By Brett Dailey
Photos by Tim Dailey

Ryan Lockhart in action last weekend

Look for new interviews each day this week. If you missed Allison Kennedy's conversation with Dusty Klatt on Monday, click here. Look for an epic interview with Mitch Cooke tomorrow and then Doug DeHaan and Brady Sheren on Thursday and Friday.


Nova Scotia’s Ryan Lockhart decided to buck the trend of racing the Lites class and instead decided to jump right into the Supercross class to duke it out with the premiere riders. It must be difficult driving across the country each weekend knowing that your chances of even making the 20-rider main event are very slim. However, Lockhart has the right attitude. He knows that this supercross experience will improve his skills on the bike and also give him a mental advantage when he lines up for the Canadian nationals this summer. We caught up with Lockhart while he was … you guessed it … driving.

RXC: How has your season gone so far?
Ryan Lockhart: It’s all right. I’m just racing every weekend. It’s going good and I’m happy with the way things are going. I’ve definitely improved from the start of the series to where I’m at now. I’m happy with the way it’s going—it’s good experience, that’s for sure.

It seems like each weekend you are improving your lap times and getting into the mix. You are making the night programs pretty easily.
Yeah, and that was the main goal coming in. Making a main event this year would have been a bonus. There’s still a few left so I could still make one but, you know, next year, I should be right there.

What do you plan to work on for the balance of the season?
I’m going to switch my focus over to outdoors. I actually rode outdoor last week for the first time since about October. It was good to get back on an outdoor track and I felt really good, actually. I’m going to start doing that this week because Daytona is more outdoor style anyway. Well, you never know this year now that Dirt Wurx is building the track so you never know what we will end up with. Anyway, I’ll ride outdoors and just finish out these races and then I’m heading back to California and I’ll start training hard. I haven’t really been training for supercross because I’ve been so freaking busy. I’ve just been driving here and driving there and keeping up on my own bike because I don’t have a mechanic so that’s been a full-time job. Anyway, that’s the price I have to pay.

What skills have you gained from Supercross that will help you for the Canadian nationals?
I was talking about this with somebody the other day. It has definitely made me a better rider—just timing and working on being smooth and stuff like that. Everyone says riding all of this supercross stuff is not going to make you any better for outdoors but that’s not true. Supercross is so much tougher than outdoors. You have to work so much harder to be smooth and to have your timing right. Those skills transfer over to outdoors and it makes riding an outdoor track that much easier. I totally think it’s made me a better rider. As far as my speed goes: when I rode the outdoor track the other day, I felt like I had more speed than ever. And that was the first time I rode it [an outdoor track] in four or five months. So, I’m interested to see—once I start working really hard—what I did get out of it.

Lockhart admits that the SX riders are very aggressive.
Here he battles with Brian Mason (80).

I guess you won’t be intimidated pulling up to the line in the MX1 class in May.
No, definitely not. Not to discredit any of the other riders but I’ve been racing against the best in the world so… I’m looking forward to Canada this year. One thing I’m not doing is predicting how I’m going to do. Because every year that I predict how I’m going to do … something always goes wrong. So, I’m not predicting anything this year. If anyone asks me how I’m going to do or what my goals are, I’m going to say that I just want to have a good year, that’s it.

Obviously there’s only a second or two a lap between the guys that make the main and the guys that don’t make the main. Vuillemin didn’t make it in St. Louis and Vallejo didn’t make it this weekend, Clark and Gibson have missed mains. What do the guys that make the main consistently have over the other guys?
You know what? They are just all-around really good riders. The depth in the Supercross class this year is incredible. One of the reasons why I rode the 250 class is because normally it’s a little bit easier [to get into the main] but this year that’s not the case. I mean, you get guys like Vuillemin and Vallejo who have been doing this for years and years and then not making the main event. The thing is, there have been almost no privateers [making the main in the SX class] that are working out of their own trucks. I mean, do you consider Nick Wey a privateer? I don’t. Jacob Saylor is the only three digit guy I can think of—and he’s in a rig, too. You know what I mean? It’s not a matter of them being a second faster a lap than me, it’s just that they put themselves in the right position at the right time. That’s like DeHaan. He’s fast enough to make the main but he gets a bad start here or has a crash there, it’s just the way it goes.

Yeah, this weekend DeHaan almost made the main from his heat for the first time ever. Then he had trouble in his semi and LCQ and didn’t end up making it.
Exactly. In my semi, I had a really good start and man, those guys are so aggressive. We’re not used to riding like that. I got punted off the track by Ryan Clark and then once he did that, two more guys went around me and then I ended up getting landed on anyway…

So how did you get landed on?
Well, like I said, I was up there in my semi but I got together with Clark and all of the sudden I was back in fifth. I was pretty pissed with myself because I think I could have qualified out of that semi. I ended up making a bunch of mistakes and I messed up this rhythm section and I got cross rutted coming up to the triple and some dude came up and landed—he didn’t land on me but he landed on my bike and it just spit me off the bike. I jacked up my elbow and my wrist.

Okay, so how are you feeling?
I feel all right, it’s just really sore. My elbow is really swollen and I have a little lump on my wrist but nothing is broken or anything—nothing serious, just a couple days of rest will heal it up. I’ll be ready to go at Daytona.

Good. We will be looking forward to it. My brother was there in Indianapolis and he said that you looked really good out there.
This past weekend was the best I have felt. My lap times were way better; I was competitive with the tail end of the guys that made main event where normally I’m not really in contention with those guys. Anyways, it’s a step in the right direction.

How are things working out with the SixSixOne FunMover?
Well, it’s working out good, I’m just sick of driving. That’s the bottom line. It’s just really wearing me out.

You’ll have to drive that thing back to California after this?
Yep. And then I have to drive my truck all the way back to Nova Scotia! But I’m going to stay in California for a few weeks to split it up a bit. I don’t mind driving but I hate driving when I know that I could be riding. Like today, I’m still driving and it’s a beautiful day here in Florida and I could be out riding. That’s what bothers me the most.

When do you expect to be back in Nova Scotia?
I have no idea [laughs]. I’m only racing until Detroit because I’m not going to drive all the way back down to Texas. I’m just going to drive straight across to California and then ride there for a couple of weeks and then head back to Nova Scotia. After that I’m going to do some riding around New England and hit a few of those tracks because I’m going to go down and race the Southwick national this year.

Okay, maybe I can hitch a ride for Southwick. Thanks for your time and good luck this weekend in Daytona.
Thanks.

Lockhart's last supercross this year will be in Detroit.