Any time you line up for an AMA Supercross round you’re up for a huge challenge ahead, but in Ryan Marmont’s case, an invite at the 11th hour while recovering from ankle surgery may have been one of the hardest tasks of all.

The multiple-time Australian champion was called to replace the injured PJ Larsen at JDR/J-Star/KTM on the West Coast in the Lites, just one month after getting hardware removed from his troublesome ankle injury that affected him throughout 2011.

But in typical Marmont fashion, he stood up to the task at hand, qualifying for the main direct from his heat race after taking an inspiring holeshot. A result of 17th in the main wasn’t an ideal result for Marmont, however those 15 laps will prove vital come round two at Phoenix this weekend.

MotoOnline.com.au gave him a call in California to speak about his progress so far in the U.S, getting his thoughts on A1 and plans for the rest of the series.

You got the late call-up to replace PJ on the West Coast after originally being slated to ride back East, so how was A1 considering the little preparation you had going into it?

Yeah, it would have been great to have more preparation, because it was a bit of a last minute call-up. I caught a plane and flew over, so I think I had a good night of racing and I gave it my all.

My fitness and speed definitely let me down, but that’s to be expected after having an operation on my ankle four weeks ago. I was pretty happy with my effort and the team was stoked that I put it in the main.

I’ll try build on that this week, just try to get better and better each day.

What was the timeline like from when you got the call? Did you get to ride much over there before Anaheim?

I got a call last Thursday (a week out from round one) and then I was on the plane that Friday morning. It was unexpected, but I dropped everything and made it happen.

Once I got here I started riding, had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I couldn’t hold my arms up after Wednesday, so I had to take Thursday and Friday off, then went straight into the race.

As riders know, it’s very hard to have no time on the bike before supercross, so I was just trying to do as much as I could in a short amount of time. If I can just keep getting better and better, I’ll be happy with that.

When you got the holeshot in your heat race and battled right up front, was that a positive for you? Do you feel like it helped speed up your initiation back into U.S. racing?

Well I was getting a bit frustrated in practice and qualifying because I felt like I could be going faster, but my body just wasn’t letting me. So I knew the race would be a lot different and my game plan was to get the holeshot in the heat.

I just knew it would make it that much easier on myself because my fitness wasn’t the greatest. It made it 10 times easier for me, to get that start.

You battled with Mossy and a few other guys closely in the heat, it was pretty intense, so were you nervous at all considering you hadn’t had much time to prepare?

Yeah, I was. Not doing much practice over here was making it really hard, but the bike was unreal. I’d barely ridden it and it was totally different to anything that I’d ever ridden before. It was ultra fast and I had to adapt to it as quick as possible as well.

To be racing against these guys that you usually watch on TV, I have a lot of respect for them, so I just want to try battle with them and even beat them. I’m over here and loving it, so I just want to try get to where I know I should be.

It looked as though in the main event there was a problem with the start gates, so you didn’t get a good start this time. That looked like it made it tough for you, but how important were those 15 laps of seat time under race conditions for you?

Unfortunately they stuffed the start up, but I had the clutch all the way to the handlebar as well as the front brake. I spoke to Mossy and he was doing the same, so I think pretty much the whole field burnt their clutch out on the line waiting for the gate to drop.

That blew my chances of a good start, but as you say, doing 15 laps was the best thing for me. I just kept trying to charge the best I could for the whole race and I’m coming away with a lot of positives from the weekend. We’ll move forward this week into Phoenix, so I look forward to it.

You’re back on the Lites bike after a season on the 350 in Australia last year, so how was that for you? Were you back at home on the 250F?

Yeah, I think I feel back at home on it because the 250F just seems to suit my riding style and my size. I love racing that thing and the tracks over here. I’m looking forward to just trying to put it all together at this stage, just trying to do well.

You’re doing the first four or five West Coast rounds for JDR, so do you have any idea of what the future holds after that?

At this stage the boys in the team are just taking it weekend after weekend. They don’t want to put too much pressure on me, but they’ve got my back 110 percent.

If I can get to where I want to be after the first four or five rounds then hopefully I can try and come back and finish off the last three. That would be great, but if not then hopefully there’s a seat back home. I’m playing it one week at a time at the moment.

You were with JDR last year at the same point in the team’s American debut, so do you see much difference in the way that it’s run entering their second year in the U.S?

Yeah, the team has grown dramatically this season. They have double the amount of riders, more staff and the bikes are absolutely incredible – like nothing I have ever ridden before.

They’re just so professional and I think it’s a perfect combination of having the right people on the team. In no time at all I think we’ll be seeing the guys dominate over here, I think.

Okay well thanks for the interview, best of luck this weekend in Phoenix.

Thanks, mate.

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