5 Minutes with ... Darcy Lange
FEBRUARY 13, 2007

BC's Darcy Lange is on his way to the Pro Circuit test track today.

 

By Allison Kennedy
Photos by James Lissimore

It wasn’t the $50,000 weekend Darcy Lange had been hoping for at the U.S. Open of Arenacross, but the Babbitt’s Kawasaki rider still had plenty to smile about when we caught up with him at the Atlanta airport Monday night. The newly-crowned BooKoo Arenacross champ is on his way to meet up with Mitch Payton and the Pro Circuit team to start testing for the Eastern Lites SX series Tuesday morning. It’s been an unexpected twist to the season for Lange but one he couldn’t be more pumped about.

RXC: Hey Darcy. How’d the weekend go?
Darcy Lange: Could have been better, could have been worse. I crashed in the second turn both Friday and Saturday night. I had the holeshot Friday night and then I went down Saturday night, I was in second and freaking went over the bars.

This weekend aside, congratulations on your third U.S. arenacross title. How did this one feel compared to the previous two?
Nothing will compare to the first one but it was definitely reassuring and now that it was over, we went into this weekend feeling pretty strong but we just had an off weekend, which kind of sucked.

You dominated the field this year, winning 25 main events and finishing with a 125-point lead over second place? How did it feel to be so dominant?
[Laughs] It was awesome. I think on average I won two main events a weekend. It was cool, just coming back into it I didn’t know where I’d be, if everyone had stepped it up, but it kind of just felt like I picked up where I left off.

Lange won 25 main events in the BooKoo series and won the title with a 125-point lead.

Tyler Bowers won eight main events this season. Were you expecting a 15-year-old to be your main competition?
No [laughs], I’ve never even heard of him before. He was fast, for sure, but this year was different too. They didn’t really build the tracks like they used to, they used to have big whoops. This year they didn’t go that way. They were trying to make it harder on me. [Laughs]

So your deal with Babbitt’s is over now and the rumours about Pro Circuit have been pretty intense. What’s the story?
Well, nothing is finalized but I start testing with them tomorrow. It’s pretty much a done deal but there is nothing in writing. So I guess I am filling in for Brett Metcalfe.

How did that come about?
Mitch [Payton] just called me and asked me what I thought about doing East Coast. I was like ‘Hell, yeah’.

Yeah, I guess you don’t get too many calls from Mitch Payton asking you to race for him?
Ha, no. It doesn’t happen every day.

A few weeks back when we spoke with you, you had no plans of racing SX, how are you feeling about it now?
No, I didn’t. We were coming back to California to drive back home but then I got the call and it persuaded me to go a different direction. I feel good about it now. I’m pumped. I wish I could have had a little more notice. The last couple of weeks I was only riding one day a week and trying to maintain until arenacross was over but now it’s kind of wide open.

What do you expect tomorrow morning when you throw your leg over a Pro Circuit bike? Do you expect it to be much different from what you’ve been riding?
Oh yeah. My PC practice bike will probably be better than my race bike. They are the best 250F team there is out there. I can’t wait.

Lange will replace Brett Metcalfe in the eastern Lites class.

 

You’ve been on Kawasaki’s for a long time. Did you ever imagine this day would come?
I just remember being young and watching that team and digging through their dumpster to see what kind of parts they had thrown out. [Laughs] I never thought the day would come that I’d be riding for them.


Will your mechanic Ian Woods be going with you?
I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. We haven’t really talked [with Mitch] too much yet. I was just supposed to get this arenacross deal over with.

This SX deal extends your winter season even longer, what are the chances we’ll see you racing outdoors in Canada this summer?
Probably not.

What will you do instead?
Housework and go wakeboarding. [Laughs]

Any idea what to expect results-wise in the east? That class is stacked this year.
Oh, I know. Usually the east coast is easier but this year it is way tougher. I have no idea. I am kind of shooting in the dark.

We’ll give you a call in a little while when you’ve spent some time on the bike. Congratulations.
Perfect, give me a shout.

Good luck tomorrow.
Thanks.