GNCCRacing.com: Congrats on your recent XC2 podiums! How were they?

Austin Lee: They were good, I’m excited to be putting it up on the box again! I felt like I was where I belong. I was a little behind the ball at the beginning of the season, with getting bikes and bike setup, we were just running a little behind. But all I needed was a little time to get everything worked out, and everything seems to be coming together now.

I assumeyou were excited heading into X-Factor, since you’re from Indiana?

I didn’t know how it was going to go with all the rain they’ve gotten up there. I’d ridden that place in the mud before, and usually there isn’t much bottom to it. Going into it though I felt ready for the mud because a lot of our local races this year have been mudders, so that was good practice and gave me some extra confidence going in. Since I’d done well there in the past that helped too. 

And how did the race itself go for you?

I got a good start for once and was actually third around the pins. But then six corners in I tucked the front wheel out in the field and got ran over by most of my class. That wasn’t great (laughs). Our class tends to go pretty slow and take their time on the first lap, so even though I was in last I was able to make passes faster than I expected. I caught up to Ben [Kelly] and usually I try to gage my first lap off of him because he’s really patient and takes his time at first. It was a nine-rider battle there at the beginning, but after the first pit is was Craig [Delong] and I by ourselves. Towards the end I ran into some problems, especially with lappers. I’m a bit frustrated with that, we didn’t execute a perfect race by no means, and I still have a lot of work to do as far as executing the race well though. But we are getting better!

What do you mean by “execute the race well”?

Like putting the race together well. It’s racecraft in general. Like making the right decisions at the right time. I hadn’t really been up in front yet this year, and to run that pace comfortably so you still are making smart decisions is tough. I really just need more time up front to work on that.

What does it mean to you to be on the podium in your home state? Kind of makes it extra special, right?

Yeah, it was pretty cool! All of my buddies were there and a lot of the spectators were pointing lines and hollering and cheering when I went past. I got a lot of texts after the race from people I know who were at the race congratulating me and saying I rode well. That really makes you feel good!

What has your program looked like this year, as far as riding and training goes?

I’ve been training hard and feel like I have a pretty good program. I just moved back up to Indiana again, and it’s good to be home  – during the winter I was training down south. I started out in Florida training with Bryce Koster at his house and then the past couple months I’ve been in Morganton, NC training with Trevor Bollinger a little bit.

Going back a bit, how did you get started riding and racing in the first place?

My dad grew up riding dirt bikes, and when I was young, he raced in the GNCCs. So, I was always going to the races with him and as soon as I could start racing GNCCs, I did. I believe I would have been about seven at that point, because I was racing 65s.

And then when did you start racing in the pro class?

I was fifteen when I signed a deal to race XC2 for Yamaha, and I was sixteen when I actually started racing in XC2.

I had actually planned on asking if you had always raced for Honda, since you’d been on them about as long as I can remember, but I guess you answered that for me already.

Yeah, I was just on Yamaha that first year, and after that I went to Honda.

Speaking of Honda, tell us a little bit about this new team you’re on! It’s nice to see that Honda still has a presence here on the east coast.

It is good! Phoenix Honda came in and wanted to run and off-road team, to fill the void that we had on the east coast. Just me and Andrew DeLong riding for them this year, but there’s still a really good presence. The team is involved in a lot of other kinds of racing too, they do the 4-wheeler pro nationals, Arenacross and Supercross, which is pretty cool. The ATV riders have been preforming especially well! So even though they might be a new name for a lot of GNCC people they have been around for a while. The team is still learning when it comes to GNCC, they’re really just getting their feet wet now, and they are getting better every weekend.

How does Phoenix compare to the other ways you’ve gotten support from Honda?

With JCR it was factory support, so basically you have everything you could ever ask for. Because Phoenix is factory-supported as well, it’s very similar in that you have anything you could ever want from Honda, and the team has been very good about giving me everything I need to be successful and be the best I can possibly be on the weekends. My support as a privateer from a local shop was also pretty good. It was a lot more work though because I had to do stuff on my own and manage individual sponsors. It was nice because of the freedom, but there was a lot of work involved. I’m not scared of work though!

Do you have any goals for this season?

Yes. Now that I’ve been on the box, I don’t want to leave it the rest of the year! And I’m not gonna be happy with my performance if I’m anything short of that.

What is one interesting thing about that you that is not related to motorcycles or motorsports?

I really like riding bicycles! If I didn’t race motorcycles I would probably be racing bicycles.