Australian Brett Metcalfe is Suzuki’s lone factory contender in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series this year, working hard to make the most of what has to be a high-pressure situation on the Yoshimura-run team.

MotoOnline.com.au spoke with Webb this month about Metcalfe’s progress in his second season of 450cc supercross as part of the Yoshimura Suzuki program.

Mike Webb is the team manager of Yoshimura Suzuki in the U.S.

First up Mike, thanks for the chat. What’s Metty like to work with, second year in?

Well, it’s easy with Brett. He gives real good information, but at the same time he’s been at this a long time and is very specific in general areas. Brett thinks a lot about what the bike’s doing the whole time and sometimes it leads to a lot of changes, so in doing that, we have so many options as a factory team that it can go the wrong way sometimes.

I’ve learned to strike a balance, because obviously we have to have his input and take his information, but at the same time we know what’s worked in the past with the bike and with our set-up, so we find a balance between the two.

As far as working with the rider, I guess it’s a very calm atmosphere in the team because he’s not emotional. He stops and thinks about what he’s going to say, so it’s much better for us. Instead of giving an emotional or angry response, we get better information that way.

Brett is the lone rider at Suzuki this year, so is that more pressure for him at all?

You’d probably have to ask Brett, but once it was established that we were going with one rider, I told him that he could look at this two ways. You can look at it as an opportunity of a lifetime where the entire team is focused on just you – every aspect, every resource of this team goes to making you a better racer.

Or, you can show up every Saturday with the weight of the semi on your back because you are the only guy. If you make a mistake and you don’t qualify, it’s devastating for the team when an A list guy doesn’t qualify, but it’s very easy to happen in supercross. I hope he takes it like we can make him the best he’s ever been, like this is a golden chance for him.

Metcalfe is Suzuki's lone factory 450 rider, working closely with Webb.

It’s often regarded that Metty is one of the best outdoor guys in the world, but is still learning supercross on the 450. So how do you go about that? Is there a step-by-step plan, or are there pretty big expectations on him?

First of all, I think that Brett is a lot better at supercross than what is generally thought. We’re out here today with nobody around and I can watch the guy all day be technically perfect. Actually, it’s almost like art when you watch him ride and there’s no pressure – he’s just putting it down.

For this year we took what we learned outdoors and used it as a base for supercross, but it wasn’t the right way to go. He had such a comfort zone outdoor that he kind of wanted to take that and fine-tune it. We had to make pretty large chassis changes and [changes to] the motor as well. [Supercross] is a whole different animal, much tighter, and he’s learning how to trust the front-end.

With him he’s so good with the throttle and backing it into a corner, which in outdoors he’s allowed to do that, but indoors you have to rely much more on the front. So I think he’s learning how to trust the front and not just backing it around with the rear if the front’s not doing what he wants.

I believe that he’s a far better supercross rider than what he even gives himself credit for, because I’ve just seen him be perfect. To take that to Saturday night when the lights go on, that’s hard to do. I still don’t think we’ve seen him near his potential, although we are getting closer every week.