Gagne, H. Gillim, DeHaven
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Let's start off with Austin DeHaven, who finished third in today's race. Austin, if you could tell us a little bit about how it went for you out there today.
AUSTIN DeHAVEN: I got a really great start, and it just kept getting better from there. I just put my head down and kept moving forward and tried to see if I could catch up to get a podium. If this would be the only race I could get a podium, this would be the one. I just pushed as hard as I could, just kept moving forward and did the best I could, and did better enough or whatever. I ended up getting a podium and I was really excited and happy about that.
MODERATOR: Austin is from Los Angeles, California, everyone. He had a good race at Infineon earlier this year, but he had to be a little bit surprised when you came across the line in the third place because Emerson had crashed out. Tell us a little bit about what you thought, what you were feeling about when you got the podium spot.
DeHAVEN: It was weird because like six laps before with 10 laps to go, I saw on the board I was eighth. I thought I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it up. All I saw was Corey fall, and then I thought there goes seven. Then I passed Squirrel and I was sixth. Then I passed Tomy and I was five, and Emerson, and then somebody else crashed and I don't know who it was. I tried to pick it off and keep my head down and keep going forward to get the podium that I got.
MODERATOR: I noticed your dad was pretty emotional after the race, and you talked to your mom on the phone, too. Tell us about that a little if you could.
DeHAVEN: It was great because my mom doesn't really get to make it out to too many races because of work and all that. So it was really good to call her because she gets excited, too. Even though she wasn't here, I greatly appreciate her being concerned and everything this weekend.
MODERATOR: Congratulations on your podium finish here. Thank you for putting on a good show today.
DeHAVEN: Thank you very much.
MODERATOR: In second place, we have Hayden Gillim of Owensboro, Kentucky, who fought for the win, led a lot of the laps and came up short. Tell us a little about the race, Hayden.
HAYDEN GILLIM: I got a good start and was second going into the first corner, and then Huntley Nash passed me going into the second corner. Then he ended up messing up and I got up to second; then worked my way past Tomy, and then I tried to put my head down and get a little bit of a gap. I pushed as hard as I could, but Jake was going a little faster than me. Once he passed me, I tried to push as hard as I could to keep up. He was running a really good race. I caught back up to him the next to last lap and in the last lap we traded positions. And then on the front straightaway he got a better drive than me and I tried to draft him, just I didn't have enough.
MODERATOR: You two had a good battle at Atlanta. This race was very similar to that race in the fact that he caught you, you tried to catch up again and he kind of got away. Can you talk about that a little bit?
GILLIM: Yeah. It's kind of weird that that happened two races in a row, but I feel a lot better about this race because I was a lot closer to him. I feel that we can do pretty good tomorrow in the Riders Cup Race and hopefully we can do exactly the same, maybe switch up the positions a little bit, and hopefully get the Riders Cup.
MODERATOR: Congratulations. You were feeling a little bit ill after the race. Can you talk about that a little bit? Let's go with that.
GILLIM: J.D. Beach was feeling sick, and I've been staying with him. He, I guess, gave me something. I was feeling clogged up before the race and once I got off the bike, I was a little dehydrated and it was really bad, I was really clogged up and I couldn't stand for very long. I just got back to the rookies tents and tried to cool off and get some fluids in me, and I'm feeling a lot better now.
MODERATOR: Thanks for showing up and good luck tomorrow in the Riders Cup Race.
GILLIM: Thank you.
MODERATOR: Jake Gagne of Ramona, California, has two wins in a row. He managed to win the first race here at Indianapolis. Tell us about it, Jake.
JACOB GAGNE: It was pretty good. I didn't get off to the best start, but I started front row and dropped back quite a bit. Then I just and tried to take lap by lap and position by position and try to catch up to 69, Gillim, as fast as I could, because I knew he was getting away. And I knew if I couldn't get up to him, he was riding a really good pace, and he would pull me. I put my head down and tried to go as fast as I could.
