Podcast | Jess Pettis Talks about His Move Back to MX101 Yamaha

Podcast | Jess Pettis Talks about His Move Back to MX101 Yamaha

By Billy Rainford

We talk with 2024 Canadian 450 National Motocross Champion Jess Pettis about his return to the team he won his 250 championship on, MX101 FXR Yamaha. It’s not often the #1 plate switches teams, and Jess takes us through the process and what he has planned for the future of his racing.
November 14, 2024.

APPLE PODCASTS

Find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Automatically generated transcript from Apple:

Well, we’ve been waiting to talk to this guy. Here is actual voice, talk about all this stuff that’s going on. He is, man, if nothing else, he’s keeping this off season, silly season, pretty silly.

So with this move from Jess Pettis, it’s kind of, you know, it’s kind of a domino effect. It’s kind of all kinds of, causing all kinds of other things to happen on teams and around the, around our sport in Canada. So we’ve got him on the phone here.

Jess, thanks for talking with us.

Yeah, what’s up, Billy? Thanks for, thanks for having me on for the pod.

Yeah, I’m living it up out here in Kamloops for 10 days, but that’s another story. Yeah, man, so obviously we all heard the news. It’s pretty exciting, big changes.

But we want to hear your voice, talk about it. So man, well, for starters, where are you right now?

Yeah, we did the opposite switch. You’re out on the West Coast. I’m at home here on the Montreal area.

So yeah, just trying to get in some last riding, like the weather this time of year. We’re lucky still to be able to”“ride a little bit. And yeah, I’m pretty fired up just to ride when I can now.

Like I got some motivation to kind of just that’s something, a reason to go ride. So I’m pretty pretty excited. I actually just got home from riding today and it was pretty cold out there.

Not going to lie, it was like four degrees. But yeah, just doubling up on the gloves and trying to enjoy it while we have it and before the snow comes, right?

Roger, are you like Bromont area still?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. We’re like we’re right near Bromont. So pretty good little spot.

We’re been doing a lot of mountain biking and yeah, it’s been good. Got some good tracks around me too. So really enjoying it.

Yeah, it’s the time of year to mountain bike as much as I can and do all the fun stuff while we’re not traveling in our crazy schedule, right during the weeks.

Right now, being north of Montreal and stuff, you guys, I mean, you guys got a lot of snow there, right?

Yeah, I mean, a decent amount compared to what I’m used to back in BC, nothing for”“the snow quality quantity. But no, it’s true. Last year we had a pretty mellow winter, not going to lie, like not a lot of snow, but yeah, we’re like eight minutes from the mountain for snowboarding and mountain biking.

So I’m going to probably do some snowboarding this winter and check out Vermont. I’ve never actually snowboarded there, so it should be cool.

Are you full-time snowboard or do you do both ski and snowboard?

Full-time snowboard, but I’ve skied a little bit. I might try it this winter to try and change things up. We’ll see.

I’m pretty biased on that end, though. I’m all about snowboarding.

Well, see me too, because I lived in Vancouver and was at Whistler and local mountains forever, and then I always snowboarded. But I tell you, when it’s corduroy and you’re not getting the fresh powder all the time, sometimes I just prefer, unless you’re in the park, sometimes I just prefer the old two planks, get on the skis.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And yeah, my fiance Meg, her her little guy is skiing. So he kind of is like, I think it’s good to show him how to”“ski instead of like be snowboarding, but teaching him how to ski at the same time.

So I might might put some skis on and go rip down the slopes and get sketchy.

Well, I’ll tell you, like like everybody says, skiing is obviously takes a lot more to get good. I mean, you know, you ride snowboard for a few days and you’re already getting sponsors. So it’s good to get them on skis early.

Yeah, exactly.

OK, well, man, oh yeah, speaking of the weather, though, I was just in California for that World Vet thing, and it was warmer in Ontario than it was in California. It’s been crazy this fall.

