Fast Chat: Kevin Windham 2

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The 2008 Daytona Supercross by Honda was one of those events that you’ll remember for a while. Yeah, it probably made junk out of a whole bunch of very expensive race equipment, but at the same time, it was rather epic, watching some of the world’s best riders tackling the horrendous conditions. We do have to say, that while the Speed TV crew did a great job of covering the event, it was nothing compared to seeing it live.

We were stoked to see Kevin Windham atop the podium for a couple reasons. For one, it keeps things interesting in the title chase, but for another, it’s that we love listening to Kevin talk about the events. He’s a great at relaying what happened out there, will stay and talk for as long as people have questions to ask, and he’s extremely well-spoken. Motocross and Supercross could use a few more guys like Kevin Windham. K-Dub began the post-race press conference by talking about how…”Daytona is a unique race, of course, just by the nature of the track. But it is by far the most brutal Supercross that we run. There’s so much prestige in being a part of Daytona, and to win it is just incredible.”

“The night was definitely a race of different elements with the rain and whatnot, but it still lived up to the brutal Daytona deal. I think it was the most brutal race I’d ever been in my entire life. I don’t know if you guys realize this, but I think that the scorers lost track of who was leading. I was in the back corner and the flames above the finish line went off. I was just thinking, ‘Chad just won the Daytona Supercross.’ In a matter of one straightaway, it was like the biggest emotional rollercoaster that I’ve been on in my life. I went from thinking, ‘Okay, I hope I can salvage second here, I’ve still got a couple turns to go,’ to, ‘Man, I’m going to win the Daytona Supercross.’ It was an emotional rollercoaster for me.”

“It was the gnarliest race I ever had, and to win it is something that’s going to be memorable, not just from the track conditions, but Daytona… There’s no asterisk that goes next to it for rain, or that Chad stalled. It was just a brutal race, and man, to win it is really special to me.”

So what were the conditions like, and how was it to ride out there? “It was really wet and there was a lot of water, and I was so thankful to be able to finish that race. My bike had taken on some water and it was sputtering a little bit, and it was a true testament to how strong that bike can be. Water and the electronics don’t go well together, so I was really excited that it lasted the whole race. It was great for me, and Torco Racing Fuels Honda, the entire team, really had their work cut out for them tonight, so to get the win is just awesome. I can’t say enough about the team and how it feels. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

It wasn’t easy for Kevin, though, including a crash with only a couple laps remaining in the main event. “I went down, I got stuck, I made a pit stop for some new goggles, and made several off-track excursions. It was an interesting race. Davi was coming up on me and at that point he didn’t have goggles, so I just did everything I could to try to keep him behind me after I got stuck, and I was able to do that. To fight through that stuff is the momentum and the swing that you need in the race. I’ll tell you, as bad as it was; to be behind somebody made it ten times worse. It was really an important part to try and keep the guys behind you. Be aggressive. I mean Chad and I were going for it. It was wet and it slows everything down, but the intensity that he and I had going into that corner was like no other. No different from any other time. He didn’t want to be behind me, and I didn’t want to be behind him for sure. I got the short end of the stick there and almost hit a bike that was already stuck there, and I got stuck as well. Luckily I was able to crank back up and dig out of that hole. I don’t know how it happened. Normally when one bike is sitting right beside you and it’s bellied out and been sitting there, you’re going to do the same thing.”

One reporter jokingly asked Kevin if he’d liked playing in the mud when you were a kid, and he replied, “You know, I did. Actually, I didn’t like riding in the mud for a long time and it’s amazing, you string a couple wins together in mud events, and all of a sudden you’re a mud rider. I think the hype about me being a mud rider has really helped. I come into it with a different mindset now. You’ve got to approach the race differently and look at it through different eyes. Not be too aggressive, but not lay back too much, either. Racing in the mud has been exciting, and has actually provided me with a lot of wins in my career.”

“There’s really honestly no way to prepare for this. I think that if you were at home and rode in conditions like this, people would say you were crazy. It’s not something that any of us really look forward to. It’s kind of survival, and luck starts to play a bit part in it, but you never know. I could have easily picked the wrong line and drown it out. I mean, how can you decide which rut is right when there’s a pond over the rut? You couldn’t even see them.”

“I just went into it with, ‘We’re going to go out and have a good time.’ To be honest with you, I had to make some pit stops and got frustrated with stalling and crashing and getting stuck. It was all worth it when with two turns to go I saw that big two-two stuck in the water. It was clear as day. I can envision it now. It was so wet, there was no mud on the side plates, and there was no mistaking who it was.”

When asked if he knew that anything was going on with Chad bike before the Yamaha rider’s DNF, he said, “You know, I had this weird gut feeling that something was going on, but I didn’t have a lot of response from the crowd. Generally that’s the best way to know if something’s going on in front of you or around you if the crowd gets loud. They were loud when Davi and I were together, and of course when Chad and I got close, as well as the times when we’d bobble or crash. I didn’t have any response from anything, other than I could see some Honda guys on the side of the track, clapping, and I got a weird feeling. Once I saw him, and once it was visual to me, I started smiling. I was screaming through the last two corners of the track. It was awesome.”

While Chad did DNF, he was still scored in sixth because his bike gave up on the last lap, and he’d lapped so many riders. While it wasn’t a DNF that resulted in zero points, it was a little swing in the points in K-Dub’s favor. He explained, “You go from thinking, ‘Oh, thank goodness I won,’ to kind of getting greedy. I did the lap around, and came back and saw the two-two still sitting in the water. I was thinking, ‘Man, a DNF, that’s 25 points.’ But he was so fast, and lapped so far up, I think he still finished sixth. (The AMA later added a time penalty to Chad’s overall time for reentering the course improperly, which dropped him to seventh spot.) It is good points, I’ll take ‘em any way I can get ‘em, It kind of offsets the really bad performance I had in Indy last weekend.”

“I’m happy about the win, and as far as championship points go, I’m a long ways back, but I think tonight is a true testament that anything can happen, and we’re not going to stop doing what we’ve been doing. I’ve been working with Jeff Spencer, things are going great. I hope to continue, and have had a really successful year. I had one poor performance in Indy, and we’re going to move past that quickly, reflect on this win here in Daytona, and try to move on and keep on plugging away at what’s been working for me.”

“It was just an amazing night, and…emotional. I know Honda’s really pumped right now and I’m really pumped. I don’t know what it is about this place, but it’s the best win. It’s the most prestigious win of anyone’s career if you can do it here.”