|
Interview with Ryan Millar
By Brett Lee Ryan Millar is often referred to as the man child. He’s a big, tall Manitoba boy who made the jump at a young age to the MX1 Pro class this past season at the CMRC Monster Energy Motocross Nationals.
Ryan, along with his trainer/mechanic Ryan Lockhart, are down in Texas working and racing to get ready for the 2010 season. We caught up with Ryan for a quick chat...enjoy. 
Ryan Millar looks pretty happy. MXP: First, let’s start off by congratulating you, you have a team!! You are back with KTM for 2010. Ryan: Yeah, it’s great. I am really pumped about that, and it gives me the opportunity to hit all the Nationals on really good equipment. It gives me the confidence to have a great season in 2010. MXP: 2009 was your first year on the 450F, and it went quite well. How did you feel about it? Ryan: I was kind of bummed at the beginning with my results, but as the year went on I began to finish in the top 10 consistently so that is something I am happy about. I really wish I had that speed and results at the beginning so that I could have pulled off a top 10 in the series points.
Hey, it was my first year in the MX1 class, and I learned a lot. Like I said, the only thing I wish was I had the speed at the beginning of the year. MXP: We have seen you are in Texas and popping up in race results. Seems you are racing lots still. Ryan: Yeah, we are racing a lot. We are hitting every race we can down here, and keeping in race shape. I think it is important to be on the line with fast guys. We have been staying at Oak Hill and there have been a lot of fast guys riding here. Tommy Hahn, Jason Anderson, Lowell Spangler were out just yesterday, and it is so good to ride with them. We are all out there doing practice motos; I learn a lot when I ride around those guys. I mean, I know the track conditions change, but since I got down here my lap times have really improved a lot. I am feeling really good. 
Millar will re-join the KTM Royal Distributing team for 2010. MXP: You said you have learned a lot. I’m sure your trainer of the stars (Ryan Lockhart) has helped! Ryan: Trainer to the Stars! No, Ryan has helped me a lot. He is out there when I am practicing with the lap board and giving me my times. That gives me a chance to race myself and the clock. I can do a moto and change my lines, or maybe change how I hit something and see how it reflects in my lap times. We are working on sprints and building my speed with some shorter 20 minutes motos. It’s really going good, I feel really on top of it this year, and Ryan has really helped me. MXP: What is the plan leading up to the Nationals? Ryan: I am going to finish out the Texas Winter Series, and then hit the Whitney and Oak Hill warm up races. I’m going to do the two big Amateur Nationals at Oak and Whitney. Those two races are legit Amateur Nationals with a lot of great riders. I don't have a lot to prove there so there is not a lot of pressure, but I hope to do well. MXP: Okay, we aren’t going to ask you about your expectations for 2010. What we want to know is at your pre-Morden party are the Hutterites going to crash it again?
Editors Note: The Hutterites are a Christian group who live according to a strict code based on the Ten Commandments. They also love free beer, and partying. Ryan: Yeah, I don’t know! I’m sure they will when they see the fireworks going off again! It’s a surprise, but I do actually know. I’m just not letting it out of the bag of what we have planned, so you will just have to show up for the party!! 
Ryan is down in Texas with the Newf training for the upcoming season. MXP: Okay, thanks for doing this and good luck. Do you have any closing words? Ryan: Yeah, first thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I want to thank my trainer Jim Fredrickson who just flew down to help me here, Andy White and KTM Canada for the support they have given me for this year and the years past, Dragon Goggles, Thor and Alpinestars who have really hooked me up and I cannot thank them enough, and Ogio and Cti. There are others for sure that support our team back home, and thanks of course to Ryan Lockhart for his work down here. Thanks!
|
