MXA INTERVIEW: MARVIN MUSQUIN TALKS ABOUT HIS INDIANAPOLIS WIN

In a crazy night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, in an already very crazy 2018 Monster Energy Supercross season, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin captured his second main event win. Musquin gapped the entire field, and never looked out of sorts on the extremely technical track. In taking the win, Musquin gained some ground on point’s leader Jason Anderson. However he still trails the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider by 35 points. After the press conference we had a few minutes to ask Marvin about his race.

BY JIM KIMBALL

MARVIN, YOU HAD AN AWESOME DAY IN INDIANAPOLIS. YOU SET THE FAST TIME IN QUALIFYING AND DOMINATED THE MAIN EVENT. I always love it here, because it gets super radical, and technical. I won twice on the 250, and now finally on the 450, so that means a lot. It makes it really special in Indianapolis, as it was a very tough track. But all day long I have been saying that I wanted to be creative, smart, smooth, that is what I did and I am really happy.

YOU HAD SUCH A HUGE GAP OVER SECOND. WITH THAT TYPE OF LEAD HOW CAN YOU STILL STAY FOCUSED, AND NOT LOSE CONCENTRATION? Yes, that was s tough. To be honest, I was struggling to look at the pit board, and I did not know exactly how much my lead was. Before (Eli) Tomac went down, I looked for him after the finish line, and we had the whole straightaway gap on third place. Then obviously Tomac went down, and then the gap was huge. But still it was hard because after Tomac went down, I was like “O.K. I got this”, but then realized that I maybe still had over ten laps to go. That is a lot and to be honest, my rhythm was kind of weird. I was not trying really hard. I was just trying to hit my marks. I changed my riding because I was not pushing as much, because I had such a big lead.

“It was hard because after Tomac went down, I was like “O.K. I got this”, but then realized that I maybe still had over ten laps to go.”

WERE YOU AWARE OF ALL THE CRAZY ACTION BEHIND YOU? Well, obviously I heard the crowd when Tomac crashed, and then after that, it was a lot of lappers. Obviously those guys are racing for their place, so it was kind of hard to go around them sometimes. Also because my speed was not like at the beginning, and I was not pushing as hard, so when you lap a guy like Bagget or Cooper Webb, it was strange. Those guys are really good, and I was not much faster than them, so, it was definitely a crazy, and weird race.

YOU ARE IN SECOND PLACE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, AND JASON ANDERSON HAS A DECENT LEAD; IS IT OVER? No, it is not over; it is like 35 points now. So it is a lot of points, but if I look back, I wish I had won at Daytona the way I was going the first few laps. But hey that is racing and we are here today in Indy and I got a win. Jason got a fourth place, and I gained a little bit of points, and that is what we need.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL PLANS WITH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND OFF? No, maybe ride a little bit of outdoors to change it up, which will be nice. We have a solid program, so I am confident in what I am doing. It has been a crazy season, but we have been enjoying it.

SPEAKING OF CRAZY, THE WEATHER WAS TERRIBLE IN INDIANAPOLIS. OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE RACING INSIDE A STADIUM, BUT DID THE SNOWSTORM OUTSIDE AFFECT YOU AT ALL? Not really, but obviously we stayed in the semi, and no tents were put out. I am lucky to have my own motor home so that makes it really, really nice but that is cool to see that and it is in Indy and we have a beautiful stadium and it is warm and covered and pretty cool to see all that snow outside.

YOU PROBABLY DON’T SEE THAT IN CALIFORNIA OR FLORIDA! No, actually you do not see that in Florida very often or anywhere else, so I think it was really cool. I did not expect that much though. They closed the pits for the fans because basically there is nothing to see. Everything was closed, and everyone was inside, but I think the fan attendance was good today.

WRAPPING UP, JUSTIN BRAYTON, DEAN WILSON, AND YOURSELF ALL SEEMED VERY HAPPY AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE. MAYBE YOU ARE ALL NOT BEST FRIENDS, BUT HOW COOL WAS IT TO BE ON THE PODIUM WITH THEM? For sure, tonight was pretty cool with me getting a win, Justin taking a third, and Dean his first podium. Tonight was really fun to see those two guys up here. I have a lot of respect for Justin. It has been a few years now that I raced against him, along with the overseas supercross racing we did in December. He is such a good dude, and it is inspiring to see him do so well after these years, so that is awesome.

2018 INDIANAPOLIS SUPERCROSS | FULL COVERAGE