Exclusive: Jay Wilson Interview

19-year-old Jay Wilson kicked off this year’s racing season dismally. He never put his head down, though, and he finished up in second Overall in the MX Nats’ MXD standings, and claimed two national SX titles – the Under 19s Australian Supercross Championship, and the MX2 New Zealand Supercross Championship. Our man, Johnny Bonnar, caught up with Wilson to talk about this year’s racing season.

It’s just been officially announced that Wilson will join the powerful Factory-backed Serco Yamaha MX2 team for season 2014, racing alongside Luke Clout. For more on Wilson’s signing, click here.

Jay, you wrapped up two national supercross championships this year. You must be stoked on that? 

The start of this year wasn’t that great. For whatever reason, I was stuck in a hole, but I never stopped believing in myself and we got out of that hole. We managed to get back into second Overall in the MX Nats and first Overall in the Aussie SX Championship. We worked our butts off all year and we were rewarded in the end.

You just got home from New Zealand, where you won the NZ MX2 Supercross Championship for JCR Yamaha. How was working with Josh Coppins?

Awesome. Josh is a world-class rider, and I have got a lot of respect for the guy. He made me feel at home straight away. He’s a good guy and he runs an awesome team.

Let’s say I take you back to the start of the Australian MX Nationals this year. Do you think you’d be able to turn your dwindling season around and start winning races again?

As I said, we were stuck in a hole and nothing was working at the start of this year. I gained a lot of confidence from racing in the MX2 class at Conondale’s round, though. That’s where I want to be – I want to be racing in that class. I was so angry from the get-go this year but Hamish (Harwood) rode really well, and he was consistent all year. He deserved to win. If I could, I would go back to the start of the season. It could have been different, but we did the best we could with what we had.

You work closely with former Aussie champion, Alter Ego Elite’s Dan Reardon, who also trains Matt and Jake Moss. Are you onto something good there?

I’m definitely planning to work with him next year. I believe his stuff does work. He’s been in the industry a long time now, so he knows what works and what doesn’t.

You were looking at a perfect season in the Australian Supercross Championship’s Under 19s class this year, but you finished in second at Toowoomba’s final round. Did you want to win every round, or were you thinking about the championship?

It would have been good to score a perfect season, but my main goal was to take home the championship. I started making a couple of little mistakes, so I decided to pull back, play it safe, and do what I had to do.

Do you feel like there’s added pressure being on one of the top development teams, GYTR Yamaha? 

They are hiring you for a reason – to win, and that’s because you can win. It’s not bad pressure. It actually makes you confident, knowing that you’ve got that support behind you.

What was the biggest thing you learnt from this season? Obviously, there were some ups and downs, so what are you taking away from 2013?

Never give up, because you can get through those ups and downs. Never stop believing in yourself.

It’s the off-season now. Where to from here?

At this stage, I am having a month off. It’s been a long season. I’ll get back into it straight after Christmas, and start preparing for the opening round of the MX Nats.