If you've been paying attention to the XC2 Pro Lites Class, you would've noticed a certain Kawasaki rider missing from the results the last three rounds. We caught-up with that rider to find out where he's been!
Photo By: Matt Ware
Andrew Matusek is hoping to find himself on the Loretta Lynn's podium at the end of next week.
I'm actually standing here watering the front straight away at Bremen motocross track.
Sounds like Kevin Kelly put you to work?
Yeah, I came down here and asked him if there was anything I could do to ride and he said I could water the track!
So, do you have time for this interview or do you want me to call you back?
I'm good! It's pretty dry so I'm going to be standing stationary for quite a while!
You've been MIA at the last three rounds of the GNCCs. The word on the streets is that you went back to racing motocross?
It's always been something I've wanted to do. I wasn't having as much fun with the GNCCs this year, especially after those two mud races. I didn't have any factory support this year or anyone helping out with travel costs so everything was coming out of my pocket. I decided to just to give motocross a shot again and see if I can't make it pro at that.
How big of a deciding factor to your move was racing at Loretta Lynn's?
Loretta's is going to be a good starting point for me. Kind of like a job interview of sorts. It's where all the industry people go to look for riders and I'm hoping that I can get a deal. I'm not sure if I'm going to do amateur stuff again next year or go pro yet, but I'm really hoping something will come out of my racing there.
Photo By: Matt Ware
Andrew won a Loretta Lynn's championship on a 50cc back in 1994.
Yeah, I won one title at Loretta's and two at Ponca City. Back in 1998 I was racing at Ponca and I crashed pretty bad and ended up in a coma for 4 days, which kind of put an end to my motocross career before it really began. Growing up I always wanted to be a pro motocross racer, I never really had that vision to be a pro GNCC guy. Which is kind of different from guys like Kailub and Thad that grew up racing GNCC with their goal of becoming a pro at that. I think that kind of explains my reasoning for wanting to go back to motocross.
How did you get into GNCC?
Well, after my crash, my Mom wasn't really into me doing any sort of racing. But my dad used to do hare scarmbles when I was little and I lived right down the road from Russell Bobbitt so I had some influences around me. I raced my frist GNCC at Aonia and it was good, it was something different that my mom would actually let me do!
What has it been like transitioning back to being a motocrosser?
It's been good, I've learned a lot. Everyday it seems I learn something new. My speed is pretty good. I had been set into the GNCC-style of riding where it would take me a while to get going. Obviously in GNCC you have 3 hours where we only have 20 minutes in a motocross race. I wasn't really sprinting like I needed to do so I've been working on my sprint speed.
Do you think your MX career would have gone if you hadn't been injured?
Yeah, you know it's hard to speculate. Everyone I used to battle with like Mike Alessi and Davi Millsaps are successful pros, so I'd like to think that's where I'd be, but it's so hard to tell. I know I probably never would've set foot on a bike in the woods!
Speaking of Mike Alessi and Davi Millsaps, do you keep in touch with those guys?
I still have Mike's phone number and we still talk every now and then but it's not to the point where I can just show up at his house and just ride whenever I want or anything like that.
After spending so many years racing GNCC, is there anything you can take from your time as a woods guy and apply to motocross racing?
The line choice is huge, there's always new lines in the woods so I feel like I'm pretty good at picking new lines on the motocross track. You know if you watch an outdoor national, there's usually one hot line and that line ends up getting pretty rough. The tracks get so rough in GNCC, and with the help of Nate Kanney last year I learned to do my turns a little more European-style, coming outside to inside and that keeps me out of that rough main line a lot.
Photo By: Matt Ware
A motocrosser at heart, Matusek has decided to go back to his roots.
I'm racing 250A and 4-Stroke. I'll actually be racing my old GNCC bike in the 250A class and I got a new 2009 Kawasaki KX450F for the 4-Stroke class.
What are your expectations for your week on the ranch?
I don't really know, there's always stuff you can hope for but I don't want to say something and not really follow through with it. I know where I want to finish, but down there, there will always be guys you don't know about. I know in the 4-Stroke class there's guys like Shane Durham [Little brother of Division 7/Star Racing Yamaha's Darryn Durham] and Malcolm Stewart [Little brother of James Stewart. Yeah, that James Stewart!] and they are very fast. 250A is one of the premiere classes at Loretta's so I'm sure it'll be fast.
Do you have any plans to return to GNCC in the future?
We'll see what happens. I've been tossing around the idea of coming back and doing a few. I'm just not sure yet. Keep an eye out for me at the last four rounds, I might be there!
Alright man, we'll let you get back to watering the track. Good luck next week!
Thanks a lot!
If you want to track Andrew's progress at the 28th Annual Loretta Lynn's Amateur National Motocross Championships head on over to www.mxsports.com
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