5 MINUTES WITH CHUCKY NORRIS

Mate, right now you’re in the car on the way to the airport to grab a flight to New Zealand for the remaining Nitro Circus stops. Was that planned or are you filling in for the injured Cam Sinclair?

Yeah, I was first reserve for the tour. I spoke to the athlete manager after Cam hurt himself and originally they were just going to roll without him there, but I got a call last week saying they wanted to add another person into their trains and syncro sections, so I was fortunate enough to get the call to head over.

We just scored some pics of you riding at Cam’s demo at the Melbourne Casino and also riding with the Hart and Huntington boys down there, so it looks like you’ve been busy… Have you been doing a lot of riding though?

Yeah, lately I’ve found the fun in riding again. So I’ve been riding more than I usually would and having a ball doing it. That gig at the Casino was awesome and getting to ride with the other hart boys is always good fun.

Are you still working mate or are you making a crust out of riding at the moment?

At the moment it’s pretty much just riding. My boss is kinda funny… He’s usually down with me going away on tour or something, but when I get back he’s over it and usually lays me off. (laughs) So right now, yeah, it’s just the riding. It’s all good though, the money’s there at the moment and we just bought a house so I can’t complain.

Is the plan to jump on the regional Nitro Tour as well?

Yep, I’ve had a contract for that tour for a while now. I’ll be doing every stop of the Australian regional tour, which is awesome. I love being on tour with those guys.

Have all these tours and shows motivated you to learn some new tricks or revive some old ones again?

For sure. For the regional tour I’ll have my Cordova flips back and I want to be throwing KOD flips again. I started doing them just before Christmas again, but one went crooked on me and I went down and broke my finger. A broken finger has to be one of the most annoying injuries ever and it’s still all jacked up now. It’s stuck in the one position, but luckily they set it with a bend so I can still hang onto the grip fine.

You seem to have pretty good longevity in your career mate. What do you put that down to?

I think having the kids made me focus a lot more. That was the motivation for me to get fit, which helps me enjoy riding the bike more. I love the travelling around and I get to bring the family with me a lot of the time, which makes it even better. It’s almost like a work/holiday sometimes, so if I can keep doing it and stay fit and injury free I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.

Still got a few more years left in ya?

(laughs) Yeah, the old dog still has a few more in him.

Catching up with H&H Athlete Dan McCoy

Not satisfied with his current ninth overall in the Monster Energy MX Nationals MX1 class at the halfway point, McCoy set off to America in the mid-season break to hone his skills in a bid to improve his results.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with McCoy, who hails from Sydney, to talk about his US trip, the outdoor season to date, two-stroke training and the new-look Australian Supercross Championship coming up this later year.

You took a recent trip to America in the mid-season break, what did you get up to over there?

Basically the plan was to go there and ride as much as I could in the four-week trip. I wanted to get my speed up, my fitness and most of all ride some good tracks.

The tracks around home have been really bad and there’s just nowhere to ride around home, so that was the plan for the trip to just get some good bike time.

Do you think that time in America will help you improve in the second half of the Monster Energy MX Nationals series?

Yeah, for sure. I rode 18 times over there in four weeks and did two races within that time. Just the bike time is obviously going to be the biggest advantage compared to riding here in Australia.

The way the weather has been here and the tracks we have to ride, they just don’t hold up to what we are trying to achieve. So I’m definitely more confident now, I’ve got a better bike setup and I’m pretty much ready to go.

You currently sit ninth overall in the MX1 standings, are you happy with how the first half of the outdoor season has gone for you?

No, definitely not. I’m not happy one bit with any of my rounds out of the first five of the series. It’s hard doing what we are doing as a privateer team and we hoped and planned to get a lot more sponsorship for the team and it hasn’t worked out.

So to be sitting where I am in the championship sucks, because I know I can do better than that, but it’s difficult driving a van around trying to achieve decent results.

I’m looking forward now though – that was then and this is now. I’m definitely a lot more confident and I feel a lot better on the bike, mentally I feel great as well, so I’m looking forward to it.

You’ve been seen practicing locally on a 250 two-stroke, is that something you do often within your training program?

I love my two-strokes and I always loved them, you can learn so much from riding a two-stroke with flowing and carrying corner speed, and it just makes it exciting. Riding everyday is obviously what I love to do, but it’s good throw something different into your program.

