Three Views: Supercross Lites East

Heading into the season-opener for the Supercross Lites East series at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, we've got three interviews for you to check out. One each from Geico Powersports Honda's Brett Metcalfe and Blake Wharton (which you can find below), and a video interview with Monster Energy Kawasaki's Christophe Pourcel, who talks about the crash, injury, and rehab that kept him from racing in '08. You can get to that one by clicking the video gallery icon below. And now...let's get ready for some racing...Supercross Lites East style.

Video!

Click the following link for a video interview with Christophe Pourcel.

Brett Metcalfe

You pretty much changed up everything in your program for '09.
Yep, bike, gear, number…

How has the change been so far?
So far the change has been easy. The whole team, everyone’s made it easy for me to make the transition.

Brett Metcalfe.

How have preparations gone?
It started off really, really good. We were making good progress with the bike and I was feeling good. Then I had a little crash and hurt my foot (Ed. Note: This was back in December) and it’s coming around. We’ll be fully ready before the season starts.

How about number-wise? Was it a hard decision to jump from 123 to 24?
I rattled my brain for at least a week on that one. Trying to think, ‘Should I stay? Or should I change to 24?’ 123’s been a cool number for me, but it’s time to switch it up and have a fresh start. I think everything going to be new this year, and have a new number to go with it.

I like it…24’s the first number I ever had. That’s basically why I took it.

How is it having another Aussie (Dan Reardon) on the team now?
It’s cool. There’s going to be five Aussies all together on the team, and that’s pretty fun. Just getting to ride with the other guys, Kevin (Windham), Trey (Canard), and Blake (Wharton) is cool, too. This whole group’s going to have a lot of fun, work hard, and push each other to do well and improve ourselves. That’s the main thing.

What are some of the differences between the old bike and the new one?
The handling was a little different, and once I got adapted to how the Honda kind of steered with the front end a little more, I was able to change my style and really learn how to ride the bike better. So far it’s feeling really good for me, and it’s helped me turn a little better, which is something that I struggled on a little bit this year. So that’s improved. Other than that, the motor’s good, and everything else has been awesome. So the transition has been pretty mellow for me, it hasn’t been a huge change in motorcycle.

What have you worked on in the off-season to get ready for this year?
Pretty much my training has a similar schedule, and just keep trying to improve a little bit, and get stronger in a few areas. I’d hurt my shoulder last year, so focusing on getting that back to 100 percent. Just doing what I normally do to stay in shape, and the last piece of the puzzle was getting on the bike and putting motos in.

Anything else new?
I’m getting married in ’09.

Do you like being sort of a private guy?
Yeah, I think I’m a little more private. I don’t get out too much and do crazy stuff. I like to be at home and get out every now and then, but I just like being mellow and enjoying myself with the good people around me and I don’t need too many things going on to keep me happy, I guess. I’m pretty easygoing.

You’re the veteran now among the Lites guys. What’s that like?
That’s a good question. It feels like that now, too. We’ve got Trey and Blake, who are both young cats, and Dan’s a year younger than me, but I’ve been here for six years and he’s just come here. Besides Kevin, I’m the next oldest guy. It feels good to have some youth back around, and it kind of rubs off on you a little bit, too, and you learn to have a little more fun and make sure you’re having fun on the bike. But you also learn a couple new things that the young kids are bringing to the game now. You can pick up off them and help them as well if they need it. I don’t mind that. I like playing this role and doing my thing, and doing the best I can.

Blake Wharton

Coming into the outdoor season last year you had a couple good starts, and a couple good moto finishes. What was it like making that jump up from the amateur ranks?
It was different, because you’re got the longer motos, more competition, and the track’s rougher. But overall I did get good starts, which was important. There’s a lot of fast riders and you can’t just get a bad start and go right to the front. So I got good starts, I like the tracks. I put myself in a good position and ran up front for a little bit. Ran in second for a little bit, got a couple fourth-place finishes, and a fifth overall. So over the three races I feel I did really good.

Blake Wharton.

Okay, you’ve got some outdoor races out of the way. What’s the transition going to be like to Supercross?
Supercross is different, because as an amateur you don’t really get to race it. You do one race here and one race there, but it’s not even Supercross. So it’s really a new thing once you go to it. We had a Supercross track at our house, but we never rode it that much. You don’t have the right bikes.

But being out in California, riding the test track every day is good. It’s getting me ready. I want to be ready, and just go.

Do you have anyone coaching you? How do you learn what you need to learn?
I don’t really have anyone coaching me, but I go to the test track every day and you’ve got all the 450 guys, you’ve got all the 250F guys, and they’re real nice guys, to where if you’ve got a question…if you’re struggling with a section, there’s plenty of people there to help you. They’ve been going there for years, and they know what they’re doing out there. You just go out there and do your best, and they’ll work with you.

We hear you’ve got some drums, and you do some guitar, and you’ve got the rockin’ hair…
Well, I’ve got a couple drum sets, and I’ve got some guitars back home. I play a little bit in my spare time. It’s what I do for fun outside of motocross. I’ve got some friends back home and we jam a little bit. Make up some songs and whatnot. Maybe after motocross it’s something that I’ll get into more. Right now it’s just fun, though.

So are we going to be downloading songs from you on iTunes someday?
(Laughs) Maybe one day. Will they be moto songs? Maybe a little of both. Maybe a little rap. Show my rapping skills.

Do you have rap skils?
Um…back in the day, yeah. I specialize more in disco. 70s. (Laughs)

Okay, back to more serious topics…coming into your first Supercross season, what are the expectations going to be for you?
You know, I’m not just looking forward to going out there and shine at one race, and the next race not. I want to be consistent from the start. Good starts, last through the whole heat and main. I just want to be a front-runner…top three. Podiums would be great. But we’ll see soon enough, I guess.

Blake Wharton will be sporting the number 61 for '09.

Did you move from Texas to California to train?
It’s still home base back there. I really like Texas. So I think it’ll be considered my home for a long time. We just came out here to get ready for Supercross. You’ve got more tracks out here I think, and you’re closer to everything. Better practice, I think.

So where’d you set up camp at?
Well, we’re in a hotel right now. Staying there, about 45 minutes from the track. Kind of the same thing we’ve been doing for the last couple of years. Just get a hotel and stay there.

How long do you stay in the hotel?
Throughout the last year we’ve been staying at this same hotel, it’s a Best Western, like two weeks at a time…a month at a time. They have good breakfast in the morning. (Laughs)

How about doing something like a motorhome instead?
We did that for a long time. But right now it’s just me and my dad out here. Eventually we might rent a house, or get a place out here. We’ll see.

What’s it like when your sole focus is on racing. Obviously you have to treat it like a job, but how do you keep it fun at the same time?
Just know that you have your goals set, and when you reach those goals you make new ones. You’ve got to practice and train like a job. But when you go to the races and do what you’re supposed to do, you get rewarded inside, and it makes it a lot easier.

What do you do for fun? You’ve got the music stuff, but I’m sure that’s not working so well in the hotel.
I actually have a drum set at Factory Connection. Whenever I’m done and Jeremy’s working on my bike, I just go jam a little bit. Maybe go watch a movie, something like that.

Any final words in here?
Final words? Hmm…just…I’m getting hungry. I’m going to make a sandwich. (Laughs)