Five Minutes with … Eric Nye
JUNE 5, 2008

KTM's Eric Nye has been on the MX2 podium in three out of four motos in the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals. With a weekend off, Nye has returned home to prepare for the western swing of the tour, which begins June 14-15 in Morden, Manitoba.

By Danny Brault
Photos by James Lissimore

Following the freight train battle we saw in Ste-Julie a week and a half ago, I’m sure no one pictured Royal Distributing/Thor/Riverside KTM Canada’s Eric Nye walking away with two moto wins at Gopher Dunes. Considering his lack of sand experience, nobody—including Nye—could have predicted his results. But good riders figure things out fast and Nye did that at the Dunes, adapting to the loose soil quickly, pulling two great starts, and making no mistakes on his way to two perfect motos. The KTM rider is now leading the MX2 series with a 20-point lead over Nick Evennou.

RXC: Eric Nye, congrats on your 1-1 at Gopher Dunes!
Eric Nye: Thank you. I couldn’t ask for anything better than that. Coming here, I was hoping for a podium, but a 1-1, you can’t get much better than that—especially at the roughest, toughest national of the year. That makes it that much sweeter.

I’m betting there aren’t that many sand tracks back home in Northern California?
No, there are no sand tracks. That’s like beach sand. We don’t have anything like that; our dirt is like Ste-Julie where it gets hard at the end of the day with deep ruts.

Have you raced at Southwick before?
I raced Southwick before, and I did terrible, but I was younger and wasn’t prepared. I hated it but, today, I’m loving it.

Did you have any preparation for sand before Gopher?
Out by Montreal, there is a place called SRA. It is sand, but it’s not close to this. For the last week and a half, I rode on that.

Nye had an up and down weekend at the opener in Ste-Julie, but rebounded to sweep both motos at Gopher Dunes. He now has a 20-point lead in the series.

How long did it take you to get comfortable at Gopher?
During Saturday’s practice, in the first couple of laps, I was like, ‘Whoa, what have I got myself into!’ The front end wants to push; you have to ride it completely different and hang off the back of the bike and keep the front end light. But I adapted to it pretty quickly.

You certainly did, and you don’t even look that tired!
Aw, well, I had it kind of it easy. I was feeling winded in that second moto, but I’ve been training hard this winter and I knew I was in shape coming into the weekend. When you have 20-second leads in both motos, it makes it a little easier.

Along with your win, you also helped earn your mechanic a Snap-On toolbox.
Yeah [laughs], that’s pretty cool! My mechanic, Shawn [Porter], should be stoked on that. He’s been doing an awesome job for me this year and we work well together. I appreciate his—and the whole team’s—help.

Four motos in and you already have three moto wins. Could you ask for much more?
Not really. I was wishing I had that second Ste-Julie moto back, but I told myself this week, ‘It’s done; it’s over and you gotta put it out of your mind and move forward.’ That’s what I did, and when you put it that way—three out of four moto wins—it sure sounds nice.

Thanks, Eric. See you in Morden.
Thanks, Danny.