Dylan Ferrandis wastes no time in showing his switch to the privateer Honda team was worthwhile with the French rider taking 5th at the Anaheim opener and looking strong all day.
We caught up with a chatty Ferrandis after his success debut on the Honda, watch or read below:
It looks like Honda suits you Dylan! Fifth place at A1 and you didn’t have much testing coming up to this, you must be pretty pleased!
Yeah, it’s awesome, very happy. Like you said, we had a short winter, this programme came up very late,. everybody bust their ass, we worked very hard and it was worth it, top five for the first race with a new team was awesome, very proud of everybody.
Where is the bike percentage wise to where you want it? 80% 90%?
I feel awesome but I feel we are pretty far from what we are capable of doing. We can do a lot of progress I feel because, like I said, the winter was really short for us and a lot of parts came very late before the race. Honestly, I feel very confident, I think we can be much better, we will build up from here. Starting like this is a very good thing.
Is everything you liked about the Honda when you first tested it, did that work tonight how you envisioned it working?
Yeah, I always wanted to ride Honda. I think was the best of everyone’s bikes and, yeah, tonight I felt it. I felt the bike was so easy to ride. I never got sketchy in the main event, I never had any major mistakes and the bike was super easy to ride, that’s what I was looking for. I am happy yo have made that choice.
On the Yamaha in 450 supercross, you never really got the starts very often to see the pace to learn it. Tonight you had a pretty good start and were in the mix, was that a factor going Honda?
Yeah, I was complaining about the power on the Yamaha. The power on the Honda suits me very well and here we had good starts all day. The main event could have been a little better, I made a not a mistake, but wasn’t as good as I can but still it was a better start than what I used to have on the Yamaha.
Did you grow up watching Sebastian Tortelli and Mickael Pichon when they rode Honda’s here in 1999, was that where the dream to ride Honda came from?
My dream to race Honda was a little later, but I remember for sure when they were here, it was awesome to watch. I remember with Sebastian was challenging Carmichael in the outdoors it was great to watch. It was more 2021 when I was fighting with Kenny outdoors and also in supercross with all the HRC riders, I was just jealous of how good the bike was compared to mine. That’s where my dream to race Honda came from.
This isn’t a factory team, you are used to having a factory team and probably a thousand bits to test, are you concerned you won’t have the amount (of parts) you need to test or will it simplify the process?
I mean, today factory or not factory, I don’t know what this means exactly. We have this group of people in this team that are very smart, and doesn’t count the hours and just want to perform. I think this is more important than having a factory team or parts. When you have smart people that work very hard and want to improve the bike every day that’s what matters, and that’s what I have in this team and I am very proud to be working with these people. We showed tonight, we didn’t have a factory bike, I just need to have smart people making good decisions with the bike and open the throttle.
What is it like racing Jett Lawrence now, at CLS Kawasaki when you were there he was just a wee kid , now he’s the guy to beat tonight! Is it weird for you to see this wee kid at the front!?
It was a couple of months ago but we know how good Jett is, I’m not surprised. Now we train everyday in Florida, so I see him everyday at the track and I see the way he riders, I was pretty sure he would win tonight.
How close were you to retiring? You said on the PulpMX show that if you didn’t get a deal you might retire. Was that close or was there always something in the pipeline for you this season?
I think I was, maybe not ready to retire, but ready to have a break and wait for an opportunity. I was not willing to push too hard to get a ride that I didn’t really want. This team and these people came up together. I wanted to ride Honda and I wanted to ride Factory Connection so that was my dream deal. I was very happy about that but if it was for another brand or another team, maybe I would have just waited to see. I don’t know I still have something in me, I proved tonight with a top five so it was a good thing to not retire.
Your goal is still to win a 450 supercross title, that’s still your motivation?
For sure that’s still my goal, my dream. If it wasn’t my goal I would not work this hard, that’s for sure my biggest goal and dream.
Did you have interest from MXGP teams or where you not interested in going back?
The supercross and even the motocross in the US is so good and I love it so much I don’t know if I would be able to go back to the MXGP. I like it, but it is just different, life in America is easier for the sport and this vibe we have in supercross is so good and when you taste it, it’s hard to go back.
And you have nice weather, you don’t have to ride Lommel in December!
(smiles) Yeah, yeah that’s something I don’t miss! At the same time, it’s part of the sport, if you don’t train when it’s hard you can’t expect to win.
Interview: Jonathan McCready
