Jay Marmont became a household name in the sport of motocross domestically, and he even spanned his career internationally to further expand his impressive racing resume. Now with his racing career all said and done, the New South Wales native finds himself in an all-new team manager role at the KTM Motocross Racing Team for 2017. It’s a unique position for Marmont who raced for the same factory KTM outfit in the early years of his career and now guides Kirk Gibbs and Luke Styke in the premier class. MotoOnline.com.au decided to check in with the multi-time champion today for this latest edition of Industry Insight to learn a whole lot more about the next chapter in his life.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

It’s an all-new role for you at the KTM Motocross Racing Team for 2017, so how has the transition been moving into the team manager position?

It’s been a different transition for me coming off retiring two years ago, then deciding to come back to racing and now moving back into racing in a team manager role. It’s totally different than being a racer and the way I used to go about my racing is different to how Gibbsy and Luke approach their racing, so it’s trying to work with the individual and trying to figure them out. You need to find out what works best for them on race day and try to get the best out of them. It’s also not just them, also people within the team, different characters. I’ve obviously got one of my best mates there Danny Apro, so I know what he’s like, but having the other two mechanics and making sure that you work together with a common goal of going out there and winning on race day. It’s a fair bit to keep together, but at the same time I definitely feel that we’re making gains as we go and working towards that goal of winning a championship.

You’ve had a lot on your plate in 2017 with pre-season races in New Zealand, testing, photoshoots and now the Motul MX Nationals series. But for you, what has been the biggest learning process as you’ve moved into the role?

I guess the biggest thing for me is that transition from racer to team manager. For me, like I said, I have my way of approaching races and just trying to approach it differently as the team manager, it hasn’t been a challenge or like I don’t know what I’m doing, it’s just trying to figure out how to get the best out of your riders and get the best out of your team. You’re always trying to think what else can we do to make things better without complicating the situation or reading into things too much. It’s like the days in racing, when everything felt like it happened easily, they were the best days and it’s a bit like that in a team. The days you don’t feel like you’re doing any work are the days you go out and get your best results, because you’ve already put the things in place to go out and do it. And to be totally honest both of my riders had a lot of time off coming into the year, Kirk with a broken femur and Luke coming off 12 months of no racing at all. So having to work with those guys against someone like Dean Ferris who is the defending champion and has done all of this racing, we’re trying to not let him get away with too many points and trying to push the guys into turning it up straight away. Sometimes our riders may not be willing to risk it right now, but at the same time I can see as a manager how important it is to go out there and stamp that authority and not let Dean get away too much.

With both Kirk Gibbs and Luke Styke under your guidance, along with the rest of the KTM Motocross Racing Team crew, it must be nice to step into a squad with such talented riders and team personel?

It is, and both Jeff Leisk and Rob Twyerould have handed the reigns over to me and they’re letting me run the team how I want to run the team. Sure, I reach out to them for guidance at times, but not at any time do they say I should be running it this way or that way. So that reassures me to go out there and do my job the best that I can. Both of my riders are professional, they’ve both won races and to be honest they’ve been on the brand longer than anyone else in the field. The biggest thing I’ve been trying to get out of Luke this year is to fight for every position on the track and working on his timed qualifying in New Zealand and that seemed to work at the last round he qualified second, which is his best result ever. Obviously it is going to take a bit to get him to where he wants to be, I think he needs to believe in his speed a bit more, believe in his ability, but I’m sure once he does go out and do it once, he will continue to do that because he is quite a talented rider. Kirk is a different kettle of fish; he reminds me a lot of myself. When Kirk’s ready to turn it on, we’ll know, and I hope it comes pretty soon. He’s got all of the speed out there, he can go from having horrific injuries such as the ones from Coolum a few years ago, and he can come right back within six months and win a race. The kid is extremely talented and he seems to have some smart people in his corner, so I believe it’s only a matter of time before Kirk starts dominating again. He’s always the underdog, I guess a lot of people put him in their top three, but after working with him I can see why he is such a professional and he will go out there and make it work.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

You obviously have a tonne of experience and bring a lot to the table, but what do you think are some of the main advantages you bring to the team personally?

Both riders hadn’t done any riding coming into the year and they were coming into the 2017 bike a bit unsure on a direction to go and I basically did a lot of the testing for the boys. I can ride the bike and then give it to them to test, then they’re giving their feedback to me and I can see whether they’re going the wrong or right way with it. I’m out there to ride the bike so I can get the best for my riders, so anything to do with ECU, engine, chassis, suspension, I can go out there and try it and then let my riders try it. Instead of another team just telling their riders to go out there and ride something and then listening to their feedback, what it says on paper and what they’re saying are too different things. So sometimes you could start second guessing the rider, the machine or the settings, so sometimes you can get a bit confused and spend a lot of money chasing your tail. So for me actually riding it, I’ve got my opinion on it, then I’ve got the rider’s opinion and then I can work with the rider to fine-tune it. That seemed to work really well this year, both riders are running almost the exact same setup in suspension and very close in engine and chassis. So our bike package is good and we found the setup very fast considering that the riders are both coming off injury. Also with both of the riders coming off injury, they were asking me for advice a lot at the opening round and I guess I can give them that advice and they can trust in what I’m saying. So I’m able to help them out with lines, track position, tyre selection, anything like that, they’ve got enough confidence within me to ask me what I think. Sometimes being able to turn to someone like me on race day and having that trust in me to give them the right direction, I think that can be reassuring as a rider.

You rode for this team earlier in your career and now you’re back with them as the team manager, so how does it feel to be in this position at the end of your racing career?

I feel it’s a blessing. Rob and Jeff are probably too people I look up to most besides my parents, they’re people that basically kicked off my career as a professional racer when I was 18. I guess I went on a journey after that and rode for some different teams and had some good success, but after it was all said and done, Jeff was there to help me out. He helped me out with a bit of training that I was doing and then I went racing again on that same bike, the Husqvarna. Then this job opportunity popped up and he offered it to me, so for me it was a no-brainer and now they’re teaching me everything to do with managing, business ethics and I guess guiding me within my new path. I’m obviously very appreciative of it, but at the same time I want to go out there and hopefully achieve some goals and try and win some championships again.

Finally, coming off serious injuries ahead of 2017, both of your riders are currently sitting in strong championship spots following round one. You must be feeling pretty positive about the start to the season for the KTM Motocross Racing Team?

Yeah it was positive; we’ve got a great group of guys behind us and some good racers. To be honest though, we did get lucky I feel, we got lucky that there were a few riders who came in under done and a few riders that didn’t have such great days. So if that’s going to be one of our worst rounds, I’ll take that, but we’ve already sat down and spoke to both of the boys, they’re on the same page and know that they need to work a lot harder at the next few rounds. They know where they gave it away a lot, so hopefully we can bring a new game plan into Appin and be fighting a lot more for some race wins. We were there on the podium, but we just let those front guys go, so it would be good to be there at the end and actually fighting up the front. So that’s our aim for Appin and then I know from Conondale onwards how well our bikes are going to be working, and I know how well both of our guys perform up there. So I think by then you’re going to see a bit of a change in the championship and start to see where people will sit.