Racer X: You told us that in some ways your schedule might be even crazier in 2019.
Ryan Sipes: Yeah, so the goal is to be the best all-around rider on two wheels. So I can do supercross, flat track, I tried to do GNCC but it didn’t work out, I’m going to do hard enduro, Straight Rhythm, and now I think I’m going to do a hillclimb. Compared to last year, I did a lot of Sprint Enduros, and those are great races and an awesome series, but we were looking to do things that were a little higher profile, so this year we’re going to do supercross instead. Hard enduro, I’ve never done one before. I have no idea, but I might as well try it.

So have you done anything in your career to give you any idea if you’re going to be good at hard enduro?
Oh, I know I’m not going to be any good at it! And I even told the guys that, and they said that’s the point. When we were discussing the schedule last year, Jason Anderson was the guy, he won the supercross championship, and when I told people I wouldn’t be good at hard enduro, they asked me, “Would Jason Anderson be any good at it?” And I said, “Well, probably not.” So that’s the point—no one else does stuff like this. Everyone else is a specialist. Let’s just try it.

You made a switch of brands and sponsors, so it looks different, but how similar is the program behind the scenes? It looks like you have a full Red Bull KTM factory ride, but I know that’s not the case.
It’s pretty much the same as 2018. I’m building all the bikes. I do have great help—Jamie Ellis did the engine in my supercross bike, Mark Johnson at Fluid Focus does my suspension—but a lot of it is me. It would be great to have a team of six dudes and I could just say, “Hey, guys, I have to ride supercross tomorrow, have the bike ready,” but that’s just not the case.

Are there some things that have been upgraded from last year?
Yeah, for sure, and a lot of that is on my side. I’ve done more to be prepared, cutting out distractions, training harder, focusing more. But, just as an example, I’ve got this shoulder injury now, and as soon as that happened, Red Bull said, “What do you need?” So they got me in touch with their doctors, and hopefully they will get me straightened out. I didn’t have that option last year. And I’ve been riding at the Moto Sandbox, which is a huge opportunity. We’re paying, yes, but to even have that connection and hookup to get in there is great. There’s no way I could have done what I did at Daytona without getting to ride their supercross track. I used to have a supercross track at my house in Kentucky, but there’s not much riding going on in this weather in February. And my track isn’t as good as what Jason Baker builds at Moto Sandbox, and then you’re doing all the track maintenance yourself, and riding by yourself.

Plus, you get to ride with fast guys.
Yeah, Chase Sexton, Ken Roczen, Alex Martin, [Cole] Seely has been around. . . . So I always have guys to gauge off of.

Okay, on to flat track and the Daytona TT. You won the last TT you raced. Did that almost put some pressure on you?
I didn’t feel any pressure. I’m not pumped about the result, but I’m not bummed out either. I couldn’t believe, when I started to follow flat track racing, how a guy can win one week and finish tenth the next week—everyone except [Dan] Bromley, and he’s the champion. Starts are an even bigger deal in flat track, and that’s basically what happened at Daytona. I was fast all day, I led my heat race, and the only reason Dan got me was because I made a mistake. But for some reason I was sleeping on the line in my semi. My reaction time was bad, so I was way back. That led to a second-row start in the main, and it was chaos back there. I rode good, so I’m not bummed out getting tenth.

Are you still learning?
Yeah, at Daytona, every time I got on the track, I got better throughout the day. My learning curve is so steep—that’s what makes it fun for me. But with Daytona, I spent so much time on the supercross track. I didn’t want to get embarrassed, [and] I only got on my flat track bike maybe three times. That’s always the compromise with this program.

One cool thing was your crew at the flat track. You’re new to it. Your dad, who is your mechanic, is new to it. Your riding coach, Steve Hatch, said he didn’t know much about it. Then Travis Pastrana and Jeff Ward were also over there with you racing, but it’s new to them, too. It was like a bunch of guys just putting their heads together trying to figure it out!
For sure, and that’s one of the fun parts. We don’t know much about this, but let’s try to figure it out. It’s cool to have that kind of support group.

You and Jeff Ward were exchanging ideas. Did you really know him?
Yeah, I’ve known Wardy for a long time. Not super tight but we know each other. We talked all day. He had a better heat race than me, so he started inside of me in the semi, and I got a bad start and he got a worse start, and he didn’t even make the main. That’s what’s so tough about flat track—there are a lot of good dudes. Also, someone was telling me that if the dirt in Daytona was like Springfield, where the dirt is epic, then you could pass because you could run outsides and insides. At Daytona, as the day went on it just got slicker. As long as you stayed inside, no one could pass you.

Last year you did a lot of races, but this year you’re not doing as many?
Yeah, and what’s funny is, Daytona is going to be my hardest week all year, trying to do three different events. Plus, it’s the start of the year and you’re trying to get parts, and supercross is going on so you’re not the first priority. Now I get to chill out a little bit, and I should do better now that I can focus more on one discipline at a time instead of trying to do all three in one week!