MXP Chatter: Dave Gowland

Heading into Saturday’s Anaheim Supercross, Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna Team Manager Dave Gowland had very high expectations. Not only did he have the two young Zach’s (Osborne and Bell) all ready to go in the Lites class, but he also had Jason Anderson excited to do damage in the Supercross class. At the end of the first night of racing in the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, Dave’s team gave Husqvarna two podium finishes in the brand’s first supercross in years. We caught up with Mr. Gowland when he was back in his office on Monday basking in the glow of his team’s historic weekend.

MXP: Hey Dave, first off how were your holidays?

DG: They were good. My Mom and Aunt made it out from Ontario and we all had a good time. With Anaheim coming up so quickly, though, there wasn’t a lot of time to relax.

Well, you must’ve been happy with how the opening round went?

Yes, definitely. We had very high expectations coming into the season, because we worked really hard in the off-season. In the Lites class it’s always a little bit tougher because all of the riders in that class are always just so excited and sometimes they tend to make mistakes. Zach Bell had a little bad luck but I thought he rode really well, and he felt good to get the first race out of the way. He’s had some bad luck in the past and we just wanted him to stay out of trouble on Saturday night.

Yes, he’s definitely a talented rider and I can see him winning races as this series moves on. What about Zach Osborne? Did he break his thumb this weekend?

Yes, he did in the heat when he came together with Bowers. As I said at the beginning, it’s the Lites class and these kids are wide open and trying to make a name for themselves. This is Bowers’ first full year in SX in some time so he’s trying to make his mark. I didn’t think it was a good idea for Zach to mess with him so early in the night and when Bowers ran it back in on him, Zach got the worst of it.

Was there a chance that he wasn’t going to come back and ride the LCQ?

Once Zach got checked out and he found out that it was broken, we all sat down to discuss what our options were. He’s such a great kid. Mostly what he was concerned about was making us mad if he didn’t ride. I told him that the decision to ride or not was totally up to him and we would support him regardless of the decision he made. So he went out and gave the LCQ a try and it felt okay. Once he realized that he could race, he lined up for the main event.

And then he got a great start from the outside?

I know!! That was a nice surprise, for sure. After that he just rode smart and got the job done. Although it was not exactly the way we wanted to get second, we’ll take it and move on to Phoenix.

Talk to us about your role as Team Manager in a situation like you faced with Osborne. I mean, you’ve been around long enough to know that he probably could ride, especially when the adrenaline of racing kicks in. However, you don’t want to make someone race who’s hurt. How do you approach that?

Well, it’s definitely a delicate situation, because you certainly don’t want to just tell him to try it and put him in a position where he could do further damage. The decision was his whether to race or not, we just laid it all out on the table and then let him decide. You know because you used to race, when you’ve worked hard to prepare for a series you don’t want to miss one lap so it’s usually harder to talk a rider out of racing.

Okay, let’s move on and talk about Jason Anderson. To me this kid just seems like a no nonsense, talented workhorse. I know he won the West Lites class last season but how good is Jason Anderson?

Two years ago after the final round of the outdoor nationals Jason told me that he was either going to change how he approaches racing and win a championship, or he was going to quit. I think he’s just figured it out. He knows his body and he knows his equipment. When you combine the two you have a kid who just does his work during the week and then comes to the track each weekend prepared. He loves to win, obviously, so does everyone, however Jason’s disdain of losing is what separates him from most of the other young and fast riders right now.

He also made a big change to his program during the off-season hiring Aldon Baker as his trainer.

That’s another thing that impresses me about him. Even though he was coming off winning a championship in 2014 he knew that he still needed to take another step forward. So he packed up all of his stuff and moved to Florida to train with Aldon and his crew. He’s in a new State, living by himself, just focusing on training, and he’s been doing that for the last two months. He came into Anaheim ready to go. When he got into second behind Roczen, he felt comfortable, because it felt like just another day at the practice track in Florida.

You’ve been around a lot of champions, does Jason remind you of anyone else you’ve worked with in the past?

I wouldn’t compare him to any rider that I’ve ever met (laughs). Jason is his own person, that’s for sure.

It must have been awesome walking into the Husqvarna offices on Monday morning. I can’t imagine any other manufacturer having more pride than Husqvarna right now?

Exactly, you were down here in November so you know how everyone here operates. They’ve put so much work into bringing this brand back, and to go to the first round and see all of that work pay off, it’s really good for Husqvarna and the sport. Hopefully we can keep it going.

Before I let you go I have to ask you about the 2014 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals. You know Colton Facciotti very well. What did you think of his comeback last summer?

Well, honestly, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him. He is the type of rider that can do whatever he wants when he puts his mind to it. I didn’t think for a second that Alessi would be a challenge to him in a ten round series. When Colton is healthy he’s just too smart! I was pretty happy to see him come back from two years of injuries and get back on top.

Dave, I’ll let you get back to your preparation for Phoenix. Thanks for your time and maybe we’ll catch up later on in the series. Best of luck!

Thanks Chris. Please say hi to Stally and all of my friends up there.