Five Minutes with ... Josh Woods
NOVEMBER 19, 2007

Josh Woods was happy to find the podium in Calgary, after missing four rounds due to an injured shoulder suffered at the first round in Ste-Julie, Quebec.

photo: James Lissimore

By Danny Brault

The last time I spoke with Josh Woods, it sounded like he might take some time off from racing to focus on managing the Suzuki City. OTSFF East Coast SX Lites team. But as it turns out, Woods is feeling much better from his head injury suffered in July, and he's slowly preparing himself for the 2008 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals. We caught up with Woods after he finished  grooming GPF's supercross track to see where he's headed in 2008.


RXC: Hey, Josh, you keeping busy down in Georgia?
Josh Woods: Yep. I’m helping take care of the supercross and arenacross track. I’ve been helping out our AX guys too.

Who is on your AX team right now?
Dave Ginolfi, Shane Sewell, and Zach Aimes. Then we have a couple of other guys that we help transport bikes for; they are members here. It’s not like it’s a real big budget race team; they have to pay their own travel costs and we supply them with race bikes, and we supplied one of the kids with a practice bike.

Other than GPF (Georgia Practice Facility), who else supports the AX team?
Babbitt’s, who supports a big AX team, they are a dealership out of Michigan and they help us out with bikes. Yoshimura helps us out too, Dunlop, and MSR, so everyone hooks us up with the things we need to make it run. We’re not really getting money from anyone—it costs us money—but it’s good advertising for us.

So you have quite a bit on your plate: working on tracks, managing a team and helping out the OTSFF team!
Well, the manager deal with the Suzuki team for supercross fell apart. They didn’t get the budget they wanted so they said they couldn’t afford to hire me on. I stepped away from that a little bit. So I’m training some guys here, and I’m actually training one of the arenacross guys full-time. I’ve been riding a little bit myself again and training again. I’ve been wide open lately.

Are you riding outdoors or supercross?
I play around on the supercross track, but I’m not quite ready to go out there yet. It’s probably not the safest thing for me to jump out there right away; my timing is off. I’m just riding outdoors mainly, but nothing too hard yet because I’m not supposed to be ready for a month or so. Come January, I’m supposed to be getting a bike from Andre [Laurin] around then, and then I will start training harder and get ready for the outdoor season.

So you have another month to go before your doctor gives you the okay to ride again?
It’s been a while since I’ve actually been to the doctor. I’m supposed to go back and get re-tested. I need to reschedule a test to get done down here, to reevaluate my reaction time and short-term memory which were my problems before. I feel really good; I’m definitely head and shoulders above last time I saw the doctor. I feel like everything is there. The only problem I might still have is my short memory. I’ve been working on that stuff, just reading or anything where you’re stimulating your brain.

If you write down someone’s phone number or name, you’ll forget it the next day?
Oh, man, it’s more instant. If I remember it the next day, then I will remember it for good. But if someone tells me their name and I don’t remember it in the first ten minutes, it’s gone [laughs]. I don’t think my short memory has ever been real good, so I think it might be worse [laughs]. It’s a head injury though; I don’t want to mess with it and that’s why I’ve been taking it easy.

It seems like more racers, like Broc Hepler, JSR, and Mitch Cooke, are taking head injuries more seriously these days, which is obviously a smart decision.
Yeah, it’s not a broken arm where they can put it back together. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. There is nothing really for me to hurry back for, unless I wanted to do some supercross or arenacross, but at this point in my career there is no need to rush anything. I would rather get 100 percent for once. I’ve had a lot of years with a lot of injuries, so it would be good to get 100 percent and take a run at the Canadian championship. I’m still having fun, I enjoy it, and I feel like I have something to prove in the sport. That’s why I want to make a comeback next year.

It’s confirmed then that you will be returning with OTSFF Suzuki?
It’s not 100 percent yet, but I’ve been in talks with Andre and I’d really like to come back. I think that they would like me to come back. It’s a little early for the Canadian teams to finish up their deals because they have so long before the series starts. I will probably know more in a month or so. Tyler’s [Medaglia] living down here with me right now, getting ready for supercross, and then Jeremy is coming down in January. Him and I can really start training for outdoors while Tyler’s riding supercross. The only guy we won’t have down here is Mitch Cooke; he’s doing his thing in Dubai. All of us will be riding and it could be a dangerous team next year, for sure.

After racing only two rounds, Woods earned national number 31 for 2008.

photo: Allison Kennedy

Even though you’re moving out of your role as a team manager with OTSFF, what is your take on Tyler, Mitch and Jeremy? Where do you see each rider fitting into the picture in 2008?
Mitch is going to be a title contender. I’d like to see Mitch and I in the title hunt. Tyler could possibly be too. I think he has a bit to learn, but if he can get through the first year with a couple of wins and stay consistent, I think that’s what would be the best deal for Tyler. I know he wants to go out there and win the title, but realistically if he went out and learned a lot, Andre and the team would be super happy. I look at Tyler as one of the guys who is the future of Canadian motocross, as well as his brother too.

Jeremy is a good up and coming 250 guy, who I see as being really consistent from week to week. He seems to be a really smart rider, maybe doesn’t hang it out as much as Tyler. He’s really smart and has the speed, so he could be dangerous in this new 250F class with a longer series.

Mitch Cooke is definitely going to be a title contender for the big class. He has the speed, the strength and stamina, and hopefully his time in Dubai pays off. I think we saw an improvement from Mitch last year. I’m worried about Mitch a little myself [laughs].

You have a long history in Canada, beginning with your first pro win at Walton in 1999 and your 125 East title in 2000. Do you have a circle of Canadian friends that you keep in touch with?
A lot of the riders, I’ve been friends with them for a long time. I’ve been friends with Ron Ashley for a long time; I owe lot to him for helping me out in my first couple of years of pro up there. He helped me to learn to race a full professional series, work with a team and race against guys of that level. It was a great stepping stone for what I’ve done in the U.S., rather than just jumping into the shark tank in the U.S. series.

Thanks a lot, Josh. Hopefully we see back in Canada next year!
Thanks.