He has managed some of the best ever from Jeremy McGrath to Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto and knows what it takes to win but Mitch Payton always had a reputation in his early years of running the Pro Circuit team, that he was hard on the riders, so has he mellowed with age? Kind of….
Mitch told us: “I mean like I was hard on the riders but the ones that are really good you really don’t have to be that hard. The ones that hear the worst part of me was the ones that like, you know, they’re not putting in the work, so then after the moto they’re gonna hear it!
“And I still am honest with people but I have changed, you’ve got to be a little bit softer with the new generation because they’ll cry or something like that! But it’s still… you have to be honest with them and if they’re not in shape, you got to tell them you’re not in shape and like it ain’t gonna get better until you’re there.
“And then they can complain about the bike and if I can watch it and see it I can understand that and then we can address that, but sometimes, they get into a funk where they’re like, ‘oh it’s all the bike,’ it’s really not all the bike, I still think the riders the most important part.”
You can watch the full interview below:
