MXP Chatter With Jeremy Medaglia

When you think of Jeremy Medaglia a few things definitely come to mind. Young, fast, aggressive, and of course the younger brother of Tyler Medaglia. Over the last few seasons Jeremy has raced on every brand of motorcycle in search of Canadian motocross glory. Of those different brands, the only one that has brought him a championship is a red Honda. So having said that, you can imagine how excited Jeremy is to be back on Hondas for 2015, racing in the MX2 class. We caught up with the youngest Medaglia as he was signing autographs at the Toronto Motorcycle Show this past weekend.

MXP: I’ve definitely been wanting to talk to you for a while now, so you coming up from GPF to the Motorcycle Show was perfect. After being down south for so long, this weather must feel really cold to you.

JM: You can say that again. Right from the moment Colton and I stepped off the plane it’s been so cold that it’s been hard to breathe.

So you’ve been at GPF for over a month on your new Honda. I guess everyone wants to know how it’s been going on the new bike.

So far everything has been going great. We got down to Georgia in early January and kind of eased into training and riding, then after a few weeks I started going at it pretty hard. It feels great to be back on a red bike. Obviously the last time I rode a Honda I won an Arenacross Championship for Cycle North, so I was pretty excited to start riding them again. The Honda is really easy to adapt to so it really didn’t take me long to feel comfortable again.

We’ve seen you ride almost everything under the sun and I think that you really seem to suit the Honda. I don’t know if it’s your style or size, I just think you look the most comfortable on the red bikes.

I would definitely agree with that. The Hondas are really slim and they feel very light when you’re riding them. I like that because I feel like I can be really aggressive on them. Also, it’s great being back with Joe Skidd’s suspension. He and I really click, and I love using his stuff.

You came off a really frustrating season in 2014 that ended with that big crash in Moncton. How did this deal with the GDR Honda Canada Team come about?

Well, after last year, I knew I had to get back on a bike that I really enjoy riding, so I started talking to Derek Schuster pretty much right away during the off-season. This team more than proved themselves last year with how professional they are, and how they’re capable of winning championships. They have some great sponsors and a great company like Honda Canada behind them. I knew I wanted to be a part of that so after some back and forth talks, we worked out a deal to race the MX2 class in 2015.

For sure Jeremy, I think everyone agrees that you and this team are a great fit. While I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus but what the heck happened last year?

It’s impossible to pin point just one thing that went wrong in 2014. I think the first issue was that we just got started late with testing the bike. I didn’t sign with the team until just a few weeks before the first round so right off the bat we were a little behind. In the early rounds, I thought we did pretty well despite the late start and having to deal with all the drama that Vince Friese brought to the series. I think all the MX2 riders were frustrated with how he rode.

After that we won in Regina and that was awesome. From there we moved east and the tracks got tougher and the temperatures got hotter. We just ran into a few problems with the bikes, then I made a couple of mistakes on the track, then in Moncton I crashed really hard and broke my collarbone. It was just one of those years where things don’t go right. It was no one’s fault, it was just an off year. I’m thankful to the Monster Energy Thor Kawasaki Team for giving me a chance and I’m sorry it didn’t work out.

So after such a frustrating year you must feel pretty good at getting a fresh start with a new team.

Oh ya! This is where I want to be and I’m glad it all worked out. I think we’re both going to do our parts in achieving the ultimate goal of winning an MX2 title and hopefully make it a clean sweep of both classes in 2015.

I guess, as the saying goes, sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can start your way back up.

Definitely, that’s how it feels, for sure. I think every rider out there goes through it, you have a really bad year and you feel completely out of it. Then just when you think it can’t get any worse, you begin to rebound and things get better.

So you’re down at GPF training, Colton Facciotti is now there, Kyle Keast, your brother Tyler, the list goes on and on. How intense is the riding down there?

Some days it’s pretty crazy, for sure. We have motos three times per day and we’re all going for it. Some days I’ll go through a few packs of a seven-set of laminated tear-offs, so it’s as close to racing as you can get. It’s definitely the best training facility around, and it’s why we can come home to Canada and be ready to go for the racing season.

 That sounds like a lot of fun and also a great way to prepare for the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals. So you fly back to GPF on Sunday and just return to training until April and then you come home?

Well, Sunday I’m heading to Ottawa to spend a few days at home to see my family. After that I’ll return to GPF and keep rolling. We have a lot of work to do we’ll be at it pretty hard for the next few months.

Can you speculate on whether or not you’ll be doing any early season Ontario races?

I’m sure we’ll do a couple just to get some gate drops in before Kamloops, but we’ll have to see.

Well Jeremy, thank you for doing this. Like I said, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while so it’s been good to finally catch up. Best of luck with your training and testing and I’m sure we’ll talk again soon.

No problem at all Palms, it’s always good to talk with you. It is cool being here at the show to see the fans and to see the people from Honda Canada, however I can’t wait to get back down south and back into the warm weather.