By Allison Kennedy
Photos by Tim Dailey and Matt Ware

Mitch Cooke on Boniface's BooKoo Honda at Indy.

After yesterday's chat with Ryan Lockhart, our series continues with another Easterner, Blackfoot's Mitchell Cooke. Watch for interviews with Brady Sheren and Doug DeHaan still to come this week.


Anyone who has ever seen Mitch Cooke on a dirt bike knows that he has some serious skills and an abundance of natural talent. So why hasn’t that talent been shining through during the supercross series? No one would like that question answered more than Mitch himself. After a challenging weekend that included the low of having his race bike stolen and the high of getting a second chance thanks to Team BooKoo Honda, Lucky Nichols and Michael Holigan, we caught up with Mitch at the Georgia Practice Facility to see how he was feeling about his SX season. He let it all hang out so fasten your seat belt for this one...


RXC: Hey Mitch. How are things?
Mitch Cooke: They’re all right, been better. They found my bike, so that’s good. Hopefully they find Dusty’s. That will be awesome.

When did you first hear your bike was gone?
We were in the Memphis airport, and Joe sent Johnny a text message saying the bikes were gone. Then we got there, and then they decided to let Dusty use the bike that they had, since he’s been doing better. Then it worked out that I got to use the BooKoo bike, so that was good.

How did that come about?
Kelly, our truck driver, talked to BooKoo a bit and they offered up a bike. That was it. I took them up on their offer.

How did you feel about that?
Excited, that was good.

How was the bike?
It was awesome. It felt fine … the bike was good [laughs] but I wasn’t that great.

Mitch hopes he'll be more comfortable on the SX tracks
with more time and experience.

How have things been going? You qualified for the night program easily at Indy?
Yeah, it was pretty good. [pauses] I don’t know. I really—just plain and simple—I am riding like crap in supercross. I don’t know. I haven’t gotten over my nervousness. Well, not my nervousness; I’m just not comfortable. I haven’t gotten comfortable on any of the tracks yet. I’m pretty much riding at half my capabilities at the moment. I go out there and I don’t see anything. I’m seeing like three inches in front of me. I’m just riding really, really, really, really, really tight and uncomfortable. Plain and simple … that’s it. It doesn’t have any effect on me, I’m still training and riding and working hard, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just not for me. I just have to get over that step. People always want to hear the good stuff … you know, I feel great and all that stuff … but really, I feel like crap.

Well, that has to be frustrating. You know you have the potential to do well, so how do you get past that?
It’s so frustrating. It’s such a struggle right now. I don’t know how to get past it, just keep riding it and just get more experience with it. I think that’s the only way to get past it. I think if you ride it enough, you have to get comfortable with it eventually. Eventually you’ve ridden it so much; it has to be comfortable for you. But I don’t know totally.

What do you think is the biggest roadblock is for you?
I don’t know, I just don’t know.

I suppose if you knew what the problem was, you’d fix it eh?
Yeah [laughs]. As far as racing goes, I haven’t had a decent start yet. Last weekend, at Indy, every start, I was literally dead last. Virtually everyone else on the start was in front of me. There wasn’t a holeshot device set up on that bike and every time I came off the line I just kept wheelying straight up, I could not buy a start. It doesn’t help when you are stuck in behind everyone. But even still, even in practice and stuff, I still feel really uncomfortable. I think it’s just a matter of time and experience.

How has the team been responding to that?
Yeah, they’ve been great. Sometimes I feel like people think that we aren’t trying, but man if you think that we aren’t trying, you’ve got to be crazy. Why would I not want to make the main or not want to qualify for the night show? You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t know. I’m doing what I can do.  I don’t know. There are some people who are thinking that if you are under a rig, you’ve got to be qualifying and stuff. Whatever, I think so too, but I’ve just got a lucky break I guess and I’ve got a good ride and lots of support. For sure, right now, I don’t think I deserve what I’m getting.  I don’t have any excuses. I just think I’m riding like crap and I just don’t think I deserve all the support I’m getting at the moment.

How have you been feeling during the week at GPF?
On the supercross track? Not very good [laughs].

Man, you need a hug.
I know, I know. My confidence is completely drained … I’m just drained but whatever.

So is it fair to say you’re looking forward to the outdoors?
Yep, big time. You know what? I shouldn’t really say that. I honestly look forward to going to the supercross every weekend. I do, I really do. Even though I am struggling, I still like learning the tracks and I still like riding them. I’m just not riding them well. But I do like it, especially when you’ve been riding the same track here for three months. I really look forward to going to new tracks. It’s not like that. But then when I don’t do well, and I get bad starts and I’m struggling, like I have been, then I get really down on myself. I don’t know. Outdoors is what I am made for. That’s what I’m learning right at the moment. But I’m not giving up. I’m not going to give up on supercross. I’ll finish the series out hopefully, if the team lets me, and hopefully make a main one of these times.

Have both you and Dusty been struggling with starts?
They are killing both of us. We practiced them all day the other day. The first two rounds, my starts were totally my fault. But the last round, there just wasn’t enough time to drill new fork guards and get the holeshot device set up in time, so I had to deal with what I had.

The Daytona track might work more in your favour?
Yeah, I am looking forward to that. Maybe hitting some ruts, railing some corners. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series, especially if we get my bike back. That will be huge. I didn’t know what was going to happen without that. Still, the hardest day that we have here is still better than any day at work. It’s not like I don’t appreciate everything that is going on. It just gets frustrating, when you are struggling so much. It’s just like you; you want to take the best pictures in the world or do the best interview and when you can’t do it right at the moment, it really frustrates you right? So … that’s what my deal is right now. You know you can do it but … I’m kind of just embarrassed I guess.

Well, I don’t think you should be embarrassed. I think most Canadian fans are proud that you are down there.
Yeah, well you guys are awesome; you’ve got good heads on your shoulders. Some idiots are just idiots.

Geez, stay off the forums, Mitch.
Yeah, I know, I know. I stopped after Sunday. It’s done. I am not going on them anymore. I don’t even care … but I do care. I’m staying off them from now on anyway, that’s a promise.

Good luck in Daytona, Mitch.
Thanks.