Interview and photos by Brett Dailey

Chris and Cody from Destroyer Films turned us onto Kyle McGlynn well before the western series got underway. McGlynn had a lot to live up to after the Destroyer Films hype but he certainly delivered in Morden, qualifying with a top lap time and finishing in 7th place. He backed that result up the next weekend in Regina with a solid 10-10 and stayed in 7th overall. This past weekend in Calgary, he finished 9-15 and sits in 8th overall—not bad for an Intermediate!

RXC: Kyle, Tell us a bit about yourself.
Kyle McGlynn: I was born on August 30th, 1989 and I’m from Wembley, Alberta. I started riding when I was six and I was nine when we started racing. I just started doing the local stuff, the PMA circuit. I think I got around 8th in my first race. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t spectacular either [laughs].

Coming into this year, you had a really good season opener in Morden.
Well, Morden wasn’t our first pro national because we tried doing one back in ’05. I didn’t make it past the first lap of qualifying back in ’05, I crashed and dislocated my shoulder. So, coming into Morden, I was just hoping to make it past the first lap [laughs]. The timed qualifying was new to me and with the mud I just went out there and tried to survive. When I came in, I was just praying that I wouldn’t have to go to the LCQ. My mechanic came back and he was just pumped, we qualified 8th! We were pumped with that and the race just went great.

What happened in the moto? Where did you start?
I think I came out of the first corner in about 8th. A couple of people went down and I think I was in 5th or 6th but around the second lap, I went for a pretty big cartwheel. I dropped back to about 16th but I ended up coming back to 8th and then finished 7th after the yellow flag penalties.

So how did you feel?
I felt awesome! [Laughs] Honestly, we were expecting top 20 so to come out of that race in 7th, we couldn’t be happier about that.

Did it put any pressure on you coming into Regina?
Well, not really. I mean, I put a little bit of pressure on myself but we really came into this series with no expectations at all. I’ve had a couple of rough seasons before this … I almost quit racing last year. We’re sitting 7th or 8th in the series so we’re pumped about that but we still don’t focus on what everyone else is doing.

So what happened in Regina?
Regina went well. I qualified 13th so that wasn’t spectacular and I had terrible starts all weekend, I don’t know what it was. I must have been in concrete start mode because I just couldn’t buy a start there. However, I came through the pack good and went 10-10 at that one so it was a solid weekend.

Now, you got bumped to the LCQ here in Calgary for cutting the track in practice along with a bunch of other riders. What happened?
[Laughs] Well, it was a bit of an amateur move but I stalled rolling off the line. I was way on the left because I like to get out there early and get a clear track. So I rolled off and stalled it! Everyone took off and I saw [Tucker] Hibbert and a bunch of other guys cut the track to get an open track so I thought I would jump on there as well and get some open track. I made it about three quarters of a lap and got waved off and told I would be docked. Sure enough, I was disqualified. I stayed out there and set the 9th fastest time, I believe, but had to go to the LCQ anyway. In the LCQ, I was 4th fastest; Hibbert and Ben Evans set the top two times. So, I had to use my provisional just to get in.

So you had to start in the back row?
Yeah. But I lined up between Jimmy Nelson and Brock Hoyer and actually started pretty well—around 12th and moved through the pack and finished 9th. I was pumped considering I had to start in the back row.

How about the second moto?
I thought I was going to get a good start in the second moto. I actually tangled up with Evans and crashed in the first corner and by the time I got my bike going, I was in second or third last. I don’t know, I tried putting my head down and charging but I got so frustrated—I felt like I couldn’t ride out there. It was a frustrating moto. I felt like I was trying my hardest but, I don’t know, it wasn’t clicking that time and I ended up 15th. However, overall, things are going great.

Who do you want to thank?
Countryside Motor Sports is my title sponsor, they are my main guys. Factory Connection, 661, Ogio, Etnies, Dragon, Fly, ATI Contracting.