For his first year in the premier MX1 class, 20-year-old privateer Dylan Long is picking up some pretty impressive results. Entering the halfway mark of the championship, the Benalla local is comfortably sitting in sixth in the championship hunt, ahead of a host of factory-backed riders. With his season on track and his social media game on-point, we tracked Longy down and asked him five questions starting with ‘Why’.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Why are you doing so well as a privateer this year?

I had a good pre-season this year with no injuries, which meant I could train as hard as I wanted to without any interruptions I guess. It’s my first year in the 450s and I think the bigger bike suits my style and the way I ride a lot more. Over the past couple years I’ve done well at state level on the bigger bikes and could battle with the likes of Kade Mosig and Adam Monea, but wanted to get some good national results on the 250s before I stepped up. That never really happened, so I decided to take the plunge to MX1 this year.

Why did you change from KTM to Yamaha for 2015?

I’d ridden KTM since I was 13 or 14 and they’re awesome bikes, but I felt like I needed a change. They weren’t offering me any support this year, so I thought I’d try something new. At the end of last year I rode my brother’s 2014 YZ450F, who’s a coach for Y-AIM with Cam Taylor and I loved it. I can’t afford to rebuild any motors this year and decided that if I wanted to get on the best 450 out there, it needed to be a Yamaha. I’ve got three bikes all up; two here in Victoria and one in Queensland that Tattoo Racing bought for me.

Why do you always post scrub and whip photos on Instagram?

I have fun doing it, I guess. I love whips and scrubs and I’d be doing that sort of thing even if social media didn’t exist. But people like to watch my whip videos and I like making people happy! Ever since I was on 65s and 85s I’ve always been known for them and I’m probably one of only a few people in Australia who can whip, scrub and turn-up whip both ways. I don’t do them for the likes so much, but it’s quite interesting seeing how much more of a reaction I get from a whip post than I do for just doing a fast section of track or a lifestyle shot.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Why did you get hooked on motocross in the first place?

My dad got me into dirt bikes and we used to go riding in the bush with my brother and even my mum. One day when I was still on a PW50 there were a lot of logging trucks about and I came up to a corner. I hadn’t learnt to stop really yet and they could see a truck coming and shit themselves. They rode straight down to me but I’d managed to stop myself in time. Mum cracked it and said the bush was too dangerous and we weren’t allowed to ride there again. After that we started going to motocross tracks instead and that’s how it all began I guess.

Why doesn’t motocross or supercross attract as many fans as league or AFL?

The sport in Australia doesn’t get the promotion that it does in the US. Over there you see everyone looking up to the top guys and they’re pretty famous, whereas here no-one gets boosted up as much and they don’t have the star-power that American riders have. I think another big thing is that we don’t have enough big jumps on our tracks to attract people. At Gladstone last year I swear I could’ve jumped all the jumps on my 110 and we were there on 250s and 450s! The big jumps at Coolum and Conondale are sick and everyone loves them; even between my races at Conondale I was standing next to the Drunk’s Hill jump waiting for the 450s to hit it. Apart from those two tracks though, we pretty much trot around flat tracks. I think the sport here could really benefit from having big, safe jumps like they have in the US.