By Brett Dailey

For part two of our MX2 East promo, we caught up with title contender, Ryan Lockhart at Gopher Dunes. It is always a pleasure to interview Ryan Lockhart. The Springhill, Nova Scotia resident is candid with his opinions and attitudes and he possesses a calm confidence that comes through in his interviews. Although he’s only 21 years old, he’s already a veteran on the competitive Canadian national scene. He is a favourite to win the 125 East title this year and he has the bikes, fitness and support to finally pull it off. His optimism is not unfounded—he’s one of the only Canadian riders in the series this year who actually has a moto win to his credit. That win came on August 10^th, 2003 where he finished 3-1 for second overall behind eventual champion, Randy Valade. Ryan admits that he is ready to move on from the 125 class so this may be his swan song season and he wants to close it out win a Canadian championship for Kawasaki.

Racer X Canada: Tell us a bit about the western swing of the 2005 national series.

Ryan Lockhart: The western rounds went good and bad. In the first round I did really well in the mud and I didn’t think that I was a very good mud rider. [Ed. note: Ryan finished 4-8 for 7^th overall] I went to Nanaimo and I struggled with starts and had a few crashes. Kind of my own problems, I just didn’t have the weekend I was looking for. Calgary went even worse ... we had some problems with bikes and just little things. But I finally pulled it together for Regina and went 9-10 for 9^th overall. Overall it was pretty good. For all of the eastern guys, we just want to make it through the west. We all look forward to coming east to the tracks we know and it’s hot and rough and not like a freeway like the west coast.

How do you feel about dropping down to the 125 class for the eastern rounds? Did you want to stick with the 250 class or are you excited to make a run at the 125 East title?

You know, I really wanted to stay on 250s, especially after the first round. I showed good speed at every round out west. The results weren’t as good as they could have been. I’m a little bit bummed out about going back to the 125 class but I’m on a good bike this year, I have a good team behind me and Kawasaki feels like I can win so I’m going to try to win the number one plate for them. If not, I’m going to give it the best I can. I would have been happy to ride the 250 class to get that top 10 number but I have to do what sponsors want me to do and they want me to chase that [MX2 East] title. I’m looking forward to it; I’m feeling good on the 250F. It’s such a tough series though, there are only eight motos and a flat tire can cost you the championship—it’s out of your control.

What do you think of the new tracks on the eastern circuit this year: Gopher Dunes, Joliette and Ste Julie?

I’ve ridden all of the tracks. Gopher Dunes is awesome, I like the track and I have lots of laps on it. It will be the toughest one out of all of them. Joliette … I got my first ever podium at that track in 2002. I went to the provincial last year at Ste Julie and won all four motos against Dube and all of those guys so I’m looking forward to the tracks. We have a good selection. I think Ste Julie will be the track that everyone will go fast on because it’s hard packed. I’m looking forward to Moncton [Ryan’s hometown race] and I like Walton at the end. They are all good tracks, I just want to make it through every round and finish all of the motos.

You have raced some spring races here at Gopher Dunes and won. What style of rider does it take to do well here?

It will take a guy that is definitely in good shape and is a hard worker. A guy like Keith Johnson will do well or even myself who is pretty smooth. I may not be the fastest guy, I may not have the fastest lap time all weekend but I’m going to be consistent all weekend. You have to try not to drop off the pace and put in fast, consistent laps and stay smooth. If you go out there balls-to-the-wall, you are just going to end up on your head. It will be survival out there that’s for sure.

You have raced the 250 nationals for a while now. What did you think of the caliber of riders out west this year?

It’s incredible to be honest with you. The pace of everybody has stepped up. I feel like I’m getting faster every year but so is everybody else. It wasn’t like that before. If you did a little bit of training, you were that much further ahead of everyone else. But now everyone is doing it [training hard] properly now. I remember a few years ago, you could start around 15^th or 20^th and work your way into sixth or seventh. Not now … you have to start inside the top 10 to finish in the top 10. I remember in Nanaimo this year, I was battling for 14^th with Craig Decker, Blair Morgan and Mike Treadwell. 14^th! It was crazy. You have to get good starts because everyone is fast and everyone is in shape, nobody is getting tired anymore. 

Did you get a chance to watch any 125 West races?

Yes. I watched every moto. It was good racing—Klatt definitely has his game. That kid is wasting his time in Canada, that’s what I think. But it’s hard, I spent the whole winter in California and the American people just don’t want anything to do with Canadians, they don’t want to give them the chance. If they gave Klatt a chance I think that he would prove a lot of people wrong and show what we have up here. The west was good, but the east will be just as tough if not tougher as far as the heat, the tracks, and the competition. Especially with DeHaan now entering the series and all of these Ontario guys are going good. Myself, Mitchell Cooke, [Donnie] McGourty … it’s deep.

Seems like the racing will be tight.

It will. I think you will see a lot of different moto winners. You may see the same guys every weekend inside the top 10 but you may get a 10^th and a first. That’s the way I’m feeling it right now, it’s up in the air.