Yeah, that’s crazy. I didn’t know about that. I didn’t know it was that cold out there.

But no, we’ve been like, I don’t know about Ontario, but here in Quebec, like up until a couple of weeks ago, we had like a couple of days that were like 24, 25 degrees, which is crazy. So yeah, it’s not complaining, though. I wish we had a little more of that weather and then just a bit of a shorter off season with the snow.

But hey”“it is what it is. We can’t complain.

Yeah, for sure. Yes. Same thing.

Yeah, it was 23 in London, and then it was like 20 in California, Glen Helen. So anyway, it’s all changed now. We’re going to get snow soon.

So we’re not fooling anyone. OK, so I mean, obviously big news here it’s not often the guy who wins the number one plate does the moving. It’s always, you know what I mean?

Like everybody wants the number one, but normally that’s what people claw and cling on to. You got to take us through what happened, not what happened, but how this happened. Taking the number one plate.

You’re going the wrong way for MX101. Normally they go away from MX101. So this is nice.

Yeah, no, we’re just we’re just bringing it back to them. I left with the number one six years ago. So doing Kev a big one and yeah, coming back with the 450 number one.

So it’s pretty exciting. Not going to lie. Yeah, it all happened super, super quick and didn’t really think it would actually come to something.

But yeah, it’s kind of crazy. Like after Motocross Nations, you”“know, I struggled with a few things there for sure. Just comfortability and yeah, I mean, got back home and then had a few chats with the KTM guys and kind of seeing where things were at.

And it was kind of a bit of an option, I guess, for me, like to go whatever direction if I wanted to stay or if I wanted to, you know, shop around to see if I wanted to go somewhere else. And I kind of thought about it for a week or so. And yeah, I mean, I’ve really, really been wanting to be on the Yamaha for a little bit now and been struggling for a little bit, just trying to get comfortable.

And obviously we had a great season, and those guys made huge gains with the bike and getting everything so much better. But I still feel like there’s a little bit left out there for me to do, whether like racing in Canada, or if I want to, you know, do a little bit of like, you know, World Supercross or some races like this, I kind of still want to try and progress as a racer and “just not leave anything out there. I mean, obviously, I’m getting a little bit older now on that end.

And, you know, I don’t want to look back on English. Maybe I did a few other races or a few opportunities that were out there. Or also just, you know, I just want to be as best racer as I can.

I know getting that number one and getting that championship is one thing, but everybody wants that thing back, you know? So I think whatever I can do to try and be fast, fit, comfortable and just good vibes all around, I think that’s kind of where my headspace was at. And that’s kind of what led me towards the blue bike.

OK, now obviously people that are listening to this are going to say, wait a minute, we got to dig in a tiny bit here and ask. I know nobody wants you don’t want to talk bad on anything. You’re going to be keep it politically correct and all that stuff.“But I mean, OK, so you signed with KTM. You got to do Supercross, which was awesome, because remember, you got to ride with the KTM guys down south. But then you got hurt and they kind of pulled the plug on that.

Was that did that kind of leave a bad taste right away? Because you’re like, no, no, I want to race in Canada. We got eight races a year.

We got two and a half months. You know what I mean? So there’s with three weeks off.

So it’s a bit it’s a bit of a short season. So that obviously played into a big one. You want to race more Supercross, right?

Yeah, exactly. I mean, obviously going over to the KTM group when I first signed with them, I mean, that was basically my biggest interest was for the Supercross program as well. And, you know, racing in Canada during the summer made me happy.

But I kind of wanted to put my expectations really high, right? And it started out great, as everyone kind of knows. And then I had some struggles and it kind of got pulled for me.

“And then I just I’m at a point where, you know, I know I just wasn’t really willing to I don’t want to just ride out, you know, just the round Canadian Series year after year after year. And then, you know, just end it with that. I kind of I mean, I really enjoy our series and I make really good money doing it.

And obviously, that’s what I got hired to do now, even on Yamaha. And that’s our main goal is to keep the number one and to fight for these championships. But like you said, it’s obviously like it’s gone before you can even blink your eyes.

So it’s a pretty short series and we work so hard all year leading up to it. And then I feel like it’s over so quick and I’m just eager to keep racing wherever that is. You know, I think where things are at, I don’t know in the US, like if there’s a lot of opportunity or just even interest to go there and try to get back to that level.

But I do believe there’s a lot of other racing aside from that even.“Like I think that shows with the World Supercross in Vancouver was super interesting to me. And it wasn’t something that I was available to.

I asked about it and World Supercross wanted me to do it, but I kind of just got shut down from it. It wasn’t even an opportunity. And yeah, who knows?

Like I’d love to go race the Paris Supercross and maybe like a couple more AMA National throughout the year and just I just want to race more honestly. And on a bike that I believe I can really show my true potential at the highest level as well.

Right. Well, I know every time I go to California for January for the Supercross series, KT is always around there sniffing around for riders. So now he’s got a rider so he could go to California with a rider and do some racing.

Yeah, yeah, not sure. I haven’t talked to Kim about that on that end. Obviously, it’s something that maybe in the future we can we can see about, you know, obviously, I think it takes a big commitment on that end to to do the the US stuff, but I think for sure the AMA Nationals and some one off races on the 450 would be really interesting to me.

And I think for all the Canadian fans and just the viewers and people like you, you know, just to follow along, you guys would be all excited. So, yeah, obviously, this year, it’s far fetched with me just making the switch to Yamaha now, but I think in the future, just to be open minded about just more racing, I mean, we see, like, guys like Tomac and Roxton and Dean Wilson and all these guys just wanting to race more and make a bit of extra money and just make sure, you know, we keep challenging ourself to be better and faster. And I think there’s always room for improvements.

And I’m willing to kind of make that.

Speaking of World Supercross in Vancouver, I know you were there watching the stuff. I know the wild card stuff like that. What did that look like?

You just didn’t, I mean, say you were still on a team or you hadn’t just been in the middle of changing. Is that something you would have been able to ride?

“Yeah, I’d be 100% in. Like nothing would have held me back. It’s at the perfect time of the year.

Still fit from training for Motocross the Nations for like two months, keeping everything going. And then, yeah, I would have been willing to, for sure, be a part of that. Kind of a shame.

I found out like two weeks, maybe before that it was brought to the table and kind of shut down right away. So that was not super exciting, but I mean, it is what it is. And hopefully in the future, I can maybe do a few of those races like that.

All right. Okay. And KT is open to that?

Yeah, I think, I think he would be for sure. Obviously it’s nothing that we would have like on paper or something, but it’s, you know, they’re super open and I think they’re just excited about stuff like this as I am. And yeah, I think it’s not really like a big corporation that it would have to get a yes or no kind of answer through.

If we want to do it, we can do it.

“Nice. Okay. Now I got to ask you this.

You mentioned Motocross of Nations, and I know obviously being there, you hear, you know, you hear stuff. Were you, it just blows me away that people would be still trying to get comfortable on a bike and stuff like that and some of the settings and getting the bike set up and stuff like that. Were you were, you were uncomfortable on some of the stuff?

Like, can you take, I don’t know how much you want to say, but I know there were some stuff going on that you weren’t comfortable and there were, I don’t know, things weren’t getting shared between Canada and the US when the guy came over to try to set the mapping up and everything or?

The mapping stuff was nothing to do with my bike. I think that was Cavins bike, maybe had some issues or something. I’m not aware of that really.

Yeah, no, just on my end. Obviously everyone knows the track was like extremely gnarly, right? So I think, and if you talk to Jed or any of these guys, they’ll say it’s one of the gnarliest tracks they’ve rode.

“So everyone has to adapt and everyone has to ride it. It was quite something, that’s for sure. But yeah, I mean, personally, I feel like I just struggled all weekend, whether it’s myself being comfortable with the track and with the bike and just all around.

But that’s racing dirt bikes, you know, so we have to adapt to. And yeah, I mean, I felt like a little bit ashamed of just my riding at times because I felt like I was capable of much more and I work way harder than to ride the way I did. But that’s probably just me being hard on myself and also wanting to always just be better.

But yeah, it’s one of those things, you know, when you leave, you take what you can away from that and try to put it to use, you know, in the future and where can we be better? Where can I be better? Yeah, it was a bit of a struggle for sure.

But saying that, like, we still put a big effort forward. We got ourself into the A final, which was a step ahead of last year. And I mean, I put “in, I guess, consistent results, but nothing that I was, like, holding my head too high on, you know?

Okay, well now, okay, so let’s talk now. You switch to the Yamaha, like, you jump on that bike. I mean, I’m actually obviously not at a level where I would notice too, too much, but immediately you notice, what do you notice on the bike different?

Like, talk about changing, obviously, a big difference in frame and everything.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, before I even hopped on the bike, you know, the deal was done, and I already made my mind up on, you know, I was moving this direction, and there’s always that question mark in your head, right? Like, if it’s going to be better, you know, like, it’s a big move, and I was very confident in the move, but also you don’t really know until you spend some time on the bike. But I will say after, you know, I won’t even say my first day on the bike, like after like five or six laps, I felt very, very comfortable.

“But obviously that was on a smooth track, so that’s one thing. But then I brought the bike back to Quebec and was riding rough tracks, and I’ve rode really rough sand to loamy dirt to hard pack. Now I’ve rode, I’ve put maybe like seven hours on the bike so far, and I’m very impressed with how it handles and in a lot of the conditions that I, you know, I’ve rode on.

So it’s been really motivating and just exciting for me. And yeah, personally, just the stability of the bike in some really fast, you know, kind of sketchy sections where maybe it would have been a little bit holding me back. I felt like the bike is very stable and kind of like straight as an arrow.

And cornering the bike has been super impressive today. When I was riding, it was like a hard pack track with ruts, really deep, big ruts in every corner. And I was very like surprised on just basically like the way the bike, the lean angle and how it doesn’t like wash or stand up and just like it’s, it’s very stable and and good feeling and felt super “comfortable for my cornering as well.

I told a couple people today, I don’t feel like I’ve hit corners that fast in a really long time, but also comfortable. So just exciting and motivating. And obviously we’ll have a lot of work ahead of us to probably with, you know, we get down south and we get into like some heavy, heavy training months and, you know, there’ll be some things that I’m sure, you know, as always being a racer, we always have to work on and be better.

And setting up a new bike that I’m, you know, is new to me is gonna be a big change, but also I’m pretty up for the challenge, you know, like I’m not gonna shy away from that, so it’s exciting.

Nice, what did you start with? A bike like that was set up for Preston Kilroy, or what did you start out with?

Yeah, I started off with like their race bike, and then it was with a bit of a stiffer set up on the suspension wise than what Kilroy was running, and it was really good. Yeah, really good, but I told them after the first couple “of rides, just because they got a brand new 2025 Yamaha for me, and I said, just give me the stock bike with the suspension clamps and bars and pipe, and I just want to learn the bike just from the base, and then build it up from there to what I can see as we add parts on. So basically right now, I’m just running on a stock bike with obviously some suspension, Joe Skid at SSS.

Pretty familiar with him and been with him for the last few years and he’s been a huge help in the program. And that also is a big factor, switching over to the Blue Program to make sure I had Joe on board. And he knows me very well with suspension and we know each other and work well.

So just really excited to have like, he’s already got me my suspension kind of dialed in for what he believed is perfect. And he’s always in the ballpark pretty damn good. So, so far, yeah, we’re just going to, as we go down south, we’re going to just kind of build up the race bike part by part, see what I like “, see what I don’t like, and then see what the end result is kind of going to be, I think.

