Catching up with Dean Wilson

Sponsored by: 

Last year Dean Wilson was an unknown entity on the East Coast, this year he's a title favourite.

By Allison Kennedy 

Photos by James Lissimore 

With the East Coast Lites series kicking off this weekend in Houston, we thought we’d give everyone’s favourite Scottish-Canuck a call. We caught up with Dean Wilson to hear his thoughts about his upcoming 2011 Supercross season with the Monster Energy Pro Circuit team.

Hey Dean. How’s it going? What are you up to?

I’m doing well. Nothing really, I’ve just been riding a lot and training. That’s pretty much it, to be honest with you. That’s the life I guess. How are you? How’s the baby.

She’s awesome. She’s skiing and snowboarding now at daycare.

How old is she?

Almost three.

Wow, that’s badass.

Well, how old were you when you started riding?
Three (laughs).

So, two more sleeps til Houston. Are you ready?

I started riding about two weeks ago. It’s been going pretty good. I don’t feel like I'm riding quite like I was before I got injured but I am still working towards that. I’ve just been plugging away pretty much.

So you had a shoulder injury right? How bad was it?
Yes, I separated my AC joint in my shoulder; it was a third degree separation. It wasn’t too bad but I was out for a good month so that kind of set me back a little bit but no bother, no problem.

So does that change the way you go into Houston then?

A little bit, yes. I am just going to go in there and try my best. Really that’s all you can do at the end of the day. Just have to get a good start and being in good shape is really important too. Those are the main things that will help me win.

Is there any more pressure this year? From yourself? From the team?

I don’t know … I think there is a little bit more, definitely more than last year, because people didn’t know what to expect, so that was different. But it’s nothing crazy. All you can do is try your best … pressure isn’t anything; it’s just something that makes you nervous for no reason.

Dean wearing his new number at the Kawi test track.

Did you have a good week hanging with Beats?

Yeah, it was good. He was riding well and doing motos and stuff and training with me and he was really working hard. The old KD Beats was back in him again so it was good. To see him get second off the start in his qualifier was awesome. I was all excited and then he made the main so that was really good too.

Beaton said in his interview with Matthes that you talked to him before the 3rd practice and it obviously worked--what was said?

Yah, I missed his first two practices but I think the first two he was on the ground anyways (laughs) You know how RevRun has these words of wisdom on Twitter? Well, that was me before he started practice, and then he was on top of the board and he looked good. Some people say I’m pretty inspirational (laughs) … just kidding.

Your teammate and your friend, Hanny had a great ride on Saturday. What did you think?

Yeah, that was very impressive. After his crash I went in to see him at Asterisk and he couldn’t remember anything and he was all banged up and his hand was swollen… I was like there is no way he’s racing it. Next thing I see him on the line for his heat race and he kills it. It was really impressive, definitely not the old Josh Hansen that’s for sure.

That was quite the Dirt Shark video…

Oh did you see it? It was pretty sweet (laughs) I don’t really know what else to say about it…

Yes the helmet polishing was pretty subtle… just like your real life eh?

Oh yeah … I wish. It was a good laugh for sure.

And nice to see your Dad in there…

Yeah, he always gets my dad in there (laughs), my dad hates the camera.

They should let you do the opening ceremonies in that kilt sometime?

I know, I think that would be pretty funny. I thought I looked pretty good in that kilt to be honest with you.

So are you pretty excited?

I am looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a good weekend. Like I said, I don’t feel like I am 100% but I have to remember that I have two weeks off after that to work the bugs out. We’ll just see how it goes, but I am really excited. I’ve been watching a lot of racing and I haven’t raced in a while, so it’s going to be good.

There seems to be a lot of talk about you and Barcia being the top of the field. What do you expect?

I mean I expect that as well. He’s always out there to win and so am I so it should be pretty exciting.

And you guys have raced each other a lot in the past?
Yeah, a lot, quite a lot. We don’t have the best history so… but it’s all good.

Dean is looking forward to coming to Toronto this year ... and hopefully not staying as long.

Obviously with your move to the East you’ll be up in Toronto again?
Yep, we’ll be up there again and this time there will be no issues. I’m excited for that, it will be good to see some of my relatives again, it will be cool.

So far there aren’t many Canadians signed up for that round. Any advice to Canadian riders thinking of racing in Toronto?

Well… I think I might know one that’s racing but I’m not sure yet… we’ll see. There might be a little short guy out there riding.

I heard something about that too, so hopefully that works out.

I really hope so. We’ll see if he works the bugs out and gets it all figured out and then I think that would be great.

Well thanks a lot for taking the time to update your Canadian fans. We’ll all be cheering on Saturday!

Thanks. Have a great day!