Catching Up With... Shawn Maffenbeier

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Interview by Billy Rainford

Photos by James Lissimore

Catching Up With Shawn Maffenbeier

Shawn Maffenbeier opened a lot of eyes last summer on the Canadian Nationals circuit. He took his #23 and turned it into a very impressive #6 for next season in the MX1 class. It's easy to stray off topic with the quick wit and dry sense of humour of this hard-working Canadian privateer, but I did my best to stay focussed and get a few of the answers to some questions we had for Shawn.

DMX: Hi, Shawn. How are you?

Shawn Maffenbeier: I’m good. How are you?

I’m doing great, thanks. Where are you, right now?

I’m just an hour outside of my hometown (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) driving home from Pemberton, BC. I’m driving home to grab my two practice bikes for California…

Woah, hang on! Why does everyone want to jump straight to the meat and potatoes in these interviews?! How long is the drive?

About 20 hours. It’s actually around 14, but when we got to Revelstoke there was a big avalanche so we had to detour and now it took about 20 hours. I apologize if I sound really tired and don’t make any sense.

I hear you went on some amazing snowmobile ride recently back in BC?

Ya! Me and Todd (Schumlick) have been training our butts off for two months. We did a little snowboarding and we went out snowmobiling on Thursday. It was probably one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had. There was about four feet of fresh powder and you, honestly, had snow stuck in your ears! When you carved you could barely breathe because there was so much snow. It’s pretty unreal! I’ve never been up that high sledding. It was a pretty cool experience and I’m glad I did it.

So, now you’re not going to do the last arenacross at Chilliwack--you’re racing this weekend at the Lethbridge arenacross, right?

Yes, I’m going to race Lethbridge. They asked me to come there. I’m going to put on some Perform-X riding schools in the morning while I’m there. I’m going to race those two nights and then head straight down to California.

Perform-X's Todd Schumlick has Shawn in the best shape of his life heading into 2012.

You aren’t really known as an indoor specialist, but you had a pretty good weekend in Chilliwack. Tell us how those races went.

Chilliwack was fun. It was my first race of 2012 and it was fun to get out there. I hadn’t got my bikes from Yamaha yet, so I ended up borrowing a Pemberton friend’s stock 250F. I wasn’t expecting too much of myself and just wanted to have fun. I felt really good in practice so I thought to myself that I could beat all these guys here.

The first night, I just got the hang of racing and then the second night I led the whole first moto until the last corner where I had a little ‘brain fart’ and (Brock) Hoyer got by me. He tucked in on the inside and got by me. I kind of gave that one away so I was a little pissed off at myself. I screwed up in the whoops on the last lap so he tightened it up. With two corners left to go, I went inside on the second-last corner and then I thought I should have enough room, but when I looked on the inside I was like, “Oh, man!” and he went to the inside and got me. I was kind of choked at myself. I was definitely not going to let the second race go and I, kind of, ran away with it.

It was cool because all those guys racing the indoor stuff, we’re all pretty good friends—we all know each other fairly well. Nobody was going to take each other out or run into each other, and we were definitely going to bang bars to get that position, but we weren’t going to kill each other to get there.

Overall, it was a good weekend. It was cool because I hadn’t grown up racing a lot of arenacross, so it was cool to do some indoor stuff.  It’s a stepping stone to get my way into some supercross too, so I enjoyed it. I’m not really known as an indoor guy. Here and there, my dad and I went to a couple races—maybe one every year. Nothing compared to the BC guys who have such good facilities like Chilliwack. That track has been there for so long and they take advantage of it and ride it.

Speaking of heading back down south, I heard some rumours involving you and supercross?

I’m just trying to figure a couple little things out. If I can get enough funding from sponsors then I’ll definitely do it. I’m looking at either Salt Lake City or Seattle; one of those two. I’m kind of digging riding the indoor stuff.

What practice tracks have you been hitting down in California?

We ride all over the place. We go to Glen Helen, Pala, and Perris. For supercross, we’ll probably go to Milestone. They made that new Lucas Oil Park, or whatever it’s called, out at Star West, so we’ll check that out too.

What’s your favourite outdoor track there?

I’d have to say definitely Glen Helen. It’s still the most true outdoor track I’ve ever ridden with the hills and everything. It’s pretty cool.

Who all is down there with you?

It’s me and Todd running the camp and then for athletes we have Shawn Robinson, Trae Franklin, Danny Matthe, Matt Davenport—lots of western up-and-comers in junior and intermediate. Shawn Robinson is going to be on my team next year so he’s down there. He’s going to experience the west coast—I’m going to show him how it’s done.

Shawn Robinson will join the Yamalube Schrader's SMX family for next season.

