By Danny Brault
Photos by Allison Kennedy
When the bench racing started before the 2007 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals, the last thing anyone predicted was a runaway show. There were just too many heavy hitters for any one guy to check out—JSR, Mitch Cooke, Colton Facciotti, Paul Carpenter, Jeff Gibson, Josh Woods, Jeff Dement, Blair Morgan, all had great potential to win races. But as we’ve seen in so many championship fights, it’s the one who makes the least mistakes that wins. In the 17 motos of the MX1 series, it was Monster Energy/ Cernic’s Kawasaki’s Carpenter who made the least mistakes, won the most motos (7), had the most podiums (13), and most overall wins (4). It also didn’t hurt that his toughest competitors JSR, Cooke, Dement, Morgan, Woods, and Facciotti, struggled with crashes, bike problems and injuries. Regardless, that’s racing and Carpenter rode like a champion in every race, even at Walton when he already had the title in hand but still went out and swept both motos.
RXC: Paul, congrats on winning the MX1 title!
Paul Carpenter: Thanks, man.
Heading into the series, I’m sure you didn’t predict that you would win the championship with three motos left.
Probably not. I definitely didn’t think it would be something like that, getting it done so early. But just the way the season worked out, it worked out good for me.
Photos by Allison Kennedy
When the bench racing started before the 2007 Monster Energy Motocross Nationals, the last thing anyone predicted was a runaway show. There were just too many heavy hitters for any one guy to check out—JSR, Mitch Cooke, Colton Facciotti, Paul Carpenter, Jeff Gibson, Josh Woods, Jeff Dement, Blair Morgan, all had great potential to win races. But as we’ve seen in so many championship fights, it’s the one who makes the least mistakes that wins. In the 17 motos of the MX1 series, it was Monster Energy/ Cernic’s Kawasaki’s Carpenter who made the least mistakes, won the most motos (7), had the most podiums (13), and most overall wins (4). It also didn’t hurt that his toughest competitors JSR, Cooke, Dement, Morgan, Woods, and Facciotti, struggled with crashes, bike problems and injuries. Regardless, that’s racing and Carpenter rode like a champion in every race, even at Walton when he already had the title in hand but still went out and swept both motos.
RXC: Paul, congrats on winning the MX1 title!
Paul Carpenter: Thanks, man.
Heading into the series, I’m sure you didn’t predict that you would win the championship with three motos left.
Probably not. I definitely didn’t think it would be something like that, getting it done so early. But just the way the season worked out, it worked out good for me.
After Ste-Julie, I figured it would be you, JSR, and Mitch Cooke fighting for the title. Is that what you assumed after the first round?
Yeah, afterwards, that’s what I thought. I don’t know how to say this, but I didn’t see anyone who was at the same speed after Ste-Julie. That was definitely my first opinion.
Yeah, afterwards, that’s what I thought. I don’t know how to say this, but I didn’t see anyone who was at the same speed after Ste-Julie. That was definitely my first opinion.
Were there any riders after the first round that surprised you?
You know, Colton [Facciotti] did because coming to Canada, I didn’t know any of the riders, and I didn’t who was fast and who wasn’t. The only guy I really knew was JSR—and I didn’t expect Mitch Cooke to be there either. After Colton got himself together after Regina, he started putting in some solid rounds, but until then, no; no one really stepped up until round three. Colton really filled JSR’s shoes when he got hurt, that’s for sure.
After JSR was hurt, I thought it would be a runaway for you—well, you did have a pretty comfortable points lead—but it was good to see some new riders step up and make it exciting for the fans.
Well, for sure, and those guys rode really well. I put everything I had into it, for sure, and our bikes worked well all year and we had some good races. I had the one race where I got docked and lost the overall; and in Moncton I had a fall that cost me the overall, but other than that, those guys kept me honest.
Even though you carried that big points lead and won the title with one round to go, it looked like you went for the win in every race.
That’s how you have to approach something like that, I think. That’s what I did. Every weekend, I put in everything I had into racing. I think the first second you slack, is when you throw it all away.
You have a few four-stroke championships, right?
Yeah, I have four of them.
And have you won a championship at Loretta’s or anything?
Yeah, in `97, I won at Loretta’s.
Now that you have the Canadian title, how does that rack up in your MX accomplishments?
This one feels good. It feels a lot better just because it’s a little later in my career and I would say more worthy just because it’s the 450 class and … Canada’s just a whole other country.
What is your game plan now? Are you racing any of the final AMA Nationals?
No, I’m not. Our team didn’t really have that in the cards. Now I’m starting to work on my own program and that’s why you haven’t been able to get a hold of me. I’ve been really, really tied up with it. That’s the route I’m heading.
When will we see you with your new team? U.S. Open?
No, just because we want to go out and do it right. The first time will probably be just some local race, but more than likely it will be at Anaheim.
After spending a weekend with the Cernic’s team, it’s easy to see why you guys were so successful this year. There seems to be a lot of chemistry within the team and everyone gets along really well.
That team’s been great, dude. Those guys are such a good group, it’s ridiculous, and it’s tough to leave them. But you gotta do what’s best for you. The thing is, that team [Monster Energy] fit me really well, but this opportunity is a lot greater than what I may have been able to get from that program.
Were there any moments or moment that stands out from the series for you?
Not really any particular moments. I would say, probably the first red flag at Ste-Julie; that still sticks in my head. I saw that crash happen and I just thought, ‘Man, I hope this whole year doesn’t go like this!’ It was my first quarter lap of a Canadian race and half of the pack was down. That definitely caught my eye a little bit.
Do you have a favourite city or region of Canada that you really enjoyed?
As far as everything went, I really liked the scenery up in Nanaimo. It was beautiful. I took the ferry across [to the island] and that was really cool. I liked Calgary, Nanaimo and every track I went to—Moncton was really cool—just everything was new to me.
Favourite track from the tour?
I really liked Gopher Dunes, Ste-Julie and Walton was really good. The track on Saturday wasn’t that good, but I think the crew did an excellent job on Sunday.
I couldn’t help but laugh listening to the radio show when you remarked how beautiful Canadian women are [laughs].
Yeah [laughs] that’s for sure! It seems like there might not be as many running around, but the ones that are, are just gorgeous.
Who would you like to thank for your championship season in Canada, Paul?
Monster Energy, Canadian Kawasaki, Cernic’s, the whole team—everybody on our team—and all of our sponsors. It was a great year.
Thanks, Paul. Good luck next year. After watching you race up here, we’ll definitely be keeping tabs on you in supercross.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
