Five Minutes with … Kyle McGlynn
MAY 1, 2008

Kyle McGlynn is back with Countryside Motorsports and KTM

By Danny Brault

KTM Canada surely has the largest army taking on the Monster Energy CMRC Motocross Nationals this summer. Along with Royal Distributing/Thor/Riverside KTM Canada, team orange is also helping out the Orange Motorsports/RTR Performance satellite team, Doug DeHaan, Trever Hall, and Liam O’Farrell in provincials and nationals, and they also have Grand Prairie’s Kyle McGlynn running the MX2 series.  The surprise rider of the 2007 MX2West series, McGlynn took his game to the next level this winter, teaming up with Todd Schumlick of PerformX Racing. The two spent over a month working hard in Southern California, increasng McGlynn’s speed and physical fitness, and they also put together a team of sorts to run the entire nine round Canadian series. We caught up with McGlynn as he was working on his bike after a day of riding....

RXC: Hey, Kyle, what’s going on?
Kyle McGlynn: Not much, what have you been up to?

Oh, trying to keep busy. Now that you’re out of Todd Schumlick’s sight, you must be staying out all night, having fun and sleeping in?
[Laughs] No, not quite. I’m still working hard.

So tell us about this new deal, new program that you have lined up with Todd, Warron Barrow and KTM Canada.
Well, like we had talked earlier in the winter, when I went to meet up with Todd, I was just interested in him training me. But then Todd and Warren started talking about some ideas on a team and supporting someone and my name was thrown in there. One thing led to another, we talked to Andy [White] and financed some bikes through Countryside again. I pretty much kept all of my old sponsors, except we added on PerformX as my title sponsor.

What were you guys working on down in California?
We were down there for two months. PerformX put on a riding camp, and I met up with Todd in Vancouver and we drove down there and I lived with him. We trained and rode together and then I came back home with him a week ago.

Is that the first time you’ve had an opportunity to go down south and ride during the winter?
Yeah, it was the first time I had been out of Canada [laughs]. I was living the dream, that’s for sure.

Have you noticed improvements in your riding after spending time in California?
Actually, I was just talking to Todd an hour ago, and I was telling him that my lap times at the Grand Prairie track were, on average, about three to four second faster. I’ve made a pretty huge improvement from last year; I think we definitely improved my fitness and overall speed.

Did you race at all while down south?
We didn’t do any racing, no. We just did our own thing. We were thinking of doing a couple of REM races at Glen Helen, but it didn’t work out. I’m pretty happy, and I have some local races lined up around here.

While riding in SoCal, did you have a chance to stick a wheel in with some faster guys?
Yeah, especially at Perris, [Jason] Lawrence was out there quite a bit and we talked with Ryan Hughes quite a bit. He watched me sometimes and gave us some pointers. Mostly, Perris and a few times at Glen Helen, I rode with Austin Stroupe and [Ryan] Villopoto.

What do you think about the California scene? You didn’t get sucked into it? Distracted?
I thought it was awesome. My family and I had the idea of going there and doing things on our own, but we don’t know anything down there, we don’t know the tracks, the people, or anything. So we figured what good is it to go down there without a plan? With Todd, every single day was planned and structured. We knew exactly what we were doing, day in, day out, and we were never slacking off; we weren’t flying by the seat of our pants, like a lot of people do down there. We didn’t ride or train every single day, but we were focused on what we were doing and we didn’t ever just ride around because it was fun; we based it on what was the best training. We never really did get distracted.

We’re getting closer and closer to the opening round in Ste-Julie, so what’s circulating inside Kyle McGlynn’s head?
I don’t know [laughs]. I can’t wait; I’m excited for it! I don’t know where I will be standing, it’s East and West so I can’t go off of last year. I never rode any of the tracks out there. I’m going into it with an open mind and positive attitude. I’m confident with the shape I’m in; I’m way ahead of last year. I think we can open some eyes, and that’s what we’re going in there for. If I’m up front, I’m not going to hold back.

I’m sure you’ll do just fine, Kyle. See you soon.
Thanks.