Interview: Heath Voss keeps coming back for more
3/2/2009
By Jim Kimball
Heath Voss, lucky No. 13.
I first met Heath Voss in the late 1990s as the privateer stopped at an Ohio Wendy’s while driving back to his then home in Minnesota. Voss is still that same humble, approachable guy he was back then. Since then, the 30-year-old has gotten married, won a World Supercross Championship, been a Yamaha factory rider, became a father, and won several prestigious European Supercross Championships. Now as a Honda privateer, sponsored by MasterCraft Boat Company, the U.S. Air Force and No Fear, Voss is battling for top privateer honors while also competing in select international events. He currently sits 12th in points in the highly competitive Supercross class.
Q: Heath, you certainly started off your 2009 AMA Monster Energy Supercross series strong with your seventh at Anaheim 1.
A: Thanks. In the heat race, I got the holeshot and just kind of took my time going through the first turn. Stewart went on one side of me. Then Ferry got me on the inside, so my night started off pretty well. Then in the main I didn’t get a very good start. In fact, I started about last. I had to pass my way through. A lot of guys were getting tired, and I just worked my way through them, ending up seventh.
Q: You skipped round two and went to compete at a big Supercross in Germany, right?
A: Yeah, I had been racing over in Europe all fall. I was the King of Zurich, the King of Chemnitz and would have been the King of Stuttgart had I not got a flat tire with a few laps to go in the main. Dortmund is the biggest race, and it’s very important to the people in Germany that I do that race. I made that commitment way back in September. I did have a good AMA Supercross opener, but I was committed to going over there, and really excited to racing it. I won a Toyota car in Dortmund. It was a pretty big deal.
Q: Obviously, you did great in Germany winning the event, but you must have had some mixed feelings with missing Phoenix.
A: Maybe a little bit at first, but like I said that race over in Germany is a very big deal. When the tickets go on sale for it, they usually sell out the first day. The venue seats about 20,000 people and is a three-day event, so it’s just a really big race. It’s definitely the greatest thing that I have won since my World Supercross Championship.
Q: Talk a bit about deal this year. Obviously, with seeing the boat in your pit area, I can tell that MasterCraft is a big sponsor.
A: For this season, I have a deal with the U.S. Air Force and MasterCraft as my primary sponsors. I did the MasterCraft Pit Presentation last year, where the local dealer brings boats in and puts a display on. Then I do a track walk with about 20 of the MasterCraft people at each race. This year, they wanted to have more involvement with a bike, and get more into it. So now I am pitting out of my truck, and have MasterCraft logos on my bike, somewhat similar to their tournament team boat. It’s a lot of fun.
Q: Heath, some people may think that you have slowed down a bit in the past few years because you moved from a factory to privateer rider, and are a few years older, but it doesn’t seem that way.
A: Well, Mike Battista at MB1 does my suspension, and it’s as good if not better than anything on the track, by far better than anything that I have ever ridden. It’s amazing how good of a job that he can do on stock production stuff. Then Scott Venning, who ruled the world of drag racing for about 30 years, does my motors. He’s a head specialist, who is responsible for how well my bike runs, and then Dubach makes my pipes. Between those three, I truly have a great, great bike.
But a lot of racing results depend on the people you have around you. I also really enjoy being here. I’m having good times, and as I said, I have great people around me. The new Honda CRF450 production bike is really good now. You can tune them and make lots of small changes to it very easily.
Q: Speaking of that, can you explain to a normal Joe how the 2009 EFI bike compares to the 2008 carbureted bike?
A: The bike is really like a whole new motorcycle, even besides the switch to EFI. It steers much quicker than the 2008. It’s just completely different. Earlier this week, I tried to ride one of my 2008s for practice, and after getting on it I didn’t even want to ride it. The new bike just handles so much better. Once you have ridden a bike with EFI, you’ll never want to see a carburetor again! The EFI bike is just so much better; it runs so clean every single time. At my house in Texas, it can be 80 degrees one day and 40 degrees the next day, and my bike runs the same. It’s just a hands down better bike.
Q: I see you have your son here.
A: Yeah, fatherhood is great. It's the best thing that has ever happened to me. Every day when I wake up, I take him to the shop with me until it’s time for his nap. Everything that I do, whether it’s running my Bobcat or watering my track, I take him with me. I have a little pouch, and he sits in the front. I also have a little Kawasaki KLX110 that I take him riding on. He really loves to fly too, whether it’s in a small plane or commercially. I hold him up to the window on take-offs and landings. It’s just a lot of fun taking him traveling with us. He loves everything about it! I am very fortunate to be able to do something that I love, do all these cool things, and show it to my son. He really brings new life to us and our families. He gives us a reason for doing stuff.
Q: What are your goals or expectations for the 2009 Supercross series?
A: I would like to be Top Privateer, and I feel that is an achievable goal. Also, taking a top five would be like a win for me. I was close at A1.
Q: Do you want to add anything?
A: Yeah, I just want to again thank my sponsors like MasterCraft, Cytomax, No Fear and Utopia, along with the German Honda Team that I rode for, Waldmann Honda. They are really great people. I only wish that they didn’t live so far from me. I would like to be racing for them over here.
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