Catching Up With…Wil Hahn
bayodome
- October 14 2009
- 19 comments
The US Open this weekend, perhaps more than being the best paying event for riders to attend, was a very clear marker for the current state of the professional motocross racing scene. Budgets are being cut back, some teams are shrinking while others have completely disappeared, and of course the first group to be affected is the riders. Roaming around the pits you will find that the majority of the pros, save for a few notable names, are currently out of a full time gig. Usually by this point in the silly season, most racers already have contracts signed and are adjusting to their new teams and machines. But this time around, due to our shrinking economy, teams are waiting to the last minute to get budgets worked out. Wil Hahn is one of those riders being affected but he is not letting that stop his preparation for next year. A former team manager of Wil’s once said the young Texan is mature beyond his years; a 40 year old in 20 year old’s body. Using that maturity, Hahn thought it would be wiser to come out and race the US Open instead of sitting on the bench waiting for someone to call. While it was good exposure for Wil, he did have some bad luck as well. Here, Wilbur tells us how his weekend went and what he has been up to lately.
This weekend you showed up on a Kawasaki and you looked really good in practice, but you ran into some bad luck.
Yeah, next year is up in the air, and it’s that way for a lot of people. I came here with a one race deal with MDK and SPR MX, and I can’t thank them enough for wanting to help and see me ride this weekend. I just wanted to do one more race before the long off season, so I was ready to race when it came around and at the last minute we threw this together and came out. My practice times had been good at the Supercross track, and unfortunately I got put in a bad situation in my LCQ. Someone crashed in front of me in the first turn and I had nowhere to go. I have a dislocated elbow, so I fly to Dr. Ting tomorrow and we’ll be rehabbing this and then get ready to race next year.
Friday night you joked that you didn’t want to race James heads up, but you drew his name out of the hat for the one-on-one race. You were able to keep him in sight, so that has to be a confidence booster.
Yeah, it was cool. It’s always fun to ride with him, and it was amazing to see his corner speed and the way he hits some sections. The way he rides that 450 is a huge motivating thing for me and it makes me want to work harder. I think coming this weekend was an amazing opportunity to get on the track with James, Davi (Millsaps), and everyone else that was here this weekend. It shows me what I can do to ride better for next year, so now I feel like I’m on the right track, aside from a few setbacks. But we can come back from this and be back before too long.
You had some good rides this season; a good sophomore year in the pro ranks, wouldn’t you say?
Yeah, I had some good rides on my KTM and things went well in my second year on the pro tour. I got a top five, which is was my goal at the beginning of the year, had some good rides, and almost got my first win at Jacksonville as the Supercross season ended. To do that in my second year was awesome, because I never expected that to come so soon. This means I’ll have higher goals for next year, and I want to be on a good team going for the championship, and that doesn’t seem too farfetched. The Outdoors went well, but I got injured about halfway through and that slowed down my progress.
You were hurt midway through the Nationals and we didn’t see you at a few of the rounds. What was it that you injured?
At Millville I went down and separated the AC joint off my collarbone and broke my collarbone at the same time. I got it fixed and took the time off to heal. I came back and raced, but I wasn’t 100 percent yet. I only rode a little bit and tried to finish out the season, and I came back okay but I was a little off the pace.
So before this injury, did you feel back up to pace or were you still picking up where you left off?
I feel really good, my speed and endurance felt 100 percent again and things were coming easy. Tommy has been helping me out the past month, so I think once this is healed I’ll be able to run up front when race season comes.
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October 14th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Everyone keeps talking about a struggling economy. Is it just me, or didn't the DOW close around 10,000 yesterday? I don't know about you guys, but things are going good for me. Ya'll should have been buying, not selling 8 months ago.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Uhhhhhh yeah, Motocross comments please? lmao Wish I could be cool like this guy above
go rub1out buddy
October 14th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
The Dow is only a fraction of U.S. economic indicators. The are many other factors at play including employment, retail sails, manufacturing, construction, etc. According the census bureau employment, which is the most relevant aspect in this case, continues to fall.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
haha bayodome, stick to motocross buddy… blast1out, it's all about gross domestic product… it doesn't matter what the investors are investing in, it's about how much the people are spending. and the GDP is still down
October 14th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
wtf? is it just me or does it say that he showed up on a Kawasaki.. but then say team MDK and have a picture of him riding a KTM?
October 14th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
false
October 14th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
The shots of Wil on the KTM are from earlier in the year while he was still under contract with Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM, at team which now no longer exists. MDK itself does still exist as a company to my understanding and they helped Hahn secure a ride for the Open, a Kawi 450.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
your an idiot blast1out. straight rehtard
October 14th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Wil Looks like a freeky monkowski. Definately a cholo
October 14th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
If you're going to call someone a retard, make sure to spell "rehtard" correctly.
October 14th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Fair enough. I also believe that it's also over hyped,(much like the severity of swine flu) to add fuel as to why there can't be a national medical system implemented. If there is a recession, their logic is, that national medical care is not a viable option at this point.
Nonetheless, cool pics and interview.
October 15th, 2009 at 12:52 am
blast1out is correct and Will is a Deuch Bag.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:05 am
ya i mean thats why he is pro and is doing good….who else is a duech bag? i think you guys cause your probably sitting on you ass all day just baggin on guys who are more accomplished than us….so i mean keep saying what you want just realize your a deuch bag too
October 15th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
i'm so pro that i almost won an oregon race in the c class. GET GOOD WILL HAHN. lol. i'm so bad.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
why didn't you get pictures of him on the kawi? Is the economy affecting TWMX to the point where they cant affor to send a photographer to the US Open??
October 15th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Who is this?
October 16th, 2009 at 12:18 am
why
October 16th, 2009 at 1:59 am
I worked With Wil this past season and that is the toughist kid I have ever worked with
October 16th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Yea for real Wil is one of the most hard working riders that was in the Lites this past season, he is ridiculously talented on a bike( one hand berm shots when he was an am) and not to mention he likes to pack a fatty in his lip every now and then and could very easily beat Mat Hazard's little girl ass…..