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Tuesday Conversation: Chris Clark
March 16, 2009 by admin
Filed under Tuesday Conversation
The AMA Horizon Award is given to the AMA amateur competitor who is considered to have the most promise for a professional career. Past winners include Ben Spies and Jason DiSalvo. In 2008, the award was given to Chris Clark, the 17-year-old Las Vegas native who took home victories in the Expert Unlimited Grand Prix and Expert Unlimited Superbike classes during the 2008 AMA Sports Road Racing Grand Championships at Mid-Ohio. For 2009, Clark is competing in the revised AMA Supersport championship and the Daytona SportBike class.
RRX: Give us a quick background on your racing career up to 2008.
Chris Clark: I started off at 14, and I wanted to race dirt bikes but my parents thought it was too dangerous. So they thought getting on a road bike would be safer and so we did a bunch of research and found the Freddie [Spencer] school, which was here in our hometown. Then I attended the school and got hooked, and then 2007 was my first year of racing. I won a bunch of novice championships, some GNF [WERA Grand National Finals] and some WERA West stuff. And then last year we started working with the Bazzaz Performance Team, and we had a really good year. We won a WERA West championship, we won a championship in GNF on a 1000, and then we also won the 2008 AMA Horizon Award.
So essentially you’ve been only racing for two years—2007 and 2008?
Yes, I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 4 but was never really on one again until I was 14 [laughs]. I probably can count three occasions when I got on a bike between when I was 4 and 14.
Let’s talk about 2008. What were some of the highlights, and what did you learn?
You know, it was a really great year. I got working with the Bazzaz team, and we got really close that year, we really built a great team, and, I think we’re going to be really strong in the 2009 season. Starting off in 2008, I had just gotten done racing novice and the first race was at Cal Speedway and I was running mid-pack, and just throughout the year, working with the team and with my riding, we really progressed and we started running up front. And every time we went to a track, we picked up time. And that’s just one of the things we were really happy about that year, because every time we went on track, we improved. And so towards the end of the year at Cal Speedway I won three out of the four races. I won both 600 [races] along with a 750, and the last 750 got red flagged.
Tell me a little about your weekend at the AMA Sports Road Race Grand Championships.
We had never been to the track before and showed up, and in practice we were improving. There wasn’t as many people there last year as there was in the past because of the whole WERA and CCS deal that went on, but there was still a lot of good riders there. There was PJ Jacobsen, Dustin Dominguez, there was a lot of good people there. We were running in the 600s and we had fastest times through practice, and the same with the 1000s. And then towards the race, it was a little tougher [laughs]. You know, Dustin was riding great and we were battling back and forth throughout the entire races. One of the races, in the last turn I was leading and got stuck behind a lapper, which allowed Dustin to get by me and get the win in that one, but it was a fun weekend.
What was it like to win the AMA Horizon Award?
It was unbelievable to get something like that. Something that prestigious, it is just really amazing. I can’t thank my team enough for helping me out, and the AMA and CCS put on a really great event.
Some pretty incredible racers have won that award, so you’re in good company there.
Yeah, definitely. My crew chief [James Compton] worked with Ben [Spies] when he won it and it was really cool too in that aspect, being able to work with him, and he has two riders now who have won it.
Did you attend the awards banquet at Barber?
Yeah, they actually let me take the trophy at the event and at the awards banquet they presented it to me again along with the plaque. I had fun and met some really cool people. Another funny thing about the AMA banquet is that the year somebody wins it from Las Vegas, they decide to hold it in another state [laughs].
Are you excited about the new SuperSport class?
I really am. You know, I think the AMA has a really great opportunity this year to help build motorcycling as a sport and industry. Definitely in these economic times, motorcycles are a solution to cars. I think with the AMA and the direction they’re going, I think it could be a really great way to capitalize and help grow the industry.
Do you see any specific advantages and disadvantages to the SuperSport class itself?
It’s definitely a great stepping stone for trying to get kids involved earlier, giving them a little bit of a stepping stone into racing with the top guys. There are a few things I wish would’ve been different, like the East versus West [organization] of the series. It would’ve been definitely a lot more fun to do one whole long series….,
Do you think it could serve as a springboard to MotoGP’s Moto2?
Yeah, definitely it could. With the top young American riders in that age group, it fits into that category. I think it’s going to be really competitive this year for kids, especially in that class [SuperSport].
Where do you want to be at the end of the season?
At the end of the season, I really would like to have won the SuperSport championship and then also have a really good finishing in the Daytona [SportBike] class, and then possibly the next year be on a 1000 and have some good success on that. I’m really looking forward to taking this year and seeing where it leads us.
And long-term career goals?
Hopefully, like everybody, MotoGP. You know, it would be so much fun to be there and travel the world and ride motorcycles, I just can’t think of anything better.
Anyone you’d like to thank?
I’d definitely like to thank my whole family and team for supporting me. All the sponsors who have helped us out and everyone who helped me get here, I just can’t thank them enough.
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