OK, well, I’m going to, this question was for a little bit later, but now you mentioned it. What, where will you go for the winter training? What’s your plan?

So the plan is it’s a rough plan for now. But yeah, we’re still a little bit away. But obviously, we’re going to, I think we’re going to go down to to like Tallahassee area.

I’ll spend some time, hopefully, as a planet star between the star facility and GPF and those tracks around there. Still have some stuff to confirm on that end, like if, you know, make sure we can get in at these places and do some riding and stuff. So that would be the rough plan.

But obviously, yeah, it’s still a bit of ways. And I just know this area is pretty good for just training in general. I really like the GPF area.

The track gets difficult and rough. And if we can bounce around between a couple of tracks would be nice.

Nice. You mentioned the star. I mean, obviously, motivated to change “teams, all that kind of stuff.

All that kind of stuff helps mentally. But to be able to ride with like Degan and Tomac and stuff like that, is that who you think it might be happening here in the winter? That’d be pretty sweet.

Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see where things unfold. I’m not sure, but yeah, I mean, like I said, we have some time, so we’ll kind of kind of see where things are at.

And I mean, yeah, I don’t think it should be too much of an issue.

Nice. OK. Now, I know you and you and our buddy Josiah Nasky got pretty close last year and everything.

Now he’s on a different team. You guys are. What’s that going to be like?

That whole rivalry. Now you can go full bore at him.

Yeah. No, I mean, a T-bone in first corner.

First round.

We’re going all in. No, he’s a good dude. And I think we were kind of dealt with.

Obviously, everyone knows we were dealt with this, you know, tricky situation last year with, you know, starting off as really good buddies and then transition, not transitioning, but throughout the “year, just becoming like the biggest competitors and rivals and maintaining our friendship throughout the whole thing. It’s it was pretty, pretty interesting, but we did it. And yeah, I think he would say it wasn’t easy at the end.

The last, say, two rounds, it was getting pretty tight. You know, obviously, a lot of money on the line and just, yeah, obviously, we both want that championship. So it went the best it possibly could.

I think I really respect Josiah. He’s a good athlete, works hard, and he’s a good racer. So yeah, having him back next year, I think is the plan probably on their end.

And it’s going to be fun racing him and racing Dylan and these guys and just battling up front with all, you know, I’m excited. And maybe it will be a little easier on the friendship side of things between the two of us, you know, not having to gear up beside each other, trying to go do battle 10 minutes later.

Nice. Now speaking about teammates and stuff too. So you had like Nico, you had Justin, Rony, and now obviously he’s not following you over to Yamaha.

Do you know who is going to be your mechanic?

Yeah, we got a few things to work out on that end still. So we’re working that out. Yeah, I can’t say much yet, but no, trying to work that out.

Okay, gotcha. All right. So I mean, well, can you say, of course you’re going to say yes, it is, but obviously you’re looking for a missing piece perhaps to go with Dylan Wright.

I mean, that’s obviously the goal. Everyone’s chasing him down. You were able to do it last year.

I don’t want to say there’s an asterisk, but of course he didn’t finish the season. How are you feeling heading up? I mean, going against Dylan on the Yamaha now.

Yeah, good. I mean, for sure, my last couple weeks on the Yamaha has gave me some better confidence on that end already. And yeah, he is a tough competitor.

He always will be. I believe I’m a tough competitor, and I always will be too. So it’s, I think we both want the same goal, and we’re both going to do whatever it takes, you know?

So I believe for my program, one of the biggest things is now the Yamaha and having a good platform, and sometimes got to hang it out and get on the edge and ride the fine line, and got to be a little bit comfortable as well doing that to a certain degree. So I believe the Yamaha guys, MX101, Yamaha and Joe, and everyone’s going to be super eager to get me comfortable on whatever it takes between parts or testing or whatever, and I think I’ll be a good main focus on the 450 side of things. So I think that’s going to be a big thing for just having good confidence there and a bike and everything.

