5 Minutes with Dean Wilson

By Eric Johnson

Great Britain, located to the northwest of Continental Europe, is comprised of the territories of England, Scotland and Wales. On December 28, 1991 in Glasgow, Scotland, a child named Dean Wilson was born. At age none, Wilson and his family moved to Canada and Dean began to excel at the sport of motocross. At age 14, Dean moved to California and he’s been here since. In 2009, Wilson, a 13-time amateur champion and 2009 AMA Horizon Award winner, was drafted onto Mitch Payton’s omnipotent Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki outfit. With 2010 being his rookie season, Wilson has impressed ALL with his riding. Competitive in Supercross and currently a fighting third in the 2010 AMA 250 Pro Motocross Championship, Wilson has been the sensation of the year. And for this reason, his name has come up with others in regard of what international riders currently competing in the United States of America will compete for what countries come the 2010 Motocross of Nations come September 26 at Thunder Valley Motocross Park outside of Denver, Colorado. As can be ascertained from Wilson’s upbringing, choosing a nation to ride for in the greatest motocross race in the world could get a bit tricky. And it has. On Thursday afternoon, I ran into Dean Wilson at Pro Circuit. While there, he mentioned that he had a few things that he wanted to talk about, so out came the tape recorder.

Dean, you went 6-6 at Washougal, a couple small falls in the early stages of both motos taking you out of the mix. A rough day for you?

Yeah, Washougal was a little bit rough for me because I was going into the race second in points. Canard was on a roll and I didn’t really want to lose second. In the first moto I was behind Canard and sitting in second and had a real good get-off. I hit my head pretty hard and saw stars and it took me a while to get up. And once I got up I was pretty far behind and had to work my way through the pack and I ended up sixth. It wasn’t what I wanted, so I just wanted to regroup and get ready for the second moto. In the second moto I was up there. I was fourth off the start and then I just fell over and then people were all running over my back and it took me forever to get going. So then once I got going I was way behind again. I was able to catch up to sixth, so I went 6-6 for fifth overall. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I salvaged the day. I just need to move on and just focus on Unadilla because I can’t dwell on the past. I’m sitting third in points and people would die to be in my position so I just got to keep training hard and see where it takes me.

With four races remaining on the schedule, you’re only 48 points out of the first place in the championship. By no means are you out of this thing…

I’ve been pretty consistent going through the series. I’ve been on the box a lot and that’s just where I want to be – is on the box. Sometimes you don’t have the best days and I had that last weekend. Now hopefully that’s over with and I just have to be consistent and stay on the box.

You’ve won an overall, a moto, have three second place finishes and four third place score thus far in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship Series. Did you think you would be so successful in your rookie year?

Well, I mean I prepared well for it. I have a lot of good people in my corner helping me and Mitch [Payton] has me on the best bike out there, so I kind of expected it from myself. But I really didn’t know what was going to happen because it’s a pretty fast class. I’m just stoked to be in the position that I am because if you would have told me last year that I would be here I probably wouldn’t have believed it, but here I am and it’s pretty awesome.

There are four races to go on the in the 250 Motocross National Championship. What’s the plan? Pin it and just try to get to the front?

Yeah, well I want to get back to second in points. It’s not going to be an easy task, but we’ll just have to see how it goes. It’s going to take really good starts. Pretty much if you want to win you have to get good starts. So I’m going to have to get good starts and work hard during the week and see what happens. It’s hard to predict the future. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and hope it works out for me.

Okay, the talk of 2010 Motocross of Nations and just what riders will be riding for what nations has already started. In fact, there’s been some chatter inside the industry of just what you’ll do come the race in September. Have you made any sort of decision on anything?

Yeah, I made my decision. It was definitely not an easy one. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. It was really hard. I’m going Team Great Britain. There was just a lot of politics within the Canadian team, which kind of sucks. I’m just going to ride for Team Great Britain. I was born in Scotland. I’ve lived there longer than I ever lived in Canada or America. I mean, it’s kind of something I’ve always wanted to do. To do it for them is going to be pretty awesome because I have lots of family there. I really want to do it for my grandpa, as well. He’s 88 and he’s a true Scotsman and he wants me to do it so bad. It will be awesome to do it for him and all of my family.

Is your grandpa still in Scotland?

Yeah, he still lives in Scotland. All of my family lives in Scotland. I have some family that loves in Toronto, but for the most part, they are all in Scotland. It’s just a tough decision for me because I rode for Canada last year. I kind of feel a little bit disrespectful and like I’m turning my back on them, but I’m not turning my back on them, it’s just the decision I’ve made. I’m a racer, I’m not a politician. If I had Colton [Facciotti], Dusty [Klatt] and myself on the Canadian team, that would be a great team. I believe we could be top five. But even if we had those two riders, I still made my decision and it’s going to be with Great Britain. I’m just fortunate to have an opportunity to be on that team. I’m pretty grateful for that.

Do you know who your teammates are yet?

I’m not sure who my teammates are. I think it’s possibly its [Tommy] Searle and [Shaun] Simpson, but I’m really not sure. We’ll just have to see.

Do you know those dudes at all?

I don’t know Shaun Simpson at all, but he’s from Scotland, as well. Tommy Searle, I always see him around. I don’t know… I don’t think he’s very pumped with me being on the team because I listened to him on DMXS. But, you know, whatever. It’s my decision. I hope I don’t lose too many Canadian fans, but I’ve really appreciated all the support that I got in Canada. There’s a lot of good people who helped me out there. There’s a lot of good sponsors and I have a lot of great friends up in Canada. Canada is my second home, but Scotland is definitely my first.

Due to your decision, do you think you’ll take any heat from the Canadian fans?

I’m kind of expecting it, but at the same time a lot of people know my situation and they know where I’m from. I hope I don’t lose any fans from the UK or Canada. I mean I know some people from the UK aren’t too pumped on my decision, but it’s the decision I made and I’m just going to give it my best effort and that’s all I can do.