Strang spent his winter in Australia and then California, and the hard work is paying off.
Coming into the season did you have any idea that you would have won the first two rounds and sitting with the points lead?
After all of the training and riding I’ve been doing back in Australia I figured I had a pretty good chance at winning, but not many people have been able to win both races. My goal was to really try and finish top 3 in both races, I probably wouldn’t have been happy without a win but it would’ve been a better start than last year. And also, given the crash I had a few weeks before the season started we were all a little bit worried about how I was gonna go, but thankfully everything went to plan.
I’m not too sure many people even knew you had a bad crash before the season started, so explain a little about what happened.
We didn’t tell many people, I figured it’d be better to keep it kind of hush-hush, but yeah, I had a crash practicing moto one day. It was pretty gnarly, at first I thought I had busted my femur. I cartwheeled and my handlebars punched me in the side of the leg. I got it x-rayed and it was okay, but I ended up having to do a week’s worth of physio. I think I got away pretty lucky there for sure.
After running out of gas in last year's Florida GNCC, Strang left round 1 this year with a points lead.
The Florida GNCC is so different than all the other races in the series and a lot of guys seem to spend so much time down there riding in the sand, but you didn’t get to Florida until the Friday before the race and you ended up winning.
It’s a sand race and I’ve always felt reasonably comfortable in the sand. We have a bit of sand out here in California and I really don’t feel the need to ride in it for that long to get ready for just one race. I went and rode Croome one day and felt good so I didn’t really do a whole lot of sand riding. I think a lot of guys go down there early to get out of the cold but I was out here in California where it wasn’t cold and there wasn’t any snow so that was kind of a bonus for me.
Leading up to Florida you had been doing a lot of motocross racing but you hadn’t done an off-road race since the Japanese Cross Country race back in November. Were you feeling prepared coming into Florida having not done a GNCC-style race in close to 5 months?
Some people need to race to get up to speed but I’ve been riding motocross and I think that’s what works best for me. I’ve just been pounding out the motos and it seems to be working good for me.
A winter of riding motocross in California has Strang confident in his speed.
Last year you ran out of gas in Florida and had to play catch up in the points all season long. This year you’re in a much better position, and kind of ironically Paul Whibley ended up running out of fuel in Florida this year and is in a similar situation that you experienced. Are you thinking much about having that point lead right now?
Nah, you can’t think about that at all. It’s a really long series and a lot can happen. Like you said, Whibs ran out of gas in Florida but I really think that he’s going to be a factor the rest of the series. He’s the guy that won last year and there’s a reason he won, he’ll be strong for the whole championship. And there’s obviously a lot of other really fast guys and I’m not ruling anyone out at the moment. So yeah, I can’t think too much about a small championship lead and two race wins this early.
These first two GNCCs we’ve seen guys really sprint the first few laps of the race and try to open up huge leads. In both races you’ve kind of just played it cool and it’s worked out for you. Is it your plan to take it slow like that, and do you get nervous when a guy has pulled a minute lead after a few laps?
I’ve done a lot of hard work over the off season to be able to finish how I finish. But those guys can sprint but what’s the point if you can’t keep it up for the last few laps when it really matters. I’m sure I could sprint with them but they end up having problems and don’t win the race. I’m not trying to be a smart ass or anything, but I think I’m a smart racer and I seem to get good results and I don’t want to change what’s working for me. Sometimes I guess I do get a bit worried, like Thad was riding really good over the weekend, but he’s riding so fast that something is gonna happen. And obviously something did happen, he clipped that tree and went down really hard. I really just have to focus on my own race and not worry too much about what anyone else is doing.
Knowing it's a long season with a lot of fierce competitions, Josh is keeping his first to race wins in perspective.
We’ve heard that Thad crashed really bad but haven’t heard exactly what happened. I’m assuming it must’ve been pretty gnarly because you literally stopped on the side of the trail to tell me that he crashed and it looked bad, I’m not so sure how many guys would give up time in a race to let someone know about that.
He was just far enough ahead so I couldn’t see exactly, but I just saw him and his bike flying through the air. There was a rut coming through the corner so he may have gotten cross-rutted and clipped the tree. But whatever it was it wasn’t good and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Thankfully he’s alright and I guess not too long after I passed him he got back up and was able to ride it back to the pits. You know, if I was laying out there in the middle of the trail I really hope someone would stop and let someone know I was there! It’s just the right thing to do and I was worried for Thad and I just felt like it was what I should do.
Okay, let’s switch gears a bit, what’s it like being the only guy in that big Suzuki rig?
You know so far it’s been pretty good. There are times when I kind of wish I had someone to go ridding with. But at these last two races we had 6 people or so there and everyone of them wants me to win. Everyone is pushing for me to win and there’s no mixed emotions like if there was another rider and obviously his mechanic would want him to win. Right now I really think it’s better than having more than one rider. I know I’ve got a good team behind me and they’re all super pumped right now!
Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve got. Thanks for taking the time for the interview and see you in North Carolina next weekend!
No worries, thank you!
