By: Eric Johnson (Photos: Toby Ogden) - Jeremy Lusk is one of the New Bomb Turks of freestyle motocross. At age 22, Lusk, who has only been at the sport for a few years, is already considered to be one of the best riders in the world. Having come out of the woodwork at the 2006 Dew Action Sports Tour — so unknown was Lusk at the time that he had to qualify to even get on the Tour — he narrowly missed winning the final round at Orlando. Not bad for a former iron worker from San Diego. So who is Jeremy Lusk and why has he become one of the best in the business in such an abbreviated amount time? We’ll let him tell you. Recently back from Spain and honing his skills to perfection, Lusk is preparing for a full-on global assault in 2007.
Jeremy, what have you been up to today?
I just got back from riding at Nate Adams’ house. We pretty much ride there every day, starting at about 10 A.M. We ride for about an hour and a half to two hours, usually warming-up by go through all the normal basic tricks. From there, we’ll get on with doing all the harder flip tricks.
So it’s just you and Nate riding together?
Usually, Nate, Twitch [Jeremy Stenberg] and me ride together every day.
With that kind of freestyle all together in one place every day, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you guys probably, uhm, push each other to new heights…
Yeah, we do. You can definitely tell we push one another. A couple of weeks ago I was just learning to do superman flips. Nate was not doing them yet. He watched me do them, got amped up to try them, and started trying them himself. Now he does the superman flip.
What other “harder flip” tricks have you been working on?
The superman Indian air flip; the seat grab flips; I just learned the seat grab Indian air flip. Riding a lot with Nate definitely helps me learn because he’s the guy that beats everyone.
Who, in your opinion, is the best freestyle motocross rider in the world right now?
Probably Nate. I think he’s the best because he is so used to the contest atmosphere. He knows what he has to do to win contests. Beyond Nate, I don’t know who is the best. I leave it open because you have some guys that can do gnarly tricks, but who can’t ride a course to save their life. But then there are guys who can ride the course well but can’t do the gnarly tricks. Usually, whoever has the good and solid regular tricks, has the flip tricks, and who can put together a good run with no mistakes is the best guy at any given contest. As of right now, where I stand. I definitely know I can be in the top five or better in whatever contests I do. I mean last year was my first year on the Dew Tour and I finished in the top four in the final points and I didn’t do half the tricks that I do now.
You’ve pretty new to the scene and have only been a professional freestyle motocross rider for a few years. How did you get started in the sport?
I started riding a Yamaha PW50 when I was three and a half years old. I raced for a while and raced in the 125ccc class before I started doing freestyle demo’s in 2002. I had a ramp down by my house in San Diego and I would practice after work when I had time. From there, I rode on the Boost Mobile Tour and that was good practice because you rode every weekend. I started to feel more comfortable on bike and I rode the Boost Mobile Tour another year to keep practicing. At the end of 2004, I drove to Chuck Carothers house in Texas to learn how to flip. I learned pretty quickly and did about 30 back flips into Chuck’s foam pit. After that, I went right to doing the back flip from dirt-to-dirt. I did it all in four hours. It was just something I had watched so many people do, that when it came time for me to try the back flip, I just did what I thought I should do and it all came around. When the Dew Tour started last year, I qualified for first event and that put me in the tour for the whole year.
How did you do in your first dew Tour event?
I crashed really badly in practice. I went to flip a 90-foot dirt double, the bike blubbered a little, and I had to eject while up in the air. I flew 90 feet to the ground and landed on my tailbone. I broke it and compressed my lower back. I was so pissed off because I was riding so good. That night I decided I was going to compete anyway. I went and got a Cortisone shot and pulled a 10th.
And the result helped put you on the map, didn’t it?
It did. All the riders knew me pretty well, but as far as being on TV and mainstream stuff like that, that was my first time.
And when all was said and done, you wound up fourth overall in the Dew Tour points. Looking at your results from the Dew Tour, you appeared to get better and better with each passing round…
I think I did. In between each Tour stop, I’d learn more flip tricks and keep practicing. At the San Jose round I got my first good finish by placing third. Only Nate Adams and Mike Mason beat me. And at the last stop in Orlando, I my best finish when I finished second to Mike Mason.
What contests have you done as of late?
I’ve been to Spain a few times and rode some contests over there. The contests there are actually really good to do because the European riders are gnarly. They really step it up and that makes you want to step it up. Ever since going over there, it has really pumped me up to compete here in America. I’m stoked to ride.
How did you do over there?
I beat Danny Torres in one contest. I was pumped with that because Danny Torres could come over here and give everyone a run for the money.
In fact Danny just won the Red Bull X Fighters contest in Mexico City…
Yes, he did. You know I’ll be riding the next X Fighters round. It’s going to be in Ireland on May 26.
What are your goals for 2007?
My goals are to be in the top three at all the contests I ride. I want to be in the top there at the X Games, the X Fighters and the Dew Tour.
Placing in the top three in the last two rounds of the Dew Tour shows you’re right there…
To be top five in the world right now is really gnarly. With all the flip tricks going on now, if you’re top five, you must be doing something right.
The freestyle motocross finals at the Summer X Games last year just blew my mind. Some of the riders who competed in them, while maybe not quite as well know — yet — as the ‘OG” guys, seemed to have pushed the sport to a much higher level. Do you think the sport has changed a lot recently?
I think it’s changed. It has changed just like any other sport has changed. Any sport will always have its original Joe Montanans and Dan Marino’s, but there will always be someone new and someone better that will come along. That’s just the way it works. Younger guys watch us and watch the flips and tricks we do just like back in day when I watched Mike Metzger and Brian Deegan doing Heart Attacks. That stuff was so amazing to me that I thought that was going to be the end of it — that the sport couldn’t go any further. But the young guys now, they see us do a seat grab back flip and it looks basic to them. I think it’s all going to getting more and more gnarly. There’s always going to be something new.
An hour after a day-long test session with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki race team at the nearby Glen Helen Raceway Park
35 year old Frenchman Thierry Van Den Bosch finally wrapped up his fourth World Title
