As the final stage of our Gopher Dunes preview, we catch up with Ontario's 125 champion, Jay Burke. Readers may remember an interview that we ran in the spring with Jay and his brother Tim. That was before the Ontario provincial season started and the Burke brothers had high hopes for the provincial series. Well, their optimism was warranted, Jay won the 125 pro title while Tim won the 125 and 250 junior titles (Tim won every moto in the 250 class). It seems that their hard work over the winter paid off. Now the true test comes for Jay Burke. Pit pundits are expecting a lot from the young rider, especially at the first round at Gopher Dunes—his favourite track. However, if you look back a year at his national results, he is going to have to make a huge jump to get to the front of the pack. His best moto finish last year was an eighth at Deschambault and now a few fans are picking him as a potential winner. That is a big step in one year but Jay has been making huge strides in the past two years so if anyone can pull it off, it’s Jay Burke.

You can read the pre-season spring interview here.

We caught up with Jay Burke on Monday of this week.

You get to start the 125 East series on your local track. You have lots of time on it. Are you confident?

Actually, I can’t wait. I ride here so much and it’s my favourite track. Every time I come to this track, I come here knowing that I am going to do well. I feel like I have a mental advantage over everyone else. I live an hour away but it’s still my home track. A lot of people are going to get tired so I think that’s where I’m going to benefit.

Speaking of that, what is your fitness level like? It’s going to be hot and rough.

To me, it’s good but we won’t know until this weekend. After RJ’s [the final Ontario provincial round] I spent the whole week here—a lot of people know that already—and it was hot. At the beginning of the week, I would do five laps and I would be dead. By the end of the week I was doing 40 minute motos and it didn’t really bother me. I kind of trained for the heat and the roughness so it should be good.

Tell us a bit about the Ontario provincial series. You won the 125 title in your second year pro. I guess the highlight was the very first round here where you went 1-1.

Yeah, that was the best part. I came in and went 1-1 and now we get a national here. I raced a lot of the same guys who will be racing [the national series]. There are a lot of riders coming that weren’t here [in the Ontario series] but I kind of have a bit of a mental advantage over the guys I have already beaten. Overall the series went well—I didn’t expect to win, I expected to win motos but I didn’t expect to win the title. Every weekend was a whole new race and in the end, it was a championship.

Any feedback from sponsors yet? How did John Nelson feel about the title?

You could tell he was happy but he kind of acts like he’s not so you don’t think that you’re everybody. After RJ’s, when I won, he said that a lot of people questioned him about why he picked me for the team but I just proved why he picked me. So it was good, I came through for him and he came through for me.

Even though this is your hometown track and you won the Ontario 125 title, you are still coming into this series as the underdog or wildcard. What do you think would happen if you got on the podium?

If I get a podium, it will be a big thing. With me coming in here knowing that I’m not the big name is so much easier because there is no pressure. If I go out there and don’t do as well as I’m expecting, there won’t be a lot of finger pointing. I’m going to change things this year though. This is the year that I’m trying to go full out and make a name for myself.

You had a top 10 at Deschambault last year. What are you going to do differently this year?

What I’ve learned mainly from last year to the beginning of this year is starts. Last year my starts were very poor, this year I haven’t started outside of the top three at any provincial race. Well, I did at a couple but when I started outside the top three I finished outside the top three. If you start there, you finish there—starts are a big factor.

Are you comfortable starting here in the sand?

I went 1-1 here at the provincial and holeshot both motos. I may have gotten passed on the first lap in both motos but I got both holeshots and ended up winning both motos so it was good. I did a lot of starts [here last week], there’s a big hole back there … that’s from me. I put a bar down and practiced getting out of the hole and over the bar. Lots of starts, I went through two clutches in the past two weeks.

Take us through a bit of the track since you are a local guy.

Basically the track is going to develop the same everywhere. It will have a lot of holes. It will be a bit different than the provincial because it’s all pros—the corners won’t be as whooped out—but there is going to be way bigger braking bumps. The idea is that you don’t come straight in but kind of sweep and cut through the bumps and try to miss a lot of stuff. The track is going to get gnarly. Even if you are in the best shape, you are going to get tired. You can’t sit down, you have to stand up … and when you sit down, you make huge mistakes if not wipe out, you have to stand up.

Hard Core. Machine Racing's John Nelson likes Jay Burke because
he is a no nonsense rider. Here is is at the opening provincial where
he went 1-1 against a stacked field. Unmatched gear, no graphics
... he's no poser.

The jumps are peaked up. Will they develop big ruts?

Oh yeah. He didn’t have the big faces on the jumps before and they were still hard to make then, you had to really ski jump it a bit on a 250F. Now when it gets rutted up and rough coming up to them some guys will case it and some guys will make it and gain an advantage. I think that jumps will play a big factor as well.

What did you think of the whoop section in the back?

Well, Boo Green whipped through it pretty good. [Laughs] I’ll be interested to see how it develops. I know in practice that it will be like a rhythm section but by the first moto it’s just going to be whooped up with bigger holes so you will just have to hammer through them.

You have about five days before we get into qualifiers on Saturday. What is your strategy? Are you going to take it easy or keep training?

Work hard until Thursday. I’ve been doing it all year, why should I stop now? When I don’t work out I get lazy. I don’t want to come in here knowing that I took the week off. I’ll just keep going and come in strong and hopefully win a qualifier—that would be the highlight. If I get good starts on Saturday, I’ll get good starts on Sunday. It’s mental for me … I need one good start, and that’s my weekend.

Well, good luck. Who is helping you out this year?

Machine Racing, Honda Canada, Scott USA, No Fear, Hindle Pipes, Landing Gear Suspension, Label It, and my mom and dad, can’t forget that one, that’s the most important one.