He’s a man of few words, but Australian off-road phenom Josh Strang shared some interesting facts with us at last weekend’s WORCS race in Adelanto, California. The FMF Makita Suzuki rider has been dominating the east, having taken four wins in as many races so far in 2010 GNCC series. With the comfortable points lead and a break in the series, Strang was able to make it to round four of the World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS) – a series that he enjoys participating in when he can.
We sat down with the Aussie on Sunday morning before the Pro race at Racetown 395 to hear a bit about his current GNCC win streak, what other disciplines he may be racing this year, and the counterintuitive key to his training regimen: All motocross, all the time.
You’ve had an incredible year so far.
Yeah, GNCC’s been good. Four wins from four races is good. I’m real happy how everything’s going. It’s a good start to the year; it’s everything I hoped for.
Obviously you’re always out there to win, but you couldn’t have been expecting that you’d be sweeping the series at this point.
Definitely not. They are long races and [after four three-hour races] it’s, what, 12 hours of racing? And I won all four races so it’s really good. I definitely expected to come out and win. I expect to win each weekend but to actually come out and win the first four is really good. I’m real happy and real surprised.
After dominating this far, has it given you a cushion to relax, or is that amounting to more pressure?
It’s actually good. I’m not sure of the points now but I think I have a good-sized lead. It’s definitely relaxing and I can have a second- or third-place day and not stress too bad about it. It’s definitely no pressure to do well in that. So it’s fine.
Since your GNCC season started so well, is that part of the reason you wanted to come out west for some WORCS racing?
Yeah. I like racing the WORCS races. I wanted to do some earlier in the year but the main focus is GNCC. Now we got the point cushion there I can come out and do them. It’s an off-weekend and it’s close to home so why not come out and have a go at it?
So you’re based in Southern California?
Yeah, I live down south in Murrieta.
You’ve done a handful of WORCS races in the past, right?
Yeah, I did three last year and I did two the year before – something like that. They’re good; I enjoy them. I think I got a fourth in Washington last year and then a ninth here [in Adelanto, California] at the beginning of last year. Nothing too special but it’s different racing and different guys – I like the challenge.
There’s always been a bit of an East/West rivalry in off-road and now that you’re in the spotlight, do you feel like you have something to prove today?
No, I’m just out here to have fun and race the track – just work on some things that need working on. These guys are good moto guys and this is a moto track. I just want to hang it out a little bit and run with it; have a bit of fun.
Speaking of moto, we met last year at Hangtown where you were whooping on the amateurs but you couldn’t race on Sunday since you didn’t have your Pro license. Is that something you plan to do this year?
Yeah. Same deal. If the GNCCs are going good and it fits into our racing schedule then I’d like to have a go at some of them. But there’s no concrete plans yet so we’ll see how it goes.
Do you have an AMA Pro license yet?
Not yet. I’m not going to get it because I still don’t know what we’re doing. Probably in the next few weeks over here we’ll decide. I want to try to do an AMA National [Motocross]. It’s not important for me, but if it works then I’ll go do it – again, just to have a bit of fun.
It sounds like you spend a lot of time on the track. How much of your GNCC training program is straight motocross?
All of it. It’s works for me. I don’t know what works for everyone else, but I’m happy with it.
How does riding motocross in Southern California equate to zipping through the trees on the east coast?
I don’t know. I’ve always ridden in the trees since I was a kid. You never forget how to ride in the trees. I don’t know… it just works for me!
