Five Minutes with … Luke Firth
JULY 8, 2008

Lethbridge Yamaha's Luke Firth

By Danny Brault
Photos by James Lissimore

Lethbridge Yamaha's Luke Firth
Lethbridge Yamaha’s Luke Firth is becoming a multi-talented dirt bike racer. Firth, who first impressed us with his Gaerne Bronze Boot ride in Raymond two years ago, is now racing Endurocross events in Alberta along with his motocross duties. At the Raymond Amateur National, Firth finished third overall in GP Pro/Am on the Temple Hill track, and then took the Expert class win on the Endurocross course. We caught up with Firth to see how things are going this summer.


RXC: Luke, it was quite a week for you in Raymond, racing motocross and endurocross. How did things go for you?
Luke Firth: Motocross was good the first two days, but the last day I was slipping a bit. Fatigue was setting in and the track was getting rougher than I’ve ever seen it before. It’s so gnarly! Usually, after the racing, they smooth it out but they left it and there were square edges everywhere.

I thought you were a King of the Hill!
Last year and the year before that, but I need to get stuff together. I’m just glad I got one moto win over Chuck [Mesley] [laughs].

Like I was saying to George De Graaf Jr., you guys seem to take a lot of pride in beating the Mez.
Oh, yeah, he’s the old guy and you have to have respect for him, but when you beat him, it’s like ‘yes!’ You get some confidence from it but he’s still faster than ever. I remember watching him when I was five years old; he was given’er on the CR125 in the East!

Is it nice having some different guys show up at Raymond to race against?
For sure. Usually, it’s the same guys battling every weekend so it’s good for a new guy to come out.

Firth picked up a moto win in GP Pro/Am at Raymond two weeks ago.

Now, this endurocross stuff. From what I’ve read and heard, you’ve been showing some interest in it.
I’ve been doing the series around Alberta. Each track is different. This one [at Raymond] was super-tight and tougher than the normal ones. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done; it’s up there with a 30-minute moto at Raymond! The motos are 45-minutes long, it’s dustier than hell, and you have to go over rocks and trees and everything.

Are you starting to focus more on off-road than motocross?
I don’t know. We’re just taking a bit of a break from motocross, just changing things up.

Are we going to see you racing Nanaimo or Edmonton?
Not Nanaimo, but maybe Edmonton.

I noticed that you weren’t in Regina either. You’re talented and fast so why don’t you race more motocross nationals?
We’ve just been having a weird year. A lot of stuff has been going on. Maybe next year. I need to get a training plan going. I’m not out of shape but I’m not in shape. I just need to get a good training plan going, ride lots and stay away from all of the bad stuff.

Hopefully we see you in Edmonton!
Yeah, we’ll see!