Frid’Eh Update #9 | Dylan Wright Interview | Presented by Fox Racing Canada

Frid’Eh Update #9 | Dylan Wright Interview| Presented by Fox Racing Canada

By Billy Rainford

Welcome to Week #9 of the DMX Frid’EH Update this week presented by Fox Racing Canada. It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve had a rider actually running the number of the week. Dylan Wright is our 2-time and defending 450 MX champion. You may see him with a #9 and you may see him with a #1 on his bike in 2022. Either way, you can bet you’ll be looking at the front of the pack to find him.

Dylan is coming off one of the most storied seasons in Canadian MX history. I don’t just throw those accolades around lightly, either. It a generational thing for one of our own to race and win our series then head to the MXON for Team Canada and then finish the season off with a few MXGPs in Europe.

To be honest, it’s going to be a long time before that can even happen again. As we’ve pointed out before, the COVID pandemic rearranged the GP season in such a way that riders were able to race the MXON and then finish off the MXGP season. Let’s hope riders don’t get this opportunity again for a long long time!

Dylan won more MX Nationals than any other rider, but definitely feels like he should have won a couple more. Either way, it was a great season for the rider from the Ottawa area who now calls Quebec home with his fiancé, Jade.

Direct Motocross: Hey, Dylan. How are you doing?

Dylan Wright: I’m doing all right. Week #9 already, huh?

Hey, why don’t people pick #8? Is there a weird superstition that I don’t know about?

I don’t think so. I just think a lot of people don’t like the way it looks on the bike. I think it’s more of a look of the number than anything else. That’s why I didn’t take #8 because I just didn’t like the look of it.

Where are you right now?

I’m just outside of Clermont (Florida) and I’ve been riding at Tyla Rattray‘s house a bunch with the guys, getting ready for the season and having fun. It’s been hot too so I’ve been going to the beach a little bit on the Jetski.

Are there any other Canadians there?

Ya. Well, Ryder (McNabb) of course. Trystan Dares just got here maybe a few days ago and then Josh Bryan and Bryce Wadge. On the outdoors side of things, I feel like there are more Canadians here than anything else.

How’s the bike and training coming along?

I can’t complain. I had the same bike last year, so I came down with just a few updated settings to try. I got down here maybe three weeks ago. The first two weeks you just sort of get into it and I actually had like a knee problem a couple weeks ago. I took about a week-and-a-half off and just got back on the bike Monday, so I’m just getting back into the swing of things.

The boys are actually coming down for the Supercross in Daytona and we’re going to do some testing the week after – suspension testing, chassis testing and stuff. Things are coming along nicely and I’m back up to speed. We’ll just try to make some improvements on settings from last year.

Ryder has the new bike so he’s kind of got a lot to figure out with testing and settings. Lots of fun stuff.

[At this point, we joked about the fact that he was maybe going to race the Pro Circuit Open at Tampa MX on Thursday night. We did this interview a couple days before so we were joking about asking questions about how it went before the race happened. He didn’t do the race so we’ll skip forward. Actually, it’s too bad he didn’t race because he said he was going to use some of his winnings to buy a used stand-up Jetski.]

OK, we need to talk about this 2021 season a little bit. You won 4 overalls and Jess Pettis won 3. Were you surprised at how fast he was in his first year on a 450?

Jess is a good racer. He’s talented. Coming in, I knew he was going to be fast. We’ve raced a lot of years against each other, so I’ve seen him ride a 450 and I knew he was going to be good. I think he’s stepped up to the task pretty good this year. He kept me honest. If it wasn’t for a couple mistakes on my end I would have liked to have won a few more of those, but he made some mistakes too so it’s racing. He did a great job but I don’t think it surprised me because I know Jess is a super-talented racer. He’s going to be fast again this year so that’s kind of the guy to beat for me.

I like Jess, too. He’s a good competitor to race. We’re pretty nice to each other. There’s a little banging here and there but he’s a fun guy to race. He got hurt so he should be back on the bike soon.

Hey, what was better, winning your first 450 title or defending it, and which was tougher?

