Five Minutes with … Jeff Gibson
OCTOBER 17, 2007

Monster Energy/ Cernic's Kawasaki's Jeff Gibson

photo: Allison Kennedy

By Danny Brault


Jeff Gibson will be returning to the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals next summer. Following a successful 2007 campaign with the Monster Energy/ Cernic’s Kawasaki Team, where Gibson finished 11th overall in the AMA Supercross Series and third overall in the MX1 class in Canada, he has signed on for another year of U.S. supercross and Canadian motocross. Joining him on the Cernic’s team will be three-time Canadian champ, Dusty Klatt. We bumped into Gibson at the Rockstar Energy Drink U.S. Open of Supercross—where he bumped into Jeff Alessi to take the final transfer spot—and sat down to get his take on the racing scene up north.

RXC: Hey, Jeff, we see that you’re returning to Canada next summer. Tell us about how your first season racing against the Canucks went.
Jeff Gibson: I had a really good time. It started off a bit slow, but I started getting better starts as the season went on. We had a little mishap with the bike at first, but we got that worked out and everything worked out to be really good. I started riding better towards the end of the year, where I should have been all season, ideally. I just missed out on a second, but my goal was to be on the podium so it ended up being a good year.

I believe this is your first time in Canada, other than the WSXGP rounds, right?
Yeah, that was the first time I ever raced at any of those tracks; it was a little tough to learn them [laughs].

What were your initial expectations on the Canadian series, with regards to riders, track, and just the series in general? Did you have much knowledge on the Canadian Nationals?
Not really, but I knew that those guys go fast up there. They know the tracks, it’s their country, and they don’t want us up there racing [laughs]. I knew it was really going to be really tough, so I didn’t try to count anybody out. Those guys ride really well up there; some guys were fast at some tracks and not so fast at others. I just tried to do the best I possibly could at every race.

Were there any riders that surprised you?
Right off the bat: Chuck Mesley [laughs]. At Ste-Julie, I hounded him for the whole second moto and I didn’t gain an inch on him. I was completely surprised; I was told he tires out a bit but he didn’t back down. I was giving it everything I had, bonzaiing down hills and stuff like that, and I didn’t gain on him. Other than him, [Simon] Homans surprised me a couple of times, in a couple of races. [Kyle] Keast hauls at Sand Del Lee and Gopher. Those guys are cool though; [Johnny] Montes, Keast, Mesley, all of those guys are really cool. It’s just a cool atmosphere up there.

That’s what a lot of the Americans who race our series say that it’s more laid back the U.S. nationals.
Exactly. It’s laidback, it’s not that stressful, and it’s kind of relaxing.

When you mentioned Homans, that reminds me of the best moto of the year at SDL, when four of you battled for 30-minutes. You led for a bit, I think.
I pulled the holeshot. Then Facciotti passed me, and then he faded a bit and then Homans passed me. And then JSR and Paul [Carpenter] came up on us. It was an intense battle, but for as intense as it was, it was the most fun I’ve had in a moto.  No one was being dirty; everyone was just giving it everything we had.

You were saying the tracks took a little time to get used to. Were you satisfied with the Canadian tracks?
Yeah, for sure. Some of them were fun, others were falling apart. They were definitely fun to ride. Calgary was fun. Everyone says it gets really hard, but they maintained it really well.

Gibson qualified for Saturday night's final at the U.S. Open of SX before finishing 13th in the main event.

photo: Dan Stenning

While you were in Canada, was there a city or an area you really liked?
Pemberton was pretty cool, hanging out with Todd Schumlick. It was pretty cool to do the ferry ride to Nanaimo. I’ve been to Montreal once before, that was kind of nice. Calgary was really nice; that was one city that really stood out. It’s cool how the track is right in the middle of the city.

You finished third this year, so what do you need to do to improve on that?
I’m going to stick with my training program, and I want to step up my riding and get more speed. I think that’s what I was lacking this year. Paul just had brutal, unreal speed. Same with Facciotti; he just sprints. I’m more of a steady train. I think I just need to work on my speed and get that up.

You’re teamed up with Dusty Klatt next year. Do you know him very well?
Not really. I don’t know him too well.

Brett Dailey brought up the trend of how many Ohio riders have found their way into Canada. What’s the draw there?
I don’t really know [laughs ]. There are a lot of guys that come out of Ohio.

Why do you think Ohio produces so many fast guys?
We used to have a lot of good tracks to ride. It’s starting to fade out a bit now. There is a big group of us, starting with me and Mark Burkhart, and down to the Whitcraft boys, then the Willard boys, Willy Browning, and we just had a big group of us coming up together.

Do you ride with those guys or Gavin Gracyk often?
Not really. I ride with Willard a little bit. Willy Browning and I ride a lot together.

What is your best supercross finish?
An eighth at San Franciso at the big mud race last year. And the year before, an eighth-place at the opener at Anaheim in the mud.

Cool! Thanks, Jeff. We’ll see you in Canada next year.
Definitely, thanks a lot.