MODERATOR: You said he had a pretty good charge, but you were basically next to last at one point; is that correct?
GAGNE: Yeah, my start was pretty bad.
MODERATOR: You had a near moment out there coming back onto the straight. Looked like you almost high-sided to the moon. Tell us about that.
GAGNE: Yeah, I just got off and just got on the gas a little early, I think. It spun out and then I high-sided myself. I thought I was going down for sure but I kind of left the gas on, laid back on the tank and it hurt pretty bad but I just kept my head down and had to fight through it.
MODERATOR: Go over the pass for the lead one more time.
GAGNE: I just kind of got in his draft and then just pulled out. Then kind of got inside of him.
MODERATOR: You do pretty good in the speed traps and in the long straightaway courses it seems like. What's the key to doing that?
GAGNE: Mostly just your tuck, you know, and carrying as much speed and using as little brake as you can to try to carry all the momentum; that's really where it is on 125. You can't slow down too much.
MODERATOR: You're starting tomorrow's Riders Cup Race from the second row. Can you do it again? Can you run through the field and maybe win another one this weekend?
GAGNE: That would be awesome. I'm just hoping all the U.S. team can put it up there up front and bring home the Cup.
MODERATOR: Thanks a lot, Jake.
You guys will have a chance to see these young men racing tomorrow in the Riders Cup Race. Thanks a lot.
Let's have some questions here.
Q: Can you talk about your cousin, Nicky, and how he has influenced your riding and gotten you into what he does, you know, how he's an inspiration to you?
GILLIM: Well, whenever I was 6 years old, me and my brothers were wanting to race. On Christmas, his dad and my grandpa got us our first motorcycles. We went out and rode in the snow and just played around. We looked up to him and Roger and Tommy our whole racing career. We're just wanting to get to where he's at at some point in our lives, and hopefully we can do as good as he's done in his years of racing.
Q: This is you guys' first chance to ride with the MotoGP Rookies this weekend. It seems like the times are fairly close. Have you been able to learn anything from them, or do they do anything different from you guys, in general, or is it just more or less like riding with another one of the AMA riders?
GILLIM: It's not really that different. We all do pretty much everything the same, just they're faster in some parts of the tracks than we are, and we're faster in some part of the track than they are.
DeHAVEN: It seems like mainly the slower corners, coming out of them they have a little more torque than us, so I think that's where they make up most of the time in the straightaway.
GAGNE: We're all just kids and all on the same bike. We've all just got to hang it out and hopefully it goes good.
MODERATOR: Any more questions?
Q: Jake, this is your first year of road racing, correct?
GAGNE: Yes.
Q: Do you feel like a road racer yet?
GAGNE: Yeah, I've had this great team and all these great tracks, I pretty much know all I can. And every time I go out there just try to learn more and more. The more experience you get, the faster you're going to get. So I just keep trying to learn as much as I can.
Q: The big moment you had, do you think that you saved the bike with skill or with luck?
GAGNE: I don't really know. Probably just mostly luck. What I learned from motocross when that happens, just don't let off the gas and that's pretty much what I did. So I don't really know. I'm just happy it went well for me.
Q: And, Austin, you said more torque for the European bikes? What's that about?
DeHAVEN: No, I meant the MotoGP bikes. Sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. But the MotoGP bikes, the European bikes, they seem the same. So I think it will be pretty good. They just have really good tucks, so it's going to be hard to stay in their draft.
Q: And, Gillim, are you going to get in trouble for not wearing a hat in the program?
GILLIM: I don't really know. I kind of rushed out of the Rookies tent. I wasn't feeling too good and wasn't really thinking. I kind of felt bad that I wasn't wearing the hat.
Q: So what could be the penalty?
MODERATOR: No demerits. We appreciate Hayden coming out. He didn't feel good, he was feeling ill after the race; and hat or no hat, we're glad he's here.
Any more questions, guys?
Thanks a lot. We appreciate you coming out.
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