I feel like to get to the next level, I think this is where I’m at. I’m super motivated and I think sometimes you got to get uncomfortable to get to another level. So that’s where I’m at, obviously, a lot of learning and progressing to do in the next months, but I’m up for the challenge.

Nice. Now I know you’d hit some money races and stuff down south. Do you have any, what do you think your first time at a gate drop might be down south “there?

What do you think? You’re going to look for some of those off season money races?

Oh, shoot, I don’t know. Yeah, I haven’t really even thought about it. I think before any of that, like, just kind of go make sure we get the bike where we where we want and everything’s good and see where training’s at.

And then we’ll see from there. Yeah, honestly, I would have liked to do Chilliwack Arena Cross like leading up this weekend, but everything kind of took a little bit. I mean, it came it did come quick and everything happened really fast, but it just wasn’t fast enough to kind of make that happen and would have been super last minute.

But it would have been cool. We’ll see. Yeah, I think the snow is coming, the cold weather is coming.

So it’s you know, we don’t want to go down south too early and then just ride to ride. And so we’ll see when that time comes.

Okay. And how about I guess you’re not quite as close as you were to the KTM factory there. You have to drive over to Sandaly.

What is that the plan “? Just kind of live in the Bromont area and go over when you have to?

Yeah, exactly. Those guys, Kevin, these guys are pretty like super open for they know where I’m at. And honestly, compared to when I rode with them back in 2018, I was living in BC and then trying to trying to make all that work.

So about them being in Ottawa. So, I mean, just a three hour drive is nothing in my eyes and for them too. I know Racine only lives about halfway.

If I have any parts or anything, it’s not too bad. So, yeah, I’ll be in Bromont area. Sure, I’ll have to go up there a couple of times throughout the year, but, you know, it’s not too bad at the end of the day.

Coming from PG, I would do eight hour drives on the weekly basis. So a couple, two, three hour drives, not too bad in my eyes.

Nice, you also, I guess, you must be kind of, everything’s like, like you say, you’re going home, going to that team. I mean, the old gear company, the old Yamaha and stuff like that, it’s got to be “feeling like you kind of came home and it’s not quite as big a change as it would have been had you gone somewhere else, right? So you’re kind of, this is probably the easiest transition you’re going to make team-wise.

Yeah, exactly. And I’m familiar with the Yamaha and I knew they worked really good back when I was with them and won my championship in 2018. And obviously we’re on the 450 now, but, you know, it’s a different bike, I guess, for me, but they definitely do feel like home and family.

And there’s not a change on all those ends. So it’s I don’t have to get to know people and their personalities and who to work with. And, you know, I’m super familiar with that.

I mean, I was with them for like three or four years, right? So, no, it’s all good. We’ve always remained a good friendship and stuff throughout the last six years, too, even at the races.

So it’s going to be good. I’m not stressed at all.

Awesome. All right, Jess. Well, anything else we need to say?

I think we covered it all pretty much.

Yeah, no, it’s “good. Yeah, just super excited and yeah, going to be cool working with these guys. Obviously, Kev, MX101 and the Yamaha guys, and Andy and Milt and everyone at FXR.

And yeah, I mean, yeah, it’s going to be pretty exciting. And next time we see you guys at a gate drop, we’ll be on blue, so it’ll be pretty fun.

All right, man. Well, thank you very much. I know we tried to get this chat in a couple of days ago.

It’s obviously busy at both ends here. I got all kinds of craziness going on here, and you’re doing your thing on the new bike. So thanks for taking some time and having a chat with us and filling everybody in on what’s going on.

Yeah, no worries, of course. Thanks, Billy. Thanks for having me on, and I’ll see you guys around.

All right, thank you very much. Talk to you soon, Jess.

All right, bye.

Okay, bye.