For the first time in his career, Ty Masterpool stood atop the podium as a professional in AMA Pro Motocross with a 2-1 performance at High Point. After the race, he spoke with the media about it in this Debrief feature.

Image: Octopi Media.

Ty Masterpool, first of all, congratulations. You’ve had a few minutes to think about that overall win. Number 300 [for the team], your first. Walk us through how special this is.

I mean, I think the biggest things is it’s been a rough three to four years and I just believed in the team that I had around me and kept my head down and believed in God’s timing and all that. But yeah, just a big shout at my physical trainer, Peter Parker and my dad, my mom and everyone just sticking behind me. Dylan Walker kept my head above water for the last three years. God’s good. It’s been a rough couple of years, that’s for sure.

Hey, the first one’s hardest, right? And in racing it’s all about like, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ Obviously enjoy this one, there’s no doubt about that. Letting it sink in. But how do you back this up, come out here in a couple of weeks and go out and perform?

Biggest thing, just looking forward to getting right back to work on Monday and I’m still getting used to the bike. I haven’t ridden a bike like this where I have so much room for improvement. I can feel it when I’m riding and there is lots of room for improvement. So I’m just very excited to get right back to work and work my butt off. It’s going to be a good little off weekend. Unfortunately, I haven’t really had a boot camp or anything. I got my appendix removed; a whole bunch of random stuff like that during Supercross. I tore my calf going up a face of a jump because all the antibiotics that was in my system and just a lot of freak stuff. So yeah, I haven’t got a boot camp in or anything like that, so just kind of racing my way into shape and all that.

Was your mechanic making you aware of what the gap was and what were the nerves like over those last couple of laps in each of those motos?

Yeah, he was, actually. I need to get a little bit better looking at the pit board every lap. I was missing it quite a bit, but I just kept my head down. Just me versus me out there and just trying to ride the track. Like three or four laps to go, it was kind of like sinking in a little bit, but I was like, ‘I’m after titles and all that so I’ve got to get used to it,” and just focused on myself and rode.

Can you talk just a little bit about how special it is to be the rider, the new guy on the block to give them their 300th win?

Yeah, I actually didn’t know it until right after, and that’s awesome. Big honor and just a big thank you to the whole team. Mitch, Iain and Dave, all of them. It’s definitely not just me out there. It’s a whole army of them behind it and shows you how much a factory bike helps and all that. So yeah, big thank you to all of them.

Having the day like you did in the two motos you did, what did you learn today? What’s your big kind of take away from today?

It wasn’t really just one. I think the biggest thing is just focusing on myself, just me versus me and me versus the track and just let the results fall. Not really think about it and just focus on that and the big picture. I felt like I could push it a little bit more to pass him back. But you know, I mean in looking long term and into the big picture, I don’t want to risk it and do something stupid and go down. It obviously hurt a little bit wanting to go 1-1 that first one, but I just kept my head screwed on and rode solid. I feel like could have gotten him here or there, but just looking at the big picture.

Obviously when you got this fill-in deal, you were with the HBI team and they kind of helped propel you last year. Thinking back to a couple years ago and you had your Star ride and that went away, you kind of bounced around. Did you ever think you’d be on a factory team again?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I’m not here to participate. I want to be the best and all that. So I believed in the team around me, believed in my training program. That’s why I’m based in Texas and all that. Just all for the best circumstances and the best for my training. Obviously, it was a very rough three to four years to repeat myself a lot, but it was lots and ups and downs and all that, but I think just hard work pays off and just believing in your team around you.