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One-on-one Wednesday

This week we have interviewed CDR Yamaha rider Jay Marmont, who is leading the Open Class at the Australian Motocross Championship ahead of the upcoming seventh round which is set to be held at Lakes in NSW.  To read any of the previous one-on-one Wednesday interviews, check out the archive. Enjoy!

It must have been so exciting to take the Championship lead out at Wanneroo, especially on such a tough track - how did it feel?

I was having a little bit of trouble the week before, getting used to the sand and I was a little bit worried going into the round. My main goal was to stay in front of Ando (Craig Anderson) because to take out the day and the win was going to be hard, so I just wanted to stay in front of him.

The first race was good. I got off to a pretty clean start but then I got cleaned up on the first turn and dropped back. I overtook Craig about halfway through the race and put a couple of riders between us, so I was fairly happy in that finishing fourth.

The next race was pretty much a total disaster off the start, Burkhart went down and I crashed. I was dead last and I was like ‘oh no!’ and I could see my Championship unfolding in front of me.

I crashed another three times in the first few laps and then stalled it, so I just sort of shook it all off, got my bearings and ended up coming through the field. Everyone seemed to be a little bit tired but I was just still charging and not really thinking about getting tired and when the race was over I finished third!

It gave me third place overall on the day and gave me six points on Ando which put me in front my two points, so I was really happy with it.

At Murray Bridge you just looked so comfortable on the track, while a lot of other big names really seemed to struggle. Why do you think that was and why were you so comfortable out there?

I just went into the day really relaxed with the bike working really well, and I knew that the fastest guy to beat on the day was going to be Cheyne (Boyd).  He’s been really fit and fast lately, he’s not really in a Championship hunt, he’s out there to get race wins; that’s purely his goal.

So I knew I had to get the good starts and stay up front and wait for him for a bit of a battle, and it did happen and he got me with just a few laps to go so I pretty much settled for second in the first race.

The next race was the same deal I got the holeshot, but I made a mistake on the first lap and he got by me, so I thought I’d just ride comfortably behind him and just try and push him for a mistake which happened when he crashed, and ended up riding my own race to a comfortable win.

After a full-on two weeks getting from Western Australia to South Australia for the last two rounds, what are you doing in the three week break we’ve got now to relax and get ready for the next round?

Last week, which was our first week off, I just went for two rides on the bike, and didn’t really do a whole heap of training, just a couple of days of light weights and stuff like that, and just had a bit of time off after the last couple of weeks which were pretty hectic, going from Perth to South Australia.

We had a lot of rain and, with trying to find different tracks to ride, it was pretty stressful on the team, on myself and everyone really, but it was good that we got it out of the way and this week I’ve just started getting back into it and getting into a good routine.

I’m finding some really good tracks to ride on and just having fun on the bike. Just riding with my brother Ryan and a couple of friends and just hanging out on the weekend, having BBQ’s, riding and just trying to bring a bit of fun back into it.

I try not to think that it’s an Australian title I’m riding for, so I’m just having fun on the weekends and we’ll just see what happens.

Following the break do you think everyone else is going to come out riding hard and fast seeing as they’ll be all rested as well?

I don’t think so, I think that at this time in the Championship everybody should be pretty fit and know what to expect from their moto’s, where everybody’s at, and no one should really have any excuses now.  Everyone has been training and they know where their bike’s at, they know what all the tracks are going to be like and now it’s just all about whose going to be the smartest rider and who wants it the most.

With only three rounds to go, what is it going to take to bring the Championship home?

I think a bit of luck, you always need to have a bit of luck on your side, your bike not breaking down or silly things happening. It’s just going to be about smart riding and staying consistent and finishing on the podium every weekend.

So are you looking forward to the next round at Lakes?

Yeah, I won there last year; it brought me good things last year; it was the only win I got all season. Even though it’s Ando’s home track it’s one that I’ve been looking forward to.