Are you walking around with tattoos and a flat-billed cap now?

Ya, you know, tattoos, flat-brim, long hair, and a toque in California. That’s cool too. All that stuff. I sold my van and bought the biggest truck I could find with the biggest wheels. Basically, blew all my budget on a new truck…NOT!

Tell us about your program for next summer.

Basically, it’s the same thing as last year. We’re going to run the Yamalube Schrader’s SMX Racing team. From my results last year, everybody has stepped it up a little bit. They’re all helping me a little bit more to get the number one plate. They are all behind me 100%.

Only 100?

Actually, that’s false. I hate it when I hear people say that. You can never give 100%! Think about it. You can never give 100%, all the time. If you’re training and riding and you’re doing a good 85-90% then you’re doing pretty much as much as you can.  Ok, so let’s just straighten that whole thing out.

The whole 110% thing? You can’t do that. Think about it. You can’t go over 100. I don’t even listen to people. If they say that, just shake your head.

If you say either ‘doing work’ or ‘like a boss,’ this interview is over!

(Laughs)

We gave you the unofficial ‘Most Improved Rider’ award and I saw someone on Facebook congratulated you.

(Laughs) Ya, I was wondering if I was going to get an award for it. I was going to ask Kyle if I got a plaque to hang on the wall, but…

You get nothing, but you can still put it on your resumé. What do you do to improve on that next year?

Same thing as I did last year: just keep working on my weaknesses and go from there. If you ever think you’re good enough, you’ll just quit progressing. It’s cool being in California because you get to watch Villopoto and all those guys. It’s good to learn from them. I try to pick-up a little bit from everybody and use it to my advantage. I think my age will start to help me out a bit too. I’ve got enough experience in that class that it comes more naturally to me now. I don’t get freaked out as a rookie would. We’ll just keep plugging away at it. My fitness is better than it ever has been, so it’s going to be a good year.

I ask everybody this: Do you think Colton Facciotti is beatable?

Ya. Oh ya, definitely. First of all, he’s on a new bike and a new team. He’s going to be beatable, definitely. Same thing as JSR—they come and they go. Who’s going to be the next one? That’s the question.

What’s your favourite track on the Canadian circuit?

The west last year was kind of a ‘gong show’ with all the mud, so it left a sour taste. I would say Sand Del Lee. I kind of like it because it’s hard-pack but there’s a little bit of sand.

No surprise he enjoyed the Sand Del Lee track last season--he battled near the front of the pack all day and proved that's where he belongs.

What do you do when you’re not racing or training?

I don’t know. That’s a pretty hard question because that’s pretty much all I do! (laughs) I snowboard, wakeboard, and mountain bike. I’m going to do a little mountain bike racing this year, so that’ll be cool. I work from October to December doing construction stuff. Basically, my whole life is based around moto. Everything I do I try to put towards this.

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t racing motocross?

(Long pause) I’d probably just be a normal teenager. I’d be moving up to Whistler, chasing chicks, and probably partying a lot. I’d have a whole different mind-set because, right now, whatever I do I always think about moto—How is this going to benefit me? What are the negatives/positives? If I wasn’t doing this I’d just go work at a ski resort and try to be a ski bum—party, meet people, travel. I’d take a whole different approach.

I’m really getting into the downhill mountain biking. I actually rode a couple weeks ago in Vancouver with some of the top up-and-comers. It’s similar in so many ways but it’s also so different. It’s super cool to still be on two wheels, but it’s a totally different element. Anything on two wheels, I’m kind of expanding my views on. I just do snowboarding and wakeboarding to relax. It’s nice to have a couple sports that you don’t over-think too much.

Between the nationals I think I might attempt to jump into a downhill at Mont Ste. Anne. I still have to work out a few details about that. It would be cool to do a little bit of different racing in the summer.

One last question: What are you going to do with your hair this summer?

Ummm, as of right now, I’ve got the ‘flying v’ going on—it IS a hairstyle. There’s a good chance it might be spiked. After I get home from California, you just never know. I could have my eyebrows pierced or something like that. Or I could just grow it long…actually, no, I can’t grow my hair long. You’ll just have to wait and be surprised.

Ok, I think that’s as good a place to stop as any. Thanks for talking with us, good luck this weekend, and why don’t you go ahead and thank some sponsors.

I'd like to throw a big thanks out to the Yamalube Schraders SMX racing team along with Troy Lee Designs, PerformX Schools and Camps, SSS suspension, Dragon Goggles, Gaerne, Dr.D, Dunlop, CTI2 Knee Braces, Yorkton Dodge, Husky, my whole family and friends for always backing me and helping me chase my dreams. I couldn't do without any of you guys. Thank you. 

Slap chop!