Dean Wilson came into the supercross in great after from after his podium at the MXoN and successful off-season races but at round one in Anaheim all that momentum came to a crushing halt on the face of a triple in an ugly endo.
A deep bone bruise on his shoulder temporarily put Wilson out of action but Dean has been gritting through the pain in recent weeks and in San Diego got a top ten as a reward for his efforts.
Doug Turney joined the media scrum with Dean to get an insight into his shoulder injury and the restrictions he still has, as well as why he isn’t training with Aldon Baker like his teammate Jason Anderson is.
On his battle with Barcia for eighth…
It’s racing, if he stuffs me I will stuff him- it’s all good. I tried to pass him a couple of times, but he slammed me so on the last lap I went in for the slam as well but the dude always stays on two wheels. We both went off the track! It was kind of frustrating because I should have had eighth. There’s no bad blood between us.
Riding with Jason in the off-season where would your pace put you before the crash?
I think my pace would have put me on the podium for sure. At first he was kicking my butt, it was hard to take mentally but every time I rode with him I got better and better and coming towards Anaheim I really closed the gap, he had an edge on me but not a massive edge like it was, so I was feeling good. He is very talented, he just rides his bike so well, he is smooth and finesses it, he is very efficient on the bike.
It’s a bummer (the injury) I feel like I could have been a podium guy but I feel I still can be, I have just had to build myself up again.
Right now, it’s not an amazing feeling but it’s good to be inside the top ten. I feel like a lot of guys in my position wouldn’t be racing, like I said from here all I can do is try and get better every weekend. You have a goal to get on the podium and you keep pushing for it and that’s it.
When you are on the track are there certain parts of the track that make your shoulder hurt more?
Yeah, it’s the whoops, they can be a killer. They are fine when I hit them nice but when things start getting sideways and sketchy that’s when it gets a little uncomfortable and it pulls and strains on it. It the real quick, jerking movement, I still can’t lift my arm all the way up. It’s just a healing process, I have never had a bone bruise before. It sucks that it’s called a bruise because it’s the gnarliest thing ever – it sucks!
Besides the shoulder how is everything else feeling, the bike and your fitness?
The bike feels awesome, I really like my bike. Fitness, I feel I have lost a little bit of fitness since I have been injured because I have not been riding three times a week like I was. I have had to take a pretty big time off. I feel like I will keep getting better. I think I will take another week off this week and hopefully that’s the last one so I can really heal and after that really start getting better.
Is the shoulder getting better each week or has it plateaued?
It plateaued last week which was super frustrating, I wake up in the middle of the night in pain because it hurts really bad, it’s like a toothache on your shoulder but I feel this week riding the bike was really good, I’m not in pain like I was last week, I’m feeling better so I think another week of taking it easy will help me a lot.
I can’t do pull ups and push ups yet, which is frustrating because I was trying to do that stuff but the more I did it, it wouldn’t recover and it was a pain in the ass.
I know KTM and Husqvarna have a deal with Aldon, is there an option with you to train with him?
Not really, he has Zach, Jason and Marv and really it comes down to if they want another rider, it comes down to them. They can add another rider to the roster or those three guys can pay money to Aldon so it just stays as three guys. Yeah, I have been interested and went for it a couple of times but it didn’t work out, but I am really happy with my trainer Tyler and my programme is really close to what them guys do anyway.
Interview and pic: Doug Turney
