Center Valley, Pa.’s Dustin Wimmer came out swinging last weekend in California at the opening round of the 2008 ITP/Moose Racing AMA Pro ATV Nationals at Glen Helen Raceway. The soft spoken‚ MSR Suzuki/Yoshimura//Pro Taper mounted rider posted the second fastest qualifying time, but when the gate dropped, he set a pace that nobody could touch in either moto. With defending AMA Champion, Joe Byrd, and the powerful new Can-Am team stealing a lot of the pre-race hype, Dustin’s performance has everybody talking about him as we approach round two in Pell City, Ala.

We caught up with Dustin just as he was returning home, landing in a pile of chores around the house that had accumulated while he was away training in Florida and California. He took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us a little about the weekend that was.

First off, congratulation on an amazing weekend!

Thanks, man, it was pretty fun.

Lead us up to the big weekend of racing. What have you been doing to prepare yourself to take on the world’s fastest ATV riders?

I’ve been training with Doc (Dr. Rice) from Moto TST quite a bit. We just worked on a lot of cross training and I do some running on the stadium stairs. I’ve actually done a lot more riding this year too. I’ve been down in Florida and did a lot of testing when I was out in California, so that helped out a lot. We got the shocks and motor working a lot better, so that helped out a lot. I think all of the seat time helped out more than anything.

How long did you have your new bikes before the beginning of the race?

We only had them for about two weeks before the race, but we did a lot of testing to break them down and settle them in. They were definitely ready for the race.

Chad Wienen, Doug Gust, and yourself have a pretty stout looking team there with Suzuki. We didn’t notice any Rockstar logos on you or your machine. Why was that?

Well, the team is sponsored by Rockstar but I already had a Red Bull deal. It all worked out and I’m happy to be on the team. I’d really like to thank my team and all my sponsors for all of their support this year.

A lot of the pre race hype centered around defending AMA pro champion Joe Byrd then you went out and dominated both motos. Did he seem off or are you guys stepping it up?

Well, I don’t know. I mean, the last time I raced the AMA series I won both motos. I was at Unadilla and won there. But you know, it’s hard to say, I guess.

What was the coolest thing you received for winning the race?

The satisfaction of winning.

Glen Helen was one of the biggest ATV races in the history of the sport. The successful 2007 AMA Pro season helped to build up the prestige of the event. What was your take on how the race was ran?

It was good. It was too bad it was as windy as it was, but there was a lot of stuff to see. The first race is always a big deal. Can-Am stepped up with a big presence, so it seemed like there was a lot more rigs in the pits. The pits were looking a lot better too. It seems like every year things are improving so that is good to see.

Are you planning on doing the whole ITP/Moose Racing AMA Pro series?

Well, were doing the first three AMA series races then we’re planning to run the WSPA series. We’re kind of waiting to see what goes on with the first three (AMA races) before making a final decision.

We sure would like to see you stay with our series!

(laughs) Yeah, I know.

Are you looking forward to the 2008 AMA Pro Invitational?