The sixth round of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season is in the books from Spring Creek, with Justin Barcia taking his first 450 overall victory since 2018 and Jeremy Martin taking a dominant win at his home track in 250MX. Both winners were made available to the press following the race for this Debrief interview. 

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

You were clearly sending it in moto one, you had plenty of moments sliding off the top of Mt. Martin that looked pretty wild, you had a big scrub after you bobbled ahead of Ferrandis in one of the final corners. Do those moments phase you at all or spike your heart rate? Or are you just good with it? 

It’s funny, I’m good with it. The team always asks me, ‘Hey, that was gnarly,’ and I’m like what are you talking about? I don’t remember. [Laughs] Yeah it’s funny somehow I’m okay with it which is a good thing I supposed because I like to keep ‘er on the edge a little bit so yeah, I can’t wait to rewatch the race and see some good clips.

How did the track feel to you since you guys raced before the 250’s today? 

Yeah, I think the first moto definitely was a bit smoother. The track was a little bit awkward today, not big ruts and stuff so you definitely had to be on your toes. But the second moto it was rough, the downhill was pretty gnarly, the sand rollers were brutal. It was definitely different but I do think the second moto was rough and maybe it would have been a little rougher if we were after the 250s. All in all, I enjoyed the track, it was a good racetrack, with plenty of places to pass.

We’ve seen you trending in the right direction in the championship standings in the last few rounds. Today you went up two positions to third in the points. Is that something of importance to you, or what’s your take on that? 

I’m stoked on the points, I think it’s really good. I’m not focused on it whatsoever, definitely today was a good points day, I just need to go out there and win more races and put myself in a good spot. So yeah, just focused on trying to win and be on the podium, put in solid results and we’ll see where we’re at the end of the year. But yeah, today was a really good day for the points obviously so stoked to see that.

We always hear about riders who are fast during the week and if they could just bring that on race day they’d be great. You seem to be the opposite, you bring more speed the more pressure you’re under the better you seem to ride. Is that something you’ve always done or is that something you’ve learned through the years? 

For sure, I think for some reason I’ve always been good under pressure. Always seem to perform well and yeah, I think I’m like a psychopath or something, I enjoy that. [Laughs] But yeah, it’s been good throughout my career I’ve always had a lot of pressure. Today I maybe wasn’t the fastest, but I was able to get good starts and put myself where I needed to and be strong. I guess I’ve been told I’m hard to pass so, going to try to keep that up.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

This has been a trying year for you, it hasn’t gone the way you’ve anticipated, it was a big 1-1 for you today at your home track in front of the home fans, talk about what it feels like to overcome what you’ve faced this year to get a win today. 

Today was really cool. It was really special, it’s been a terrible terrible year for me obviously this year with getting hurt in Supercross then being in content for the outdoors and going down right away. I was like my god, I feel like I kind of know what I’m doing when I’m out there but it’s been a rough year. To get a 1-1 today at the hometown track was really really good obviously because I’m kind of supposed to win at home right? So that was nice and hopefully we can carry some momentum into Washougal. Just really really happy about today and got good starts and yeah, stoked.

Where were you at physically coming into this round and what did you expect from yourself today as you lined up?

Man honestly if I would have got a moto win and an overall podium spot today I would have been stoked,” he continued. “I mean last week after Southwick I rode on Tuesday, I did a 30-minute moto and I was pretty happy. I made it about 20 minutes in and I kind of faded and was kind of struggling. Then obviously the hand was kind of hurting me, but I finished out the day. I rode a little bit on Thursday and then I was just ready to go for the hometown race. I’m able to start riding a little bit more which is really nice to find the edge and get the groove, these guys are so fast out there, so just getting that seat time in has definitely helped me. I’m also not trying to ride too much because my wrist obviously does kind of bother me. The hand is definitely better, still a little bit painful but yeah, just stoked to get a 1-1 at the hometown race is a really special deal.

You have the home track advantage here and it gets talked about a lot, but I’m curious if there are things about the track that you know from having grown up here that was helpful for you to conserve your energy or conserve your body throughout the day. 

You know man that’s a really good question. I kind of feel like for me, I feel like the thing that really benefits me is that I know how I should ride it. So like in practice I didn’t have that limit and I’m like man I don’t know if I’m going to be able to race these guys today, or if I’m going to be able to be strong enough, I mean J-Coop (Justin Cooper) was just crazy fast and I was P5 in practice. So we made a couple adjustments and I was able to find what I wanted for the track to flow and [get] the comfort. Then that’s when I kind of came alive. But yeah as far as hopping bumps and having home field advantage, I know the track is kind of developed a harder base over the years with a little bit of a looser sand field. But you know, I try to hop bumps every weekend at every race and I try to pick up lines like J-Coop had a couple good lines I was taking and I kind of caught some of them and vice versa. Mosiman was saying earlier today that he saw some lines that he kind of caught me, then I had to change it up because he caught me. So I kind of just adapt to whatever the day or the outcome of what the track is providing, you just make adjustments then and there.

Days like today, they’re the results you work for, I’m not sure what your plans are for 2022 but rides like this show what you’re capable of. So for you, where would you ideally be next year, would it be on the same team, would it be on the 450, can you shed any light on that situation? 

Yeah man, we’ll see. I mean I kind of made some comments in the beginning of the year obviously that this would be my last 250 year, but I didn’t even feel like I got a fighting chance yet this year honestly. So, you know I’ll take it on the chin, I’ll get a lot more comments but I’ll probably be 250 again next year and go from there. That’s probably my future to be hoenst with you guys so yeah, there it is.