like that. It’s never smooth there. (laughs) I enjoy High Point. It’s so rutted, and I like standing up. I like using good technique and balance. I really enjoy those tracks. No, I didn’t like Muddy Creek.
With your knee situation now, what would you say the goal for the rest of your year is? It was to be on the box, but you’ve already achieved that. Do you think you can start going after wins again now?
Yeah, for sure. I’m not looking at the championship right now; I don’t even know the points. I just want to go out there and do my best. That’s all I can do right now.
Congrats on getting back on the podium, and we really appreciate you giving us your time. It’s great to see you.
No problem and thank you.
