Five Minutes with ... Kyle McGlynn
JUNE 10, 2008

 

 

 

Story and Photos by James Lissimore

Last season saw a great showing by a few of Canada’s up and coming Intermediate riders in the MX2 class at the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals. Along with Jeremy Medaglia’s 4th place showing at Gopher Dunes and 7th place overall finish in the MX2 East, Alberta’s Kyle McGlynn returned from a year off of racing to finish 9th overall in the final MX2 West standings. On top of that, McGlynn made his way to Walton for the TransCan and was rewarded with the Racer X Canada Total Devotion Award.

To build on his successful 2007 season, McGlynn put together a new program with the help of Todd Schumlick and Warren Barrow of PerformX Racing and spent his winter training with Schumlick in California. Unfortunately, two weeks before he was set to leave for Ste-Julie, McGlynn crashed while practicing and broke his collarbone. We caught up with the friendly Grande Prairie native as he was finishing up his rehab in Pemberton, BC with Schumlick. McGlynn makes his 2008 debut next weekend at Shadow Valley Raceway in Morden, Manitoba.

RXC: Hey, Kyle, so what happened to you? How come we didn’t see you at Ste-Julie?
Kyle McGlynn: Well, basically the short story is that I broke my collarbone just practicing at home. It was about two weeks before we were scheduled to leave for Ste-Julie, so that kind of put plans on hold.

So, how bad of a break was it?
It wasn’t really bad. I broke it right through but it didn’t overlap or anything. We had some x-rays done and talked to a few specialists and decided not to plate it and just let it heal up on its own.

I noticed you have a new program this year with Todd Schumlick. How did that come about and what were you doing during the winter?
Well, actually, I had a full-time job right up until New Year's [laughs].  It kind of came out of nowhere. I came down here to Pemberton to, well I had talked to Todd ahead of time about being my trainer, and I came down here around New Year's with my girlfriend and spent a few days living with Ted [Morrissey] and training with Todd. Talking with Todd and Warren [Barrow, Todd’s partner in PerformX], they had some ideas and one thing lead to another and we basically had PerformX become my title sponsor as well as Todd being my trainer so it worked out really well.

How does your new program work? What exactly is Todd and Warren’s role with your program this year?
They’ve done everything from basically being my sponsor management to helping me with bike support, tires, everything, and also with the training and the camps in California. Basically, I went down there and lived for two and a half months with Todd in California, just training every single day and making this my full-time job.

With your successful run last year in the MX2 West as an Intermediate, you had to have been looking to do pretty well coming into this season. What were you kind of expecting before the injury?
[Laughs] I don’t want to set my goals too high and make people get the wrong impression but I honestly believe I can go top 5. I think my fitness is definitely there, and, mentally, I know where my speed is. I think we can go top 5, for sure.

 

McGlynn has been putting in hard motos at the Pemberton track for the last week, getting ready for his first race of the season at Morden, Manitoba next weekend.

 

Okay, so I guess my next question then would be how do you feel heading into Morden? Are you feeling pretty close to one hundred percent?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, it’s hard to tell right now out here. I don’t have anyone to compare myself to but I know we’ve been able to do some pretty hard motos with some pretty consistent lap times and I feel good on the bike. I think come Morden I’ll be a hundred percent.

That’s great, Kyle. So who do you have helping you out for this season?
PerformX is my title sponsor. Then we’ve got Countryside Motorsports, KTM Canada, Factory Connection Canada, FMF, SixSixOne, Fly, Etnies, Dragon, Ogio, The Mod Shop, Foster’s Covered Wagons/CJ’s Trailers, Brocko Rentals, ATI Contracting, Southwood Logging and  Crystal Catering.

Thanks, Kyle. Good luck next week at Morden!
Thanks!