Heart Wins Out(Doors) - Dirt Rider Magazine

It's mentioned in podium speeches and press releases. It's talked about on the sidelines and witnessed at the races. It's usually called heart, and it's often the only thing that separates the winners from the also-rans.We tried to get inside the minds of the sport's top racers as they launched into the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship to find out where that intangible element of drive and desire comes from. Whether it's built during the week preparing for the race, a mindset that can be adopted, or a natural talent only tapped into when it's needed. We also took an up-close look at the outdoor bike setup, showing that it's not only rider but machine that faces its ultimate test in the long motos under the hot sun on the brutal tracks of motocross."I don't do anything to make winning easier. I train and do everything everybody else does, but I guess I just have something to put it together."
-Ryan Villopoto"I think winners are born, they're not built. Anybody that I've ever seen , no matter what sport, they master the way of winning at a young age. Not very often do you see a mediocre guy suddenly turn into a guy who goes and wins week in and week out.... For me it's like my pride is on the line. You're the one who has to stand up to, whether it's your wife or your team manager or your friends or whatever, you're the one who looks them in the face when you come off the track, whether you did good or you did bad. Your pride's on the line and you just don't want to fail. Everybody, I don't care who you are, everybody's afraid of failing, so you give it all you've got. That's a good enough reason for me."
-Chad Reed"It comes from within. The body and the mindset. I try to not focus on too much that's going on and just what I'm doing and worry about myself, and it usually works out pretty good.... You just gotta keep wanting it. When you give up on yourself you teach yourself to quit."
-Mike Alessi"The mental side is a huge part of the sport. You have to be mentally strong to go through the motos and handle pressure, and to be able to focus on your lines and all that. Your desire has to be in it or you just won't win. That is definitely the biggest key to racing."
-Josh Grant"It's really mental; racing's crazy, it plays a lot in your head when you don't think you did everything you could do the weeks before. It plays a big part in my mind to be ready before the season starts and go on that gate and be ready."
-Austin Stroupe"I think a lot of times things like heart are developed when you are a kid. How you're brought up racing, how you're brought up in competition, things you have to go through to get where you're at today, I think those things stick with you. They have for me. Growing up, racing was a struggle always and I didn't get used to winning as a kid, so when I see defeat now it makes me want to try even harder. For me, it's all about giving 100 percent."
-Timmy Ferry"I had a lot of fun in Brazil winning championships there, but I felt like I had to go for something bigger, and that's why I'm here trying to give my best and I think that's where it comes from, my family and just how tough it was for me just to start riding.... It's my dream come true, and I'm doing what I love to do. That's where all my heart and my strength come from."
-Antonio Balbi"When you're out there and you can see the person ahead of you and you can tell yourself mentally to dig down deep and just do it, you only have five more minutes, just punish yourself for the last five minutes, that's what I call heart.... Everyone behind me gives 110 percent and that's what they expect out of me, and that's why I try to give it my all and sometimes I dig down deep and sometimes I don't. And when I don't I don't do anything, and when I do I do."
-Davi Millsaps"I think it's just naturally in your DNA because every male loves to fight and he loves a challenge, and that's my way of expressing what's in me.... If you're on and everything's clicking, you don't think, it's all just part of the flow, and it just happens. When you're struggling, that's when you're talking to yourself, going, 'Man, what's happening?' And as soon as you start thinking, you go backward."
-Andrew Short"Confidence comes from results and results come from hard work, so it comes full circle. You put your time in, your training, then you're gonna get results, then you're gonna get confidence, and you can get it steamrolling from there. It can go both ways, too."
-Ivan Tedesco "It's from my stomach pain and headache and pretty tired sometimes since my injury... it's not easy before the moto and then when I just go on the bike I'll feel really good. I just focus on the bike and then I'm like 'Yeah, OK, I feel good, I don't have stomach pain or something like that so let's ride!'"
-Christophe Pourcel"That's where I can do my best, and I just feel more comfortable at the races. Like when the pressure's on I feel like I deal with it really well."_
-Wil Hahn"I think I have more talent than heart, but it depends. Sometimes I feel like I have no talent and am just riding over my head! I think I have a pretty good mix of both, I hope."
-Josh Hill"For me, I start digging deep on about lap two! I just think about all the people who sacrificed a lot for me growing up, all the family and friends I've stayed with in the past who have given me money so I could eat. That's what makes it click that I'm not doing this for just me anymore, and then I start having fun! That is what motivates me to find the heart to keep riding hard in a long race."
-Tyler Bowers"I'm not the most talented, but anything I do I give it everything I've got. It doesn't matter if I'm riding a skateboard, motorcycle, bicycle or if I'm in a car, no matter what I do I give it everything I've got. That's how I've been brought up. My dad is the same way. I think if you grow up with that around you, you will do the same thing."
-Mike Brown

"In the time and the moment you have to do everything you can. That's all you can really ask for is your best at that point in that moment.... And for me, I do whatever it takes, and if that's having to give a little more than what I'm comfortable with, then I maybe have a tendency to go past that point, but at the same time you know I want to win or die trying."
Ryan Dungey"I'm a champion and I've done it in Europe and I don't see why I can't do it here in America.... I've got a book at home that I've made from last year on the World Championship, and I always look at those special moments when I won GPs and got the holeshot and just checked out. When I'm having a bad day I'll always open up that book, or even watch some races from last year when I was riding good, and that lifts me up again and the next time I go out riding I'm back on it again."
-Tyla Rattray"We're born with it, I think. A lot of us have a gift. I have a heart, and I'm in shape.... I want to be one of the guys so bad that I think about it every morning when I'm running and every afternoon when I'm bicycling. I know that I have it, it's just if I put it to use."
-Tommy Hahn"I don't look at anyone next to me and think that I can outdo them, I just do what I do as good as I can. If it's more than the next guy or if it's less, I don't know-I don't even think about that. If you have it, it's already inside you."
-Brett Metcalfe"Championship. That's what it's all about, that's why I'm here and it's my job. You gotta think, like, what else would I be doing? I'd be doing 9 to 5 on a building site working like that, so even when you're on a bicycle you gotta think we have it good."
-Tommy Searle"When (you're training and) it hurts, and when it's the worst is when you're making up a little time on the other riders, pretty much putting the coins in and just another step, and if it's not hard, you're not getting anything."
-Martin Davalos"Confindence for me comes from winning, or riding really strong, or proving to myself that I did what I wanted to do."
-Jake Weimer