Catching Up With…Wil Hahn
Brendan Lutes
- March 09 2009
- 2,402 views
- 20 comments
Words and Photos by Brendan Lutes
Since his first season as a pro, Muscle Milk/MDK/KTM’s Wil Hahn has been one of the young up-and-comers that everyone has been keeping their eye on. Always fast, Wil—the younger of the Hahn brothers—has yet to really come into his own and prove to everyone that he belongs up front on a regular basis. At the previous round in Indy, Hahn won a heat race, but crashed hard in the main, forcing him to limp his bent bike in for 15th. Now in his first trip to Daytona, we caught up with Wil before the race. And as it turned out, he actually did make his goal of finishing in the top-five, even after a nasty crash on the parade lap with Blake Wharton. Wil Hahn
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How has the season been going for you so far? Has it been what you expected?
It’s going pretty good. Minus last weekend, it’s been consistent and getting better every week. I won a heat race last weekend in Indy and it was going really well. Unfortunately, the restart just started off bad in the main event, but they didn’t seem to care about restarting it a second time when we all went down. It was just kind of a bummer deal that they restarted it like they did, because everyone was up when we came around for the first lap. There’s nothing I can do about it now, though, so whatever.
Talk a little about the crash you had in the main event at Indy?
Everything was going good after I crashed in the second turn. Then about halfway through the race, I endoed in the whoops pretty hard and it took me a while to regroup. I ended up tweaking the front end so bad that I could barely ride and it took me a while to get it straightened out. I ended up getting 15th after that. That wasn’t really what I went there looking to do, especially after a heat race win. I put myself in a good position on the first start, then off the second start, I just came out bad, people went down, and I had nowhere to go.
You’re on a new team this year. How has it been making the transition?
It’s been completely different. It’s unbelievable the difference it makes being on a factory team. They’re willing to do whatever it takes. We’re still testing throughout the season right now and we continue to make the bike better. Last year, I just had a setup and I ran it that way for the whole year. It’s been good. I couldn’t be happier with the team.
Did it take some time to get used to the bike?
Yes and no. It’s just changing a brand on dirt bikes, and with the linkage thing, it actually does stuff a lot better in some places, and then there’s some stuff that it doesn’t do better. It was kind of mixed emotions, but it’s not like what a lot of people made it out to be.
Have you ever been to Daytona before?
No, I haven’t raced here. I came and watched last year, but I never raced it before.
What do you think of the track?
It looks dirty! It looks like they watered it a little bit, I don’t know. By the puddles and all that, it looked like it hadn’t dried out from last year. It looks good. It looks like it’s going to be a good race.
What are your expectations for this race?
I just want to leave here with a top-five. I haven’t had a top-five finish yet, but I just need to leave here with one and keep being consistent and that’s what it’s going to take. I just need to keep being consistent to stay in the points.
What about the rest of the season?
I’m going to get on the podium for the team. They work their butts off, and that’s what I’m capable of doing. That’s what I need to do.
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March 9th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
why didnt anyone ask him about how he felt smacking into blake w.
just pointless crap we already know.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
this interview was prob. before that
March 9th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Because the interveiw was before that read the whole thing
March 10th, 2009 at 6:44 am
People like you make´s me so mad. Dont you see, TWMX do this all for free <— so you can read the latest news. They work their butts off to make a good interview and travel all over the u.s to get the latest news. And then someone like you, say : Just pointless crap we already know?
It definitly seems like you dont like will hahn then, since you call it pointless crap? I like the interview it gave me the latest in will hahns mind about some certain things.
Instead of ” say how bad things are” dont even post a comment? Yeah you can have a opinion, but i bet noone here are interesting in ” useless comments and with bad habbits.
Keep up the good work Lutes, the interview was good.
but still, i want to se swap and lutes want to go head to head!
Cheers
March 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I second that ^
March 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I second this one
March 10th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
TWMX SUCKS
RACER X IS BETTER
March 10th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
i wouldnt say they suck, but racer-x is better.
lutes is coming along; give him time
March 10th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
and i second that guy ^
March 10th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
wow rele? how good is ur website? o u dont have one thats right. and u shud make one cuz obviously u dont have a life if u can go to websites u dont even like and make dumb comments. for real grow up. and get a life worth living
March 11th, 2009 at 7:34 am
what the hell is wrong with some people
TWMX does all this shit for free, there updates are as regular as anything, and i dont care who you are, as far as web videos are concerned, these are as good as any other.
and on the side they publish one of the worlds leading motocross magazines
what are you haters doing with your lives ?
March 11th, 2009 at 11:49 am
you think we dont know what wills intentions and goals are everyone is payed to tell you Hey im gonna do good come race time its a diff story ask him some questions he hasnt practiced to answer ten times over
March 11th, 2009 at 11:51 am
If him and his brother want to do good stick with one team jeez these dudes are back and forth between kawi honda yamaha an ktm
stop riding for a new team every year and some of those goals will be actual achievements.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
when any of yall are half the speed of either of them then yall can dog on them
March 11th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
twmx got me broke
March 11th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
i love twmx
March 11th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
my boy wilbur!
March 13th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Being a Midwest guy I always wonder why the Hahn brothers claim other places than where they’re really from…..Kansas City.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
They’re actually from an unincorporated town in central kansas. They are some of the hardest working and most devoted people in mx. Unfortunately ks. does not have a strong mx scene and i think they have had to travel to other places to keep up with the curve. they prolly just want support from the community they currently reside in.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:26 am
no they dont do this for free. brendan lutes gets paid. he is not doing you a favor.. if he wasnt on the clock he wouldnt be doing this.. its just like you and/or your parents they do things for a living, not favors… twmx puts cookies on your computer.. they track where you go.. for instance.. pathmark will put a cookie on your computer and they pay twmx for every cookies that goes on someone’s comp.. cookies will see if you are going on acme’s site and what you are looking for on acme’s site so pathmark can make themselves better.. nothing is for free.. now i’m off to visit my favorite unmentionable site to get a lot of yummy cookies loaded on my computer.