Features 29 Mar 2012

Catching Up: Josh Cachia

MotoOnline.com.au checks in with Josh Cachia as the MX Nationals fast approach.

Josh Cachia is just the type of personality that Australian Motocross needs, being young, talented and not afraid to say what’s on his mind, which will continue to attract a large fan base as his career progresses.

After winning the Under 19s title in 2010 and enjoying a stellar rookie Pro Lites season last year, the JDR/KTM Factory Racing rider enters 2012 as a real title threat and a favourite for victory on any given weekend.

MotoOnline.com.au gave Cachia a call this week to see how his pre-season has been and also to get a little more info on his role in the epic JDR Dream Ride online film project.

Josh Cachia is back with JDR/KTM Factory Racing in 2012 and this time he wants the Pro Lites title.

You’re coming into your second season in the Pro Lites class now with the JDR/KTM Factory Racing team, are you looking forward to a big season ahead?

Yeah, I’m looking forward to a healthy, good season. I spent a month in America preparing with the team over there and picked up some good speed, fitness and experience. I think this year with 10 rounds the key for success will be keeping consistent.

I’m obviously going to try and win, but you can’t always win, so I’ll just try to be consistent. So I think that will be the main factor, the dudes that stay consistent are going to be the ones on the podium at the end of the day.

When you go over to America and ride on those tracks over there with the American JDR team, what is it that you focus on the most?

The speed is at a whole new level, that’s one thing that you have to work on when you’re over there and take advantage of. You can work on fitness in Australia and work on your corners, but you go out to America and you’re riding with the fastest dudes in the world and you need to be up to their speed – you go to America to gain speed.

I think that was the whole thing, to gain speed and intensity, any rider in Australia will tell you that the intensity and speed over there is chalk and cheese to back here in Australia.

Last year in the MX Nationals you came out as a rookie in the Pro Lites and you were fast from the start, battling for the podium a lot of the time. You said consistency is the goal for this year, but is your confidence higher the second time around?

Yeah, for sure. Last year I was a rookie, this year I’m out there to kill. These dudes are going to know I’m out on the track. Last year I suffered with arm pump and most people didn’t know that, I had lots of pressure in my arms, so I had the arm pump surgery done and I don’t get arm pump anymore.

I’m curious to see what happens when the other guys get arm pump and I don’t, I’m curious to see if that helps me. I’m definitely out there to prove a point, whether I’m battling for first or second, they’ll know I’m there.

You were part of the JDR Dream Ride online film with Malcom Stewart, so that must have been pretty cool for you?

I think the whole Dream Ride experience was awesome. It was more of a life experience than anything else, I would put that under a life experience more that a dirt bike film. It was basically a bunch of strangers that became good friends by the end of it.

There were a lot of good thoughts and good attitudes, which is what made the movie that good. Everyone was having a good time while they were doing it, it was an experience to remember for a lifetime. I think that’s what made the movie so unique.

Guys can make a three- or four-minute film and it has no passion in it, but this movie had so much passion in it, which is why they worked so hard. Actually, they didn’t have to work hard because passion creates awesomeness.

The whole Dream Ride movie was unreal, I have made a lot of cool friends and I’ve become pretty close with Malcolm through all of that, so overall I call it a life experience more than anything else.

Finally, we’ve obviously seen PJ Larsen win for KTM here and head back to America, then we’ve seen Matt Moss last year win and now he’s doing well in America with the JDR team. If you can fight for this championship or even claim it, do you feel like this could be a good stepping stone to be the next in line to get over there full time?

For sure, that’s definitely the goal. The team I’m with, if you prove yourself worthy of riding over there, they have absolutely no hesitation to put you on the team over there. They’re such a loyal team that if you prove yourself and do what you say you’re going to do, they’ll do what they say they’re going to do.

So I think that if I prove myself here there’s no reason why I can’t go over and try prove myself over there. It opened up my eyes over there, because I was riding with some of the best riders in the world and a couple of them were faster than me, but most of them were chasing me, I wasn’t chasing them.

So that really opened my eyes to show that I’m not just a rookie anymore and I’ve got some speed under my belt. These are the best guys in the world and I can ride a dirt bike just as good as they can.

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