Tuesday Toolbox with ....
Justin Williamson!
The hard working Red Bull KTM rider Justin Williamson has busted through for his first win in the GNCC XC2 Lites class. Now he's working to get another one. He's been riding and training up near our headquarters in Morgantown, WV, and when he stopped in today for a tour of the office, we had a chat with him.
 There's that shiny new trophy! Scearce photo |
Justin, what are you doing in Morgantown?
Well I’ve got some good friends that live around here off of Hallick road. I’ve been riding with Kailub Russell, Layne Michael, just a lot of good people and good places to ride, so we’re having a lot of fun.
You’re the full factory guy now, but you’re still friends with all of the people you’ve met on the road over the last few years?
Yeah. We’ve had to make those connections in order to stay on the road and do what we’re doing. Now that we’re on the factory team, we’ve stuck with those friends, and it makes it that much easier.
KTM has allowed you to integrate your program with theirs. You still have the website, for example.
Yeah, it’s real good. Antti saw what we had, and I think he liked it and saw it would be a benefit for KTM, too. It gives them more exposure. The reason we started it was to give me more exposure, and try to take things to another level. I think we’re doing it, we have good videos on there right now and people seem to like it.
One of the things I read on your site recently is how much money it has cost your family to do this. I’m sure if people see your rig, your bikes, and your uncles there helping you over the last few years, that they would think you had everything handed to you. But it has cost your family a lot to do this.
Definitely. You can’t even imagine the amount of time, money and probably sanity to make it through this! But it’s all paying off big time, the factory team is great and we have great support.
So you finally got a win. What had to change over the course of the last few rounds to get on top?
Well, I think, like we talked about at the last few GNCC rounds, getting that podium in Florida kind of surprised me. I think I had my guard off, thinking I was all ready to go for the next few rounds. I did some training, but I didn’t really step it up. But then it was like a downward spiral, you know? So we regrouped, got back up to Ohio, and Antti was up there working with me. I did a lot more training and working out, and we did a lot of motocross practice. Antti helped me work on little techniques to help me pick up my speed. It paid off at The John Penton. It was a dry, fast, dusty race and I went out there and did my thing like I had been doing the last few weeks, and it worked out perfectly.
When you signed on that team, it seemed like a great move, because everyone figured the 250Fs would struggle in mud, and you’re a great mud rider. But that’s not even a factor this year. Have you forced yourself to step up in the dry?
Yeah. Everyone has thought of me as a mud rider. I’m in contention to be right at the top in a mud race, even overall, but I really surprised myself at Loretta Lynn’s. It was a dry, fast, rocky race, and I’ve really dialed in my regular hard-packed, dry race skills. I’ve always been a little cautious in those races. You’re at such a fast pace that it’s easy to accidentally go down and get hurt. But in the mud, it’s different, the pace is so slow and gnarly that it’s harder to get hurt. But lately, I’ve picked it up to where I am able to go fast and still feel confident that I won’t crash and get hurt.
 J Dubs is going faster in the dry. Hooper photo |
Talk about the competition in that class. It’s deep. It seems like you are able to pick up the strengths and weaknesses of each of these riders to figure out how to beat them.
It’s almost like you need to do that, pick up on the strengths and weaknesses of each rider. You need to know where you can pass them, and where they might pass you. You know, everyone, from Dustin and Rodney in the last race, to everyone else, it seems like everyone has picked up their game this year. The XC2 guys are finishing in the top seven overall on a 250F. So everyone has stepped up.
What did it mean to get that win at the John Penton, in front of the KTM brass, and it was Mother’s Day, and I know that’s special to you.
Yeah, it was the perfect deal. We had John Penton there himself, and with Mother’s Day, with my mom passing away a few years ago, I couldn’t have picked a better day to win.
Rodney checked out early and he was gone. I know these are long races, but early on, did you think you were too far back? Or where you confident it would all come back to you?
Well, I have to admit. In that race, I was a little down on myself at the beginning, because I was pretty far back, maybe fourth or fifth, and at one point sixth. So I was just figuring first and second had checked out and was several minutes ahead. But I looked at the lap times after the race, and I saw they were never more than maybe 30 seconds ahead. That let me catch up to them, and about halfway through I had caught Rodney and Thad and Dustin. So I was in contention, and I knew I could get the win if I did everything right, and that’s what happened.
You seem to like having a chance to race Rodney Smith.
You know it’s always good to have someone faster to race with, so you could learn. You know, if I was dominating this class every week and winning every time, I would have no one to learn from, and I could even start digressing every week. The XC2 class, I’m learning all the time. It’s good to have Rodney in there, it’s picked up our speed and made us more consistent. I thought I could beat him and I finally did, so it’s a big turning point in this series.
Does KTM have you to win this title, or is this a more long-term thing.
Well, obviously this is a long term thing, but KTM would love to win the championship. But if Rodney sticks around for the whole series and beats me a few times, and if he’s consistent and wins the title, it’s still a long-term deal. But, if I keep picking my speed up, I can pick up more wins and maybe pull ahead. There’s time to learn, but it would be great to win that championship.
How much of a relief was it to win this championship.
It was a big relief. But it wasn’t terrible to KTM, they know I had a few problems with my knee and stuff, and they’re really supporting me, which makes it a nice team atmosphere.
Do you have to work on the knee still?
Yeah, everyday I have to work on stuff like leg curls, and I have to stretch it everyday. It can bother me in muddy races where you have to put your foot down and pull the bike around a bit, but luckily we haven’t had those conditions. It’s getting better every day, though.
You’re racing Moto-X-Country this weekend?
Yeah, I hear Charlie is doing it, maybe Barry, Kailub Russell will be there, so it’s a good time.
Doing some more motocross practice lately?
Yeah. I’m getting it down in the corners, how to attack them with precision, and I’m really learning to get perfect with my corners from racing motocross.
No racing it any time soon?
We’re not doing this to become a top motocross racer, I just do it to be a top racer in the GNCC Series.
Check out www.williamsonracing.com for the latest on Justin's racing career.