Best was probably winning the first one and defending it is always tough. I’m gonna say defending it was harder than winning it but winning the first one was the best one. I was kind of battling injuries all season. I didn’t make it too easy on myself leading up to that race at Gopher (Dunes) because we were supposed to do our testing the following week after that race and I got hurt so I didn’t really get to test the suspension much on that new chassis. I think I only rode maybe once before the first Walton. You get injured and it’s a bit of a struggle until you get back up to speed. Towards the end of the year I started feeling like myself again, and obviously doing Des Nations and the GPs didn’t hurt either to keep the ball rolling.

To start the season, I was feeling OK but not great. At the end of the season I started feeling like myself. I’ll carry that momentum into this year. To start the year, it’s been going pretty good down here.

And how would you rank those two things, the MXON and the MXGPs that you raced?

If MXON wasn’t such a mudfest I think it would have been a little bit nicer but then the GPs I rode were all dry so I’d have to say I enjoyed the GPs a little bit more because in the mud it’s super tough. The Des Nations kind led me into knowing what to do for the GPs because I was like a fish out of water a little bit with starting at the gate and how everything works over there. After Des Nations you learn a lot, even for next year’s Des Nations, if I end up going, you learn every time you go. That’s why Tyler‘s (Medgalia) done so well, he gets so much knowledge racing them. I think they go hand in hand.

For me as a racer it was like a dream come true to do Des Nations and race some GPs and finishing inside the top 10 which was my goal. I think it went well and obviously I’d like to do more in the future but I’l have to see if I can squeeze that in.

GDR commitments aside, how close were you to signing with a team in Europe for next year?

I was talking to a few teams after the season. There were a few spots that needed to be filled but I can’t get too much into detail about it. I was in pretty serious. negotiations with a team for this season but fulfilling my contract for this season with Honda Canada GDR and all the boys so that was important for me to fulfill I guess what I signed for, really. I signed a 3-year deal and I’m going to finish my deal with those guys and kind of move forward from there and see what next year bring because I’ll be technically a free agent at the end of the year.

Given a choice, would you rather race MXGP or AMA?

I get that question a lot. First and foremost, I guess I have to say that I really like racing in Canada. I enjoy the team that I race for, I enjoy the guys that I work with and everything. I get that question a lot and I always fall back on that I really enjoy what I do in Canada but I would entertain an offer with either but for me Supercross would be a pretty big learning curve to just jump into it year 1, so for me I think the transition to GPs would probably be easier than the US but I’d be willing to learn Supercross if the right deal came across. I think I learn towards the GPs a little bit because Supercross is kind of a different animal and the guys in the 450 class that I’d be racing have a lot of experience.

Take Chase Sexton, for example. I see him here every day and I’m like, “Wow, these guys get on this at such a young age!” I’m 24 now and I would have to take the learning curve but i would venture off to either or if the right opportunity presented itself.

Will you do any racing before our season starts?

That’s always a tough one. Ya, probably but I don’t know where. Money races are always good because you get guys that are a little bit more competitive. I don’t really even know what races there are down here. Maybe some AMO or Quebec Provincials if there’s anything on the weekends off. I may try and do one or two of those and maybe some AMO stuff just to prepare for the season and get a few gate drops in.

I’m not a guy that’s scared to do it but sometimes there aren’t many fast guys that want to race on the weekend.

Are you looking forward to racing the two new track out west?

Ya, I think so. Obviously, it’s something different and something to learn. I’ve never been anywhere even close to those tracks. I’ve heard they’re both really nice tracks. Drumheller’s got that double-header so I’ll have to be prepared for that one because that’s a lot of points in one weekend. i’m excited for a breath of fresh air to go see some new fans across the country. I think it’s great that we’re going back out west, too, because that really makes it a “National” championship. I’m just looking forward to getting back out west and seeing the people out there.

How long will you stay down south?

(Laughs) Until it gets warm at home. Right now, I hear it’s brutally cold. I’m normally here until Easter Weekend is about when I go home but it always depends on weather.

I normally hang around Gopher to see the boys in the shop for a bit when I go home and test and do some riding with Ryder and Colton (Facciotti)…I think Colton is going to start riding a little bit with us so that’s going to be fun.

I’ll probably go to Daytona this weekend and see the boys race and watch some bar-banging a little bit and go from there.

Well, nice chatting with you, Dylan, and good luck getting ready for another title defence.

Thank you and thanks to the entire Honda Canada GDR Fox Racing team.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Let’s see if Eli Tomac can break Ricky Carmichael‘s record by winning his 6th Daytona Supercross.