They’re just a lot of fun, they’re hard to go fast on and when you do go fast on one it’s a great feeling. So it’s always something that I’ve liked doing, I’ve got two 250 two-strokes at home and I just love them. If I wasn’t racing the MX1 Class I’d be racing the 250 two-stroke in the MX2 class.

In 2012 you made the move to the Hart and Huntington/InsureMyRide privateer team effort, how is that working out for you so far?

Kale [Wallis] from Airstyle Imports has been trying as hard as he can to get sponsors, to get noticed and to develop the team, we all work together in trying to make the team bigger and better all the time.

But when we don’t have TV time and good exposure for what we’re doing out there, it’s hard to attract sponsorship from outside of the sport especially and sponsors inside the sport are doing it tough, from what they tell us.

So it’s hard to move forward and it’s hard to get on top of it. It’s only the first year, but if things don’t change with the motocross series the Hart and Huntington team probably won’t be there next year, we’ll just be looking more forward to supercross.

Finally, with the Australian Supercross Championship schedule now announced for 2012. What do you think of the new series and are you looking forward to it coming in as the current number three rider on the 450?

Yeah, definitely. I’m super excited that [Yarrive] Konsky has got a hold of the championship, he’s so passionate about the sport and I’m sure he will do the right thing for the sport. It’s great to have someone like him take control.

I really enjoy supercross, it’s definitely what I’m better at. I believe I’m better at it purely because it’s easier to have a supercross track, maintain it and be on top of it.

So I’m super excited, I can’t wait. I wish we could have a 10 round supercross series and a four round motocross series [laughs]. But it’s going to be great, especially if they hold a race at then MotoGP, the crowd is going to be the biggest a supercross has ever seen.

H&H AU MX Nationals 2012 – Round 4 Wanneroo WA


Melbourne, VIC (18th May, 2012) – The Hart and Huntington / InsureMyRide Suzuki race team made the big trip west to sunny Western Australia for the fourth round of the series which was to be held at AJS motorcycle club in Wanneroo WA.

With the track in great condition on Saturday as it had been raining most of the week conditions were prime for practice and qualifying on Saturday. Sunday was to be a different story as the track was one of the roughest we have seen, this would defiantly be a race for men and not boys.

With a not so good qualifying this left Lewis to prepare over night for his back to back race on Sunday and moto 3 which was again the 30 minute moto. After some minor changes on the Saturday and some track time Lewis was feeling comfortable with riding sand again. He managed a great start in the first of the back to back 15 minute motos and rode very well picking of some riders and maintained his position for a solid 5th spot finish. He lined straight back up for the second moto and got a cracker of a start and battled the whole race and finished in 7th place. After the races Lewis commented on the fact his bike is running the best it has all season and seem to be very happy as Brian from EBT had done a great job again. Lewis lined up for a the 30 minute moto and got off to a flyer of a start and was running in 4th position for quite a while after getting passed by two of the factory riders, lewis maintained seventh for the finish, with an overall result of 6th Lewis Woods has had his best outing for the season so far.

With a decent qualifying session and some minor crashes Dan prepared overnight as much as he could for Sunday. Lining up for the back to back 15′s and some good starts the track was well and truly rough but the end of the motos, with big holes and big whoops starting to appear. Dan had two top ten finishes in the first two motos (5th and 8th), a rim needed to be changed due to a flat spot as the track was getting rough. DMC then lined up feeling fresh for the 30 minute moto as he launched off to a great start he got the jump on everyone, but due to the outside line he found himself in about 5th to 8th position for first lap battling the factory riders. Line choice was what it was all about, the lines into some of the corners resembled a rhythm section on a Supercross track with doubling the breaking bumps into some of the corners. With Dan rounding off the last moto in 8th place which left him 7th overall.

Lewis now sits in 9th place in the MX2 championship and Dan also sits in 9th place in the MX1 championship. Both riders were stoked on how good the PIRELLI tires were in the sand and cannot wait to continue the good form into round 5 at Murray Bridge this weekend.

The Hart and Huntington / InsureMyRide Suzuki team gears up for Murray Bridge SA, for 1 day scheduled race on Sunday May 20th for the fifth round of the 2012 Monster Energy MX Nationals.

NIce photo gallery from H&H FMX aussie Chucky Norris