by: Jared Bolton
Tuesday, January 21, 2014 | 8:25 PM
Chris Bach had a stellar 2013 season finishing the year 3rd place in the final overall standings, and did so as a true privateer. Bach recently landed a ride with the JCR Honda team who will be making their GNCC Racing debut in 2014. We caught up with Chris to talk about his 2013 season, plans for 2014, and more.
GNCCRacing.com: How's everything going today?
Chris Bach: Going good. Just finishing up training for the day with the boys
So first off, congrats on the new ride. Tell everyone about it.
Thanks. I’m obviously super excited for the opportunity. JCR and Honda have a 3 year agreement to tackle GNCC, and I’m ready to do my best to make it a successful venture for them.
How did that whole deal come together?
Well on the JCR Honda side I have no idea how it came about to come to the east coast. But basically Johnny reached out to me to see about my 2014 plans, we talked, and we felt it we would both be a great fit together. So here we are.
So it was actually a pretty quick process then?
Yeah, it was. Johnny runs a tight professional ship over there, so once we decided to run with this it went quick and seamless.
What was your first impression of the bike?
Everyone knows Honda has a great reputation. From cars to generators to the entire street and dirt motorcycle line up. Knowing Honda's racing history, I had high expectations going in. And to be honest, when I rode the JCR race bikes, they blew me away. Even with those high expectations. Johnny has been riding, testing, and winning on Honda’s almost as long as I’ve been alive, and that’s evident the first time you hit the track on one of his bikes.
So do you have an idea of what your first race on the Honda will be?
It’ll be round 1 of GNCC. Going to lay low this year. I know where I need to be with our program come March, so we are going to just focus on getting there and giving it our best effort.
That’s definitely impressive! You had a pretty stellar 2013 season as well. Tell everyone how it went from your perspective.
2013 was a dream season. Despite the challenges, peaks and valleys, it was great. I’m very proud of our success last year.
And you really showed that consistency is key.
Absolutely. We didn’t set the world on fire, but we proved a lot of points and did it our way. We were contenders every race, and we were able to eliminate having some of the issues the other guys did and it worked out well.
Is there anything you would've liked to have done differently in 2013?
Honestly, no. I wouldn’t want more money, more support, better bikes, more wins, nothing. It was so hard last year. People have no idea, really. If they knew the actual race budget we had, they would say our results weren’t possible. But we did it. And as a racer, I feel like going through last year and having the results, it has mentally put me in a really good place for 2014.
How do you expect the 2014 season to go aboard the new ride?
No expectations. We’re going to build a great program, and give it 100%. That’s all we can do. Everyone put in 100% and hopefully it’ll be a championship contending season for us, and we will be in contention for race wins.
Alright, before we wrap this up, who would you like to thank?
Dale Cooke, Bart Hayes, Ben Weathers, and all my 2013 sponsors. Those guys made it what it was. Really can’t thank them enough. And I’d like to extend a big thanks to JCR and American Honda and all our team sponsors for 2014. I’m looking forward to working with everyone, learning, and turning that all into results.