It’s been a steady climb for Garrett Marchbanks in his professional career, displaying promise on multiple occasions, but hadn’t yet reached the overall podium in Pro Motocross – until Washougal. With a pair of consistent moto finishes, the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider broke through for a career-best P3 result this past weekend. Hear from Marchbanks as he reflects on the milestone, his work behind the scenes, and what it means moving forward in this Five Questions interview.

Image: Octopi Media.

Garrett, in the Mule with Mitch [Payton], you said six years and that you were really happy to give this result to him, or something to that effect. Can you just talk about how this feels? They mentioned on TV today that you’ve only had one podium in your career, then you have this today, and after everything else that’s been happening for you in the peripheral lately… How good does this feel?

It definitely feels great. I mean, through my whole outdoor career, I’ve never had an overall podium. I’d never had a moto podium until Thunder Valley this year. I’ve always been super close, but to come back to the team, put it all together, start working with Broc [Tickle]… I’ve put in a lot of hard work since basically Texas, Arlington. So, it feels super good to show all the work I’ve been doing is finally paying off. I wish it would have happened way sooner in my career, but no – it feels great to finally get it done for them, especially for them giving me another chance. I’m super thankful for that. I know I’ve said that time and time again, but yeah, I’m happy to do it for them – and for myself.

You knew Aidan Zingg really well. We lost him a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of teams and riders were running the AZ39 stickers on their bikes. You knew him better than most – you got to train with him and Broc Tickle. Can you talk a little bit about your experience working with Aidan, working with Broc, and what it was like having him around at the track over the past few months? And then, what it means for you to keep pressing forward with an awesome ride like this?

No, I definitely think of the kid all the time. I mean, Aidan was such a great kid. Nicest human being I’ve ever met in my life. Especially when I’m out there motoing down, if I’m having a bad day or getting tired, I think if the guy knew, he would always push harder. He always had a smile on his face, and if I was having a bad day, he helped me out and vice-versa. I mean, I trained with them from day one. Definitely shy. I think he was a little starstruck to train with me and Broc – and for me, I always knew I never really had a lot of people around me growing up to help me out through my career. I definitely struggled with that and wish I had a little bit more guidance in my life. I wanted to just help him with that, you know. With dad stuff, amateur dads, all that. No, he definitely was a great kid to work with, an amazing human being. It was fun to cycle with him, moto down, and even though he would get pretty mad half the time, it was pretty cool to watch the progress he made from day one to his last days with me. It was very amazing and I’m very thankful to have trained with him. And to get to know his family so well, I still go visit them and such an amazing family and I’m very sorry for their loss… Yeah, it hurts me a lot.

Image: Octopi Media.

This track was quite different compared to the last three you’ve raced – RedBud, Millville, and Southwick – which all featured softer soil. How would you rank this one in terms of roughness and overall difficulty compared to those rounds? How did the whoops today compare to what you experienced for press day yesterday?

Yeah, I feel like each one’s different. Southwick is all sand, it gets pretty whooped out and gnarly. Millville and RedBud are kind of similar in a way. I’d say RedBud’s deeper and gets pretty rough – same thing, whooped out. Here, I feel like it’s a different kind of tired. You get more fatigued because the track’s so dang choppy. It gets rough in areas, but I feel like the chop wears me out more than RedBud. You have to have a special kind of flow at this track not to get worn out. For me, this was the best I’ve felt out of the last four rounds, super-pumped on that. I was struggling with some things, just with myself, so to finally figure it out a little bit, I was stoked. Honestly, this has probably been my least favorite track on the circuit for a lot of years, so I was happy to finally turn that around and get a podium here. Definitely a lot of fun.

You almost got [Seth] Hammaker at the end of that second moto. Did he respond or did you back it off knowing you had the podium?

I definitely tried to fight for it at the end – I think it was two or three laps to go – I tried to make a move. I had a pretty close one in the back, and after that, I was like, you know what, I have the podium, it’s my first one. I don’t want to be an idiot and try to, you know, send it for third. I know it sounds kind of bad, but for me, I haven’t been this close in a long time, so it was just about taking the small wins like today and building from it. So yeah, I just kind of mellowed out the last lap and a half and let him have it… kind of. I wouldn’t say I let him have it, he was riding great, so for me, I just backed it off a little bit.

There’s been a lot of talk about how many guys you’ve passed this season because of your starts – and I know it’s not a stat you love – but has working through the pack helped you become a better passer when it comes time to make quick, decisive moves?

I mean, I’ve been like that sadly through my whole career – I’ve been a terrible starter. I’ve always just been a super-big kid, no matter what bike I’ve been on. I was known for that as an amateur all the way to the pros. Supercross has only been the only one I could kind of start somewhat well on because everything’s not, you know, ripped super deep. So, hopefully one day I can figure it out and just start up front so I’m not passing guys all the time.