MXP Chatter With Jason Hughes

Every team in this sport goes through years when everything goes right. Conversely, those same teams have years that they’d love to forget when nothing seems to go right. After winning both the 2013 MX1 and MX2 titles, Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki Team owner Jason Hughes was on top of the world. However, following a last minute request by Kawasaki USA to keep Brett Metcalfe down south last season, and a rough summer for Austin Politelli, 2014 turned into a year to forget. Now with just over a month to go until the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals kicks off in Kamloops, Jason and his team are definitely in a very happy place. To find out just how excited Jason is for the 2015 season we called him up to discuss everything from the return of Brett Metcalfe to the signing of Cole Martinez.

MXP: Hey Jason, how are you doing?

JH: I’m great, thanks for asking.

We’re halfway through the month of April so that means the opening round is fast approaching. How has the off-season been for you?

It’s been great actually, definitely really busy as these days there really is no off-season anymore. It seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for the Arenacross series and now here we are testing for the Nationals. It’s pretty crazy how fast time goes.

The last two seasons were complete opposites for your team. In 2013, the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki Team of course won both the MX2 and MX1 titles, and then last season it was a struggle from start to finish. Is it safe to say that you got to a point last summer when you couldn’t wait for the season to end?

(laughs) I think you could say that, I mean we never stopped trying last year, but things just didn’t go well. It was really hard losing Brett Metcalfe three weeks before the season began last year and we just never recovered from it. While Josh Hill was a great replacement and did a great job, he’s not Metcalfe and it showed. I think Josh would’ve been better if we had more time to test with him. As I said, he came to us at the last minute and he hadn’t raced outdoor for a few years.

In the MX2 class, Jeremy Medaglia was also a late signing so we didn’t get a lot of time to test with him, and Austin Politelli was coming off a broken femur he suffered in SX so he wasn’t as prepared as he would’ve like. So the year began with a lot of issues that we didn’t have to deal with the year before and we struggled all summer. I will say though that the riders were great last year and the entire team tried as hard as they could.

I guess when you look at the history of our sport, every team goes through years like that where nothing seems to go right. Look at your Monster Energy Kawasaki cousin in the USA. After winning everything for years, the Pro Circuit Team can’t seem to buy a victory.

Exactly, it happens to everyone and all you can do is regroup and come out swinging the following year. That’s what we plan to do in 2015. We have a great line up, as I said Metcalfe will be back, so will Teddy Maier and we’ve signed Cole Martinez for the MX2 class.

Just going back to what you said about Josh Hill, I thought he was great up here last summer and he really seemed to embrace Canada and the series.

For sure, he was great to work with, and I agree with you, he definitely seemed to enjoy himself. As I said before, you have to remember that he hadn’t raced outdoors since 2008 so he was a little rusty without a doubt. Not to mention that he’s still recovering from that awful injury he had to go through. He did great and I thought he adapted well to how different the tracks are here compared to those in the USA.

It’s interesting that you mentioned how our tracks differ from those in the USA. You’ve worked with a lot of riders in recent years who have spent time riding American tracks. What do they say about our tracks?

Well, Matt Goerke was the first rider back in 2012 that we worked with that had come off racing the AMA outdoor tracks and he just found the Canadian tracks different. He said our tracks were a lot more stop and go and not so wide open. Up here the riders use second and third gears a lot where as in the States they may use third and fourth more. Goerke and Metcalfe also mentioned that the tracks up here are a lot rougher in the second motos than there. So you can see why it’s not easy for these riders to come up here and win. I guess that makes it even more special when they do.

That’s very interesting, I’ve wanted to ask you that for a while now so I’m glad I finally did. You mentioned a few minutes ago how difficult it was to lose Metcalfe last year, however you must’ve been happy to see him do so well in the AMA Series?

For sure. First and foremost I’m a huge Brett Metcalfe fan so to see him get an opportunity to go and race what is probably the best motorcycle in the world was pretty awesome. He did everything that Kawasaki could’ve asked of him and I know he was pretty happy with how the series went.

I also thought it was cool that in a few interviews that I did with him he contributed a lot of his success last year to coming to Canada in 2013 and winning the MX1 title. He said it taught him how to win again.

That’s true. As you remember, when he came to us in 2013 he was coming off two years of some pretty serious injuries. To see him come back and win on our bikes was pretty incredible. I know he’s coming into this summer much more prepared than in 2013. He’s fit, he’s healthy and this time he knows the tracks and how the series works. Hopefully he and Teddy can dominate the MX1 class again.

Talk to me about Teddy, I was pretty happy to hear that he was coming back this summer. I’ve also heard that he’s been training really hard for 2015.

Teddy is just awesome and we’re really happy that he’s coming back too. He wasn’t exactly happy with how last year went, so yes, he’s been training really hard to be ready for Kamloops. I mean, Teddy didn’t have a bad season last year, he battled hard and finished in the top five again, but he wants to be further up the ladder and battling for podiums and moto wins. In 2013, he and Metcalfe really brought out the best in each other so hopefully they’ll be able to do the same this summer.

It will definitely be great seeing Teddy and Metty lined up together again in the MX1 class. Another big signing you had during the off-season was Cole Martinez in the MX2 class. How were you able to find him?

Cole’s story is definitely an interesting one. When we were looking for an MX2 rider we obviously looked first at what Canadian riders might be available. However, fast Canadian riders that are eligible for the MX2 class are hard to find. Frenchie, our motor guy, and one of our mechanics was actually doing Cole’s motors for the Supercross series and found out that his mom is from Saskatchewan, so Cole is half Canadian.

I think he’s going to be a perfect fit on our team and he really fits what we’re looking for. He’s fast, he has a good Canadian connection and he’s just a super kid. He had some good results in SX so hopefully he’ll be able to transfer those over to the MX2 series here.

Not to mention that he comes here a little under the radar and not with a lot of pressure on him.

Exactly, everything up here will be new to him, however he’ll have two great teammates to mentor him so he should be fine. Another thing that we like about Cole is that he’s an extremely hard worker and he‘s very driven. He’s been working hard in California testing and preparing for the summer in Canada so he should be one of the championship contenders in the MX2 class.

That’s great Jason, what a great find he was, for sure. I think he’s going to have fun in Canada this summer. I think I speak for all Canadian race fans when I say that I’m very excited for the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals to begin. The racing is going to be amazing. Thanks for doing this Jason, we really appreciate it. Did I miss anything?

Thanks for calling, we’re really looking forward to Kamloops and the rest of the summer. Actually, I really would just like to thank our great sponsors. We wouldn’t be here without Monster Energy, Canadian Kawasaki, Parts Canada, Thor, Pro Circuit, C4MX, Graeme Brough Suspension, Matrix, 100%, and everyone that supports us. We’ll see you in Kamloops!