5 Minutes with Mike Alessi

Jagermeister/FMF KTM’s Mike Alessi has struggled more this year than he probably has ever in his career. However, before Southwick, he tested some with his team on his KTM 350 SX/F and found some new stuff, and it showed. Alessi went 3-4 for second overall on the day.

In the press conference you were talking about sort of burying yourself. I know a lot of riders have done that, where you do bad, so you try harder, and then you do worse, and you try even harder… Eventually, you’re in such a deep hole that you don’t really know where you’re going, right?
?Mike Alessi: Exactly. Even in life, it applies. When you start pushing so hard and trying to recover from a bad weekend, it’s like anything, when you start trying harder you’re actually going backward. I feel like that was kind of what happened. Halfway through the season, I started realizing that things aren’t going the right way at all, and I think I just continued down that path. I kind of struggled with bike setup going down the wrong road thinking maybe this setting was better. Ultimately, though, I woke up Sunday morning after Unadilla and I just thought to myself, “13-13?!” I mean, that’s the worst I’ve ever done – 13th place. I woke up that morning and said I need to go for a run just to kind of clear my head and find myself again. I feel like halfway through the season, I kind of lost Mike Alessi there. It was tough for me, because I kept trying so hard and working so hard and I was actually doing worse every weekend. I started off winning [the second moto at Hangtown], then I went to a third-place guy, then I went to a fifth-place guy, then to an eighth-place guy, then to a tenth-place guy, and then finally I hit rock bottom at 13th. I realized what happened. “Who am I? What’s going on?” I think I finally hit that spot where I lost myself. The last two weeks, I’ve been working hard, training hard, running on the beach [in Florida]; doing whatever it took – swimming, road biking. Finally, it paid off this weekend. It feels really good. My team has really stuck behind me and they’re working hard. It really hasn’t been a great season, to say the least – it’s been pretty disappointing. I feel like this is a good way to turn around and possibly end the season strong and keep the momentum going. It feels good.

I know, for example, Jake Weimer last year at High Point started both motos in second place and he finished the day with no points. That was his breaking point where he’s like, “What’s going on with me?” There was a weekend off after that, and he literally did nothing for two weeks. He didn’t ride, he didn’t do anything. He played with his RC cars and then won the next race at Colorado.
?For some people, it’s different. They have to take it out some way.

It’s about interrupting the pattern…
?going on. “Why is this happening? Who am I?” Like you said with Weimer, you kind of lose yourself. “I started second both motos and ended the weekend with no points. What happened? Why is that?” You get so frustrated then you try harder and you actually go backward, I think. That’s what happened. I really say thank you again to my team. It’s been tough and Friday we practically stayed almost until dark at some track about an hour away and got some good settings. I was pretty dang happy and left there thinking, “It’s probably going to be a good weekend.” They stuck it out until nearly dark and I was happy that we did that. I’m sure they’re happy, too, now that we did that and the weekend is over. It’s good. We’re going to go home and keep working hard and keep training hard and go to Steel City and do the same thing – try to be on the podium and try to get some good starts. I got some good starts today. The first moto, I started about tenth and worked my way up to fourth. Luckily, I got a break with [Brett] Metcalfe running out of gas, so I got third. It was good finally moving forward and charging through the pack and passing people. It’s a first for me, really. The second moto, I started about fifth or sixth and passed two guys real quick. I got aggressive and passed them real quick to get into fourth. I pretty much just maintained that all the way to the finish. I was right there in third for a while and I think it was [Ben] Townley right in front of me. I was battling with him for a few laps, then [Kevin] Windham. Right at the end, [Matt] Goerke got by me and I got the pit board saying “second overall” so I just stayed right there with two laps to go and brought it home in second. It feels great.

Read the rest of the interview on the Alpine Stars website.