Right now it doesn’t look like American riders will dominate the series to the same extent. In the MX2 West series, 11 of the top 15 riders were from the USA.

The eastern guys in Canada this year have definitely picked up the pace. I couldn’t believe it here yesterday [Sunday] at the Dunes. There are so may good Ontario guys now … guys I haven’t really even heard of before and I haven’t even raced against. Even some of the Intermediate kids are really going good. The Americans will have their hands full. I read their interviews once in a while and they are all cocky saying that the only person to worry about is their buddy from their hometown. But they don’t know. Even a guy like Kyle Chisolm, who is going to be my teammate, he doesn’t know. He’s never heard of me, he’s never heard of Jay Burke, he’s never heard of Joel Saarits, he’s never heard of any of these guys. I think it will be a big shocker for a lot of these guys. It’s good though, it’s good for the series if they get their ass kicked because they will go back home and say, “Hey, I only got 8^th in the 125 class.” Then they will say, “Huh? Well who beat you? Who’s that?” Even though they [foreign riders] steal some support from the rest of us Canadians, it [the competition] will only make it better here.

Seems that it’s important to go down and do a few U.S. Nationals as well. You can turn a lot of heads as a relatively unknown rider with a top 20 in the States.

I want to do as many rounds as I can once the Canadian series is over. I wanted to do more but it’s coming out of my own pocket so it’s hard to do sometimes. But actually I’m going to Glen Helen for sure this year. A couple of guys that I met in California got me hooked up with a ride for Glen Helen. I have to call later today and get more details.

Do you have a one-year deal with Kawasaki?

Yeah, a one-year deal. My contract is up in August but hopefully I can renew with Richmond. Even if I have to pay for it out of my own pocket, I’m going to do the east coast or west coast supercross rounds next year. It looks like the west coast right now because I have some friends out there so I can stay in California for the winter. I can’t figure out another way to get a deal other than just go down there and do it on my own and pay for it.

At least the majority of the western rounds are relatively close to the Los Angeles area.

Exactly. It’s relatively cheap to do once you are there. There is money to be made in Supercross even if you are not doing well. The way I look at it, if you can make mains out of the back of your truck, you are going to get a support ride eventually.

There is so much emphasis on Supercross these days as well.

There is. Those World Supercross rounds [in Toronto and Vancouver] helped me a lot because I now have something to put on my resume as far as supercross goes. A guy like Klatt for instance—I’m not saying that I’m better than him but—he doesn’t have any supercross experience for his resume. He’s never raced one other than Montreal. It doesn’t matter who was there or who wasn’t, I still have a 3^rd and 5^th to put on my resume. I got some good exposure out of those races as well so it was good.

Any news out there about Richmond running a U.S. Supercross effort next year?

That’s the rumour. I know that they want to. I think it depends on what American Kawasaki wants them to do. If American Kawasaki wants them to do supercross, they will do it with American riders—and Darcy [Lange]. If I win the east coast title here, maybe I’ll have some bargaining power and it will open some doors.

Moving back to last season, you were definitely a title favourite but you broke your leg. That must have been a major disappointment.

It was, totally. I felt that my speed was there even with the injured leg but I wasn’t able to train properly. Then re-breaking my leg in Barrie was definitely not good. I couldn’t do anything after that. I didn’t even want to walk because I was scared that I would twist my ankle. It did a lot for my confidence believe it or not because it showed that I could run up front for a little while even when I wasn’t 100 percent. But I’m 100 percent this year and I’m ready to go. I’m in the best shape ever and I have the bike to do it, I just have to get it done.

Although you are young, you have been at this 125 East title for a while now.

Yes, this is the last shot at the title as far as I’m concerned.

What have you learned over the years that you will use to your advantage this year?

I’ve learned over the years that you have to have good bikes. To have good bikes, you have to be on a good team with support behind you. I’ve also learned that you never know and anything can happen in that class. You have to charge right to the last lap because the motos aren’t as long as the 250’s and you have to give it 110 percent the whole time. Some kids can go fast but they drop off the pace for the last half of the moto or crash and stuff like that. You have to be on your game the whole time. In my mind the 125 East and 125 West is tougher than the 250 class as far as being consistent and winning the championship. You have half the time to do it and you have shorter motos and you have relatively faster riders for a short period of time. I’m going to try to be smooth and consistent and try to be on the podium as much as I can. It would be nice to win motos but a second or a third is just as good as a win because the next weekend, the guy that won could crash out. We see it every year … look at Gavin Gracyk, Ryan Sipes, Derrick Fisher, Donnie McGourty, even DeHaan.

Will you ride the East/West shootout at Walton?

Probably not. We will have Teddy Maier and [Colton] Facciotti and enough guys so I want to ride 250 and get as many points as I can. I don’t want to end up with a 16 or a 15 again, I want a new lower number. [Laughs]

Well, thanks for your time and honesty and good luck at Gopher.

Thanks.