Is Barcia Back?

Justin Barcia interview

Posted on January 08, 2018

Everyone loves a good comeback story in sports, and heading into the opening round of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, all the hype was focused on the comeback of Team HRC’s Ken Roczen, but a rider known to us all as BamBam stole some of that spotlight and ignited a comeback story of his own.

At the end of the 2017 season, Justin Barcia found himself in that unenvious position that many former superstars who had a couple bad years tend to find themselves in: the unemployment line. With some back-to-back injuries and a few lackluster seasons with the JGRMX team, #51 had gone from having teams jump at the opportunity to pay him seven figures to ride their bikes to having nobody wanting to pay him anything. While Justin showed flashes of brilliance with an incredible MXoN ride and some outdoor overall wins in the 450MX class, in Supercross the two-time 450SX main event winner had literally become a non-factor. With so much emphasis placed on SX performances and some in the paddock questioning his overall desire teams opted to simply look the other way this “Silly Season”.

As the prospect of racing as a privateer in ’18 was staring Justin square in the face, Justin checked his ego at the door, loaded up a privateer Honda and showed up at the Monster Energy Cup on his own dime. At the Monster Cup, he finished sixth overall with a 10-6-5 scorecard on the night, but more importantly, he showed he was far from finished and willing to swallow his pride and do whatever it took to get to the races. Soon after, Davi Millsaps went out injured over at the Monster Energy / Knich / Yamaha factory racing team, so the team slapped a #51 on the bike and signed BamBam to what amounted to a six-race trial deal to fill in for Davi. After what happened on Saturday night, though, we’re thinking we will likely be seeing Justin under that tent for all 17 rounds of SX and possibly even beyond.

From the first practice on at A1, Justin was near the top of the board in qualifying and ended up qualifying for the night show with the third fastest lap. In his heat race, he got a sixth place start and by lap five he was in the lead, running away with a dominant heat race win. In the main event, Justin started in second behind Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac and stayed surprisingly close before inheriting the lead when Tomac threw it away in a rhythm section. Justin led for for just three laps before getting swallowed up by the pressure of Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin and Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson and pushed back to third. From there you know some thought Justin might drop anchor and lose a podium, but instead he latched onto to Anderson and kept Roczen at bay back in fourth to cross the line with a surprising opening round podium.

Whether or not this one podium means BamBam is back for good remains to be seen, but what we saw out of him on Saturday night definitely has me leaning towards him possibly being a factor throughout the season if healthy. After his possible career rebirth performance at A1, Dan Lamb caught up with him to talk about how the Yamaha ride came to be and his debut with the team in Anaheim.

What a difference a couple months makes, Justin. At Monster Cup, I talked to you and you were setting up your own pits and digging around looking for a light so you could work on your own bike. A couple months later and you’re back on a factory team, leading the main event and standing on the podium.

It shows just never give up. I didn’t know what was going on, but I got the call from Yamaha and I was super grateful for the opportunity. It’s six races right now. I’m taking it race by race. My goal is to turn it into something way more long term because I want to be in this sport for a few more years to come. Tonight was great. The team’s awesome. They’re very positive, supportive. They have a lot of experience, and putting myself with them seems like a great fit. I can’t complain.

Did you chase this down when Davi got hurt or did you just get a call?

No, I got a call actually a day or two days before Monster Cup and they wanted me to race Monster Cup on their bike, but I just put so much work and money into my own setup that I couldn’t do that. I told them if there was something long term, I’d love to be in that situation. It kind of went back and forth. No one really knew what was going on with Davi, so I was just back home for a month after Monster Cup just riding a stock bike, you know, the bike I had before Monster Cup. And I was thinking something’s gotta give because I’m not sure what I’m gonna do. It was like either someone needs to call or I’m going to start putting together my own team. And that’s a lot of work. So, I didn’t really chase it, but I definitely knew I deserved a fresh start. At Monster Cup I had not very long on the bike and I showed that I’m still pretty quick. I didn’t light the world on fire, but still.

You still kind of have a name. (laughs)

Unfortunately in this sport, name doesn’t mean anything; it’s results. I know how it is. Hard work pays off.

Did you surprise yourself about how quick you were up to speed on the Yamaha today? In qualifying you went right to the top of the board and stayed on the board [top 5 times in his session] all day.

Yeah, I mean, I just believed in myself. During the month and a half I’ve been out here in California for the season, I just took a new look at life. “One,” I said, “am I gonna race still?” And I said, “Yeah, I want to race still.” And then I thought, “Two, I want to be back to where I’ve been in the past.” So, alright, I’m gonna have to hit the restart button like fully: new team, new me. I’m gonna get married next year. I put together a group of people that I believe could bring me back to this position, so surprised? I’m not necessarily surprised. I wanted to come out of here top five, so I exceeded my expectations. That’s awesome.

Talk about the main a little. You were leading after Marvin Musquin crashed and looking good. What was going through your mind at that point?

I don’t know. I’ve been in that situation before. It’s been a long time, but I wasn’t like crazy nervous. I was just having fun. I told myself, “Let’s just have fun all day. Whatever the outcome is, is the outcome.” I put in the work. I’ve been putting in the work for years, but it just didn’t pay off unfortunately. Today it did and it felt great. I was first, second, third…

When you got to third, were you worried about losing a podium at all with Roczen coming.

Well, I seen Roczen behind me and I seen Anderson in front of me and I said, “I don’t want to go backwards so I might as well go forwards.” There was a fine line on that track to where pushing it too hard could cost you a crash, so I was trying to find that fine line. I did. I made a couple of mistakes which cost me obviously second or the win. But yeah, it was a cool night.

Did you catch a little late race adrenaline there at the end because you were catching Jason Anderson again for second?

Yeah, I started reeling him back in. I was like, “Alright, cool.” I started pushing a little harder in a few spots and, like I said, trying to find that edge of the track. My fitness is awesome. I felt good, felt strong, and I believe we’re just going to keep building and getting better and better.

Welcome back to the podium and the press conference.

Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.