Interview: Husaberg's Mike Lafferty

After 15 years with KTM, it was quite a surprise to learn you were signing with another manufacturer. Tell us about your deal with Husaberg and how it came about.

I feel real excited about this deal. This whole thing started when I was joking around with Clay Stuckey, sales manager for Husaberg, about riding for them. He actually thought about it and decided it was a good idea, so he made this whole thing work. Once they asked me to ride the bike and give it a try it was like, "wow, this might work out really well." Ever since the first time I rode it until now I'm still surprised with it and I'm looking forward to a new challenge in the next couple of years of racing it.

You've always said that you race your best when you're having fun. Is this a way to make things fun again for you?

Definitely, I think I do my best when I have the right attitude. With this new deal there's definitely going to be some hard times because we're making adjustments and working out the bugs, but it's gonna be fun and I'm looking forward to it. Just me getting comfortable with a new bike, there's definitely going to be some stressful times, but just the little bit of time I've spent on the bike it's kind of revived me and it's got me pumped to ride again. This being the first week of the off-season, I've never ridden this much after the last race. I'm anxious to ride and this is definitely something that's going to help out my attitude.

How similar are the two bikes - the KTM and the Husaberg?

Handling, it feels a lot like a KTM because it has a linkless shock. It has a lot of the same feel and characteristics that I like. It feels a lot like a KTM, but it reacts different in certain situations because of the way the motor is positioned. Plus, the engine braking is a little less and when accelerating over bumpy areas it feels a lot lighter. It turns a heck of a lot easier right out of the gate. But the hardest thing I'm getting used to is the fuel injection. When you mash the gas there's not a whole lot of wheel spin. This thing is like an electric motor and it hooks up so much more. It's smoother and it's all power to the ground.

A lot of people don't know that, even though you were a KTM factory rider, you still worked separately from the KTM team, unlike Russell Bobbitt, whose mechanic worked out of the California offices. Tell us about how your deal with Husaberg is set up and how the KTM deal worked for you.

Basically, I'm riding for the Husaberg factory and this is the first Husaberg factory deal in the U.S. We get a lot of support through the factory, but I have my own mechanic, Evan Yarnall, and he stays here at my place and works out of my shop and the factory and I split the costs of paying for him.

Evan does my motors and Factory Connection does my suspension. So I don't use the factory suspension components and I don't use factory motors, so basically, to have the factory run the program would be kind of useless for them. So I think it works a little better having everything here at my house. We use a lot of stock stuff, and our motors aren't tricked out a lot, plus, it works out better dealing with Factory Connection because they're here on the east coast and I can work with them a lot easier - a lot more hands-on. We're still a factory effort, just a lot more in-house. I've tried a lot of other ways, but this is what I'm comfortable with. This way I can set up the components the way I like them. I've done it this way for a long time, and a few years ago Alan Randt was my mechanic with KTM and we kind of did the same deal, except Al worked out of Michigan. But for 15 years, I've done my own thing and now with Husaberg I have even more freedom.

You were one of the first guys to jump to the four-stroke in enduro racing, while a lot of your competition - Bobbitt included - ride the lighter two-stroke. Why did you make that jump and what do you like about the four-stroke for woods racing?

This all started when KTM came out with their RF-S a few years ago and I happened to have the series all wrapped up at the end of the year and we wanted to change things up so I finished out the year on the four-stroke. Then I went back and started the new season the next year back on the two-stroke. One year I switched up at the end of the year and I rode a couple of GNCCs and a couple of enduros and I won and I felt confident and I started having fun on it. I went full time on the four-stroke in 2001 and it was a good move for me. It put some excitement back into racing for me, kind of like what this Husaberg is doing for me now. I think a four-stroke suits my style. I don't think there's an advantage or a disadvantage with the four-stroke, one way or the other. It all boils down to having fun, and I enjoy riding the four-stroke.

What are the differences between a four-stroke and a two-stroke in the woods?

Of course, the weight is a factor - back and forth in a long 10-mile section - it's going to be a factor with the heavier four-stroke. But then again, you let the power of the four-stroke work for you and not ride it so aggressively. I'm a big guy and when I get on a two-stroke it feels really small and nimble and I'm almost working too hard to keep the thing working right. Where on a four-stroke I can just let it do its thing and it almost just pulls me a around. So depending on the rider, there's a difference. The weight is a factor and the power is a little bit different, but the four-stokes hook up so well and comes out of the hole pretty darn good. As far as speed, the point A to point B speed is different between a two-stroke and a four-stroke but our point A to point B is only in first or second gear sometimes. So it's all rider preference.

I know from being around you the past few years that how the bike feels is super important to you. You notice the slightest difference in suspension and if effects how you ride.

Yeah, it definitely makes me lay in bed awake at night wondering if I have the right position, as far as set-up. I know a lot about the bike, from working with the bike for so long, and I know where my comfort zone is and I think that's what it all boils down to, if I'm comfortable on the bike and how the bike reacts. I've struggled to get the bike to handle the way I want it to and the hardest part is to practice Monday through Friday at the right point and then getting it to the point where I can start the race and it's spot on. That's mainly what I struggle with. I don't want it to take me all day to get it right, that can definitely work against me, but I try a lot of things and I try to keep it simple.

We're starting all over with this new bike and it's going to take all winter to get it sorted the way I want it and get me comfortable. It all boils down to me being in my comfort zone. If I'm not comfortable going the speed I want to go, I'm not going there. I just know I'd rather back it down than risk crashing and getting hurt.

You've got eight National titles and you know how important consistency is. And actually, you had more second place finishes than Bobbitt did, and you both had five wins. But the thing that hurt you was the opening round at South Carolina, where you finished fifth.

Two years ago we went there and I rode really well and won the race and to beat Russ in his back yard was real important. This year we changed a few things around and I just got caught off guard not being up to pace early enough. Looking back, I think I rode too much. I had too much seat time and not enough racing in. It just snowballed and the harder I tried the more I got out of my comfort zone. Once we got things squared away I was right back in the hunt. In Georgia, the following race, I was ahead and I should've pulled that win out. But I just looked at it as a learning experience and I learned from it. I'm definitely going to take some time off before that round next year and I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel. Hopefully, next year we can start a little quicker. We don't need to win the race but we need to be up near the front.

In the middle of the year you made the decision to switch from your more familiar 400 to the 450, and it was probably a bad choice. Why did you make that decision?

It just goes back to me wanting more out of the bike. I got real close in Georgia and I won the Alligator and I won in Louisiana and it seemed like I was on a roll, but I still wasn't pleased with how the bike was running - the way the bike reacted. I had a 450 at home and I came home and got on it and it felt good and I thought it was the answer. But, again, I got ahead of myself and - be careful what you wish for - I got to Tennessee and couldn't get the thing slowed down. But you never know, I could've ridden the 400 and still got second. So I look at the Tennessee race and the one in Marquette as the two I should've won. Definitely at Marquette, I was leading going into the last test and I crashed. That was where it was won or lost and I just made a bad move there.