Tuesday Toolbox: Josh Strang

When the Can Am GNCC headed into the summer break, XC1 Points leader Josh Strang saw his early season points lead begin to shrink.With 10 weeks to think about it, is he ready to come back and battle these final four rounds to claimwhat many folks feel is his championship?

 

GNCCRacing.com: So what's going on today with Josh Strang?
Josh Strang: Right now actually I'm headed to the gym to get a quick workout in and then I get a map out. I'm back in Indiana at the moment, I've just been doing some riding back here and I will head out tomorrow with Shane (Nalley, Suzuki Truck Driver) in the truck.

How long have you been in Indiana?

About two weeks! I just been out here getting some stuff done and getting ready to go back to work.

So did you go home to Australia or stay at your place in California for the break?
I stayed in the states the whole time. The first couple of weeks after Snowshoe I went and rode the Red Bud Motocross National and then just hung around for a couple of extra days. Then I went home to my house in Southern California, and just kind of hung out. I had hurt my ankle pretty good at Red Bud and was off the bike for about a month actually. I'd rode maybe twice, so I hadn't ridden a whole lot. I've been doing a bit of training and that. I just got started into things a couple of weeks ago.

How did you hurt your ankle? I guess my foot was sticking out going around a corner and my toe grabbed on the edge of a rut and just ripped it off the bike. I thought it was something that would get better straight away but it took longer than I thought. Then when I thought it was better, every time I would ride it hurt. So I ended up going to therapy for it and trying to heal it up a little quicker.

How is it now? It's pretty good, I mean it's still soar occasionally but nothing I can't deal with. So it's good!

Other than the ankle, how was your first AMA Pro MX racing experience? Oh man it was fun! I've always like doing motocross and that was one of the reasons I moved out to California was to get to practice motocross. Then to be able to get the green light to go

and do a National Motocross, especially a track like Red Bud was fun. I went in a little unprepared I think, but I had a good motor from Suzuki and good bike and everything, I think I just wasn't ready for it. Even though I have been out west practicing that stuff all year, still turning out to a race like that is a tad bit different than turning out to a GNCC. I mean I had a blast and I wanted to do some more, but I have to concentrate on the GNCC Championship at this time.

*Josh finished a 20th place moto 1 and 28th place in moto 2 his first time at an AMA Pro Motocross.

Is motocross something you have done before? Yeah, I did it a little bit, but I never was anybody. That‘s what I did when I was a kid because there were more tracks and it was more available to race on the weekends. I mean it's always fun and you get to race your dirt bike so it's got to be fun! Right? (Laughs)

Did you second guess your decision to race MX after you injured the ankle? (Laughs) No, you can't do that. We have a 10 week break and I can either go home and sit on the couch in California and not race because I have the points lead in GNCC or I can go out and ride and race and keep training and working on weaknesses or working on things to get better. It's the same for anyone; Charlie (Mullins) does the National Enduro and Whibs (Paul Whibley) O.M.A. Those guys don't sit on the couch and not race because there worried about getting injured, there still doing it and that's how it's done. You can't just look at it think "Man if I get injured then it's all going to be ruined". You have to do stuff to keep in shape and keep race ready.

Looks like the injury may have altered plans for the summer a bit? I was off the bike like I said about a month, so I didn't get to do any racing. I just did a fair bit of cycling and a fair bit of training. I actually did a triathlon couple of weeks after Red Bud, which actually wasn't good on the ankle either, but I like doing that kind of stuff as well. So I got to do a different kind of racing I guess.

Looks like the season started off great for you and then the challenges became greater, what is your take on the season so far? We had a good setup on the ‘09 which is the bike I raced the first three races and I felt good. Then we had that awful mess in North Carolina and then I clipped that tree (at Loretta Lynn's Round 5) and we had switched new bike and I don't think we had it set up just how I needed it. I struggled a little bit at that one after I hit the tree and then the two rocky ones at Pennsylvania and Snowshoe where last year I was one of the fastest guys at both of those races. There was something going on and we have got it all sorted out now and I feel so much better on the new bikes and I'm pretty stoked about going racing again.

Are you feeling any pressure right now? There's always pressure from the companies like Suzuki or whoever but I think I put the most pressure on myself to do good. When I don't I am hard on myself because I know how hard I have worked and how ready I make myself before the races so when I don't have a good race I think it is me that punishes myself the most. Suzuki knows how I can perform and how I train and all that kind of stuff. They can only say so much, it's me that has to finish the job.

So what are your thoughts on the final four rounds? Well at Unadilla I am just going to go there and race, I am probably going to take a rain coat because it always rains there, (laughs) but I mean I going to go in there like I did in Florida, I need to win this championship and I know that I am the fastest or one of the fastest guys on the track and I am going to race. That's the plan to keep racing each race as they come and hopefully keep racking up that championship points lead.

Sounds like you know what you have to do so good luck and go get ready to have some fun! Alright mate thanks! I would like to say a big thanks also to Team FMF/Makita/Suzuki and all those guys that help out. Also to Dunlop, we have been testing with them and I should be running some new stuff coming that we should be running after Unadilla which I am happy about. Then Chris my mechanic and Shane for helping me out these last few weeks and then obviously Rodney and Lori (Smith) for the training and that kind of stuff. I am looking good and hopefully I can make those guys look good at Unadilla.