OCT 26-SEAN HAMBLIN INTERVIEW

We were fortunate enough catch up with the elusive Sean Hamblin after a fun-filled Spy ride day at Cahuilla Creek. After pulling up some tailgate space on his truck, we couldn’t help but stick the mic in front of his face and ask a few questions. After all, what is Ham-bone doing next year? Here’s what Sean had to say.

Sean, what are you doing for next year?

[Laughter] No beating around the bush in this interview! Right now we’ve got a few things going on. I’m with Alloy gear again next year, and Mitch Payton has been a big help to me. The biggest help right now has been Scott Sepkovic. He’s really stepped in and is helping me out as much as he can. He’s been around the industry a long time and he has a lot of contacts. Yesterday I took my maiden voyage on a ’05 KX250, which was good.

What did you think of the bike?

I think that the bike is really good. For a stock bike it definitely surprised me. Mitch [Payton] put a Pro Circuit pipe and silencer on it, some Renthal bars, and I think the mechanics jetted the bike a bit too. Honestly, I barely even touched the suspension and like I said for a stock bike it surprised me. It handled well and I’m moving forward and getting the bike a little more customized to my liking.

Since you were out at Cahuilla Creek riding the new KX, we take it that you’re not going to be racing lawn mowers?

I plan on racing a dirt-cycles [laughter]. Naw, I’m going to race the 250 class. I’m not going to step down. Bubba is coming in and there are going to be a lot of guys going for it next year. I think with whom I have behind me and with the new trainer, this should be one of my best supercross years ever.

Who is your trainer?

His name is Marcus and he lives down in San Diego. He used to work for the Special Forces for the U.S., so he knows a lot about what my body can take and what it can’t. We just started working together and I’m already amazed by the stuff this guy makes me do. We probably haven’t even gotten into what we should be doing, and all I can say is after every day that I’m done is that I’m glad that I’m done! It’s only an hour solid of working out with this guy, but I wish it was only 20 minutes. In an hour of working out with him, I get more out of that than two full days at the gym working out by myself. It’s unreal. The guy knows his stuff and it’s great to have someone like that behind me. He won’t let me give up. It’s just push, push, push until my body can’t take it anymore.

Recently you were riding a YZ450F, but now you made the switch to Kawasaki. Are you getting any factory backing from the green team?

I don’t know. Nothing is really completely done. Mitch was kind enough to get me a bike so that I could start riding. I passed up on an opportunity to go to Italy this week. I was supposed to leave Thursday, but we didn’t get the bike in time. I felt that I shouldn’t go unless I was prepared, and right now I’m not going to step foot on a track if I know that I can’t win. Especially over in Italy because there are going to be a lot of good guys. I don’t want to knock myself down after what I’ve already been through. Right now I’m just looking forward to going out to the first supercross swinging.

Are you going to be contesting the World Supercross series?

Yes, I’ll end up doing the World Supercrosses in Canada with the help of my old team from Canada, Two Wheel Kawasaki and also Richmond Kawasaki. They’re going to give me a bike and possibly my old team manager will be my mechanic when I’m up there. It will be kind of cool, because my girlfriend’s family is from Toronto. I’ll have quite a few Canadians up there cheering me on [laughter]. It’ll be pretty cool.

What are your pre-season expectations?

As far as World rounds go, I want to go there and give some guys some fits. Many people feel that supercross isn’t my strong point, and I’d have to agree with them, but I’m definitely going to work my butt off to be as good indoors as I am outdoors. I look forward to putting in good results and it’s going to be all or nothing. This is me from now on. A lot of people didn’t think I originally deserved a factory ride, but I’ll be able to do it on a privateer bike just as easily as I was able to do it on a factory bike. I don’t see any problems.

Did Suzuki leave a bad taste in your mouth?

No, honestly I give those guys all the credit in the world for even taking a chance on me. I wish that I could have furthered my career with them and stuck with them all the way to the end, but they have things that they have to deal with.
At the time Sebastien [Tortelli] was putting in the better results and I got hurt at Budds Creek and it took me quite a while to bounce back. Then I got hurt again at Unadilla and didn’t really ride too well at Troy or Washougal because I was hurting pretty badly. Then at Binghamton, Steel City, and especially Glen Helen things started turning around. I always ride well at Glen Helen, and I felt that I should have been on the box at that race, but what can you do?
All in all, I think Suzuki did the right thing. They’re a professional team and they know what they want. It was very fortunate for me to come in and try to fill the shoes of Kevin Windham and Travis Pastrana in 2002. I thank Suzuki again for giving me a shot and hopefully in the future we can get something back together.

In 2002 did you even expect to be with Suzuki?

In 2000 and 2001, no way. I was just looking forward to making the program at an outdoor National, let alone be on a factory team. At that point everybody had turned their backs from what I had been doing and I was bummed out. But I kept pushing and trying, and I gave myself another month before I was going to pursue other options at making a living. It was awesome with what came around. I had everything start going my way, which was pretty cool.

In this day and age with production bikes being better and better, do you think that you even need to have a factory ride to put in top results?

I don’t think you need to be a factory rider to put in the top results, I think you need to have the drive, the want, and the hunger to do it. I think that if Ricky [Carmichael] was on a privateer 450 this year he still would have done what he did. That guy has so much heart, determination, and will power just to push through anything that somebody throws at him. That’s what he did this year. He was faced with a knee injury, came out swinging at Hangtown, and never stopped swinging. Me, I’m looking forward to proving everybody wrong again.