5 Minutes with ... Darcy Lange
MARCH 5, 2007

St. Louis featured an all-out battle between Lange and his Pro Circuit teammate, Ben Townley. Townley came out with the win while Lange picked himself up for sixth.

 

By Allison Kennedy
Photos by Simon Cudby

To think that four weeks ago, Darcy Lange wasn’t even supposed to be racing supercross this winter. After his podium in Atlanta and now his battle for the lead with teammate Ben Townley in St. Louis, Lange finds himself a contender for the series title and also at the top of the fan charts due to his aggressive style. With that in mind, that last lap handful of throttle might have been a mistake, but Lange says both he and his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate were going for broke. Now, just three points out of the series lead, Lange will have to balance riding for the championship with his other goal: riding for his first career SX win. We caught up with a slightly banged up but still determined Lange on Monday to see how he’s feeling heading into Daytona.

RXC: Hey Darcy. That was quite the weekend. How are you now?
Darcy Lange: Oh hell, tell me about it. It’s frustrating but I’m fine.

You’re not banged up at all from that crash?
Oh yeah, my foot and knee and shoulder and back and face are a bit of a mess. I’m taking today off but I’m going to be back riding tomorrow.

That is a nasty looking crash on video.
Really? You’ve seen it on video?

You haven’t? I’ll email you the link. [Thanks to Mototalk's BobbyM!]
Yes, please.

Tell me a bit about how the race was panning out until the crash? 
Off the start, I sucked. I need to learn how to start. I think I was about eighteenth going into the first turn. Luckily everybody pushed wide and I was able to go around. I think by the end of the first lap I was up into fourth. Then I passed Dungey and Alessi on the second lap and then I got right in behind Ben and then I passed him but he passed me back. When he passed me back, Dungey got by me and then I just kind of followed Ben around. There were a couple of sections I was faster than him and I just kept showing him a wheel but he wasn’t letting me by so … I finally got by him with one lap to go and we kind of got tied up with a lapper. Then we were side by side through the whoops heading up to the triple and obviously we both were going for broke. Unfortunately, I ended up wadding myself.

Word was you were fast in that section all night. What went wrong?
There were whoops right up to the triple, you kind of jumped into the face and where everyone’s back tires were hitting, there was getting to be a hole there. I think I just hit the hole and it slowed my momentum down too much and I crashed. I had to hit the eject button.

You could have settled for second. What were you thinking when you went for it?
I wasn’t, I guess. In hindsight, I should have tried to pass him earlier and been a little more aggressive and, you know, if I didn’t get by him earlier, I should have just settled for second.

But at the time, I guess, that’s not on your mind. Both of you were going for your first win.
Yep, I definitely wanted to win [laughs].

What did Mitch [Payton] say after the race?
Nothing really. It was kind of quiet. He was a little bit pissed off after the race but it’s part of racing, I guess. At least now I know how I’m going to have to pass him [Townley]. If it was any other rider, I would have gotten by him way earlier but I don’t want to take us both down … obviously. I really don’t know what was said. I was pretty pissed off in general and I didn’t really talk to anyone.

So in hindsight, if you’re in that position again, will you settle for second?
Yeah, I mean if I’m in that position, especially the way the race was coming down, he’s [Townley] not in the points, and Dungey was down, I would have had a pretty big cushion on the points lead there … but I had to go and throw it away.

It’s a pretty natural instinct though, to want to win your first one.
Yep, I’ve never won one, and I’ve never even been in contention to win one so…

Really, it’s been a big couple of weeks for you.
Yes, it has. [Laughs] I never thought I’d be doing as well as I have been.

Have you ever raced Daytona before?
No, I’ve never really raced any east coast rounds. I think I raced Dallas once but that’s it.

So what are you expecting out of Daytona?
[Laughs] I have no idea. I have no idea what to expect any weekend. We’re going out tomorrow and I am just going to do starts all day, because my starts were horrible.

 

Lange now knows he has the speed to win one.

 

Is your fitness where it needs to be?
Actually, I feel really good. I was worried going in there how I’d feel in the last few laps, but I feel like I am getting stronger during the race.

How about your mechanic, Ian Woods, are you missing him?
Yes, for sure. We’ve been together for about six or seven years. I wish he could be here but it was too late to get it together. Saturday I got about 10 phone calls from him. He’s super pumped.

Four weeks ago you weren’t even supposed to be racing this series, now you are a contender. How does that feel?
It’s kind of weird. I never, ever pictured myself being in contention for the championship; my whole goal was just to get inside the top five every race. Obviously I didn’t accomplish that this weekend but … it’s been cool. Even two weeks before the series, I wasn’t planning on racing supercross so, it’s been nuts.

You did pretty well salvaging a sixth from that crash though?
Yeah, for sure. I kind of knocked myself senseless. I came off the track and I had to start putting everything back together, what way the track went, where we were pitted.

So how did you get back out there so fast?
The last two times I’ve stalled, I can’t believe the bike has started back up right away. I think I kicked it maybe five or six times. But I got up and I was getting back on my bike and then I fell over again.

So what’s the game plan from here on in, you are only three points behind Morais and Goerke?
I just need to be consistent, man, and not take any more stupid risks.

But I guess you’d still really like to win one?
Oh yeah, I’ve got to try and win one. At least now I know I can.
Like Ricky Bobby says, “First or last.” I’ll be back on the bike tomorrow.

Thanks and good luck in Daytona.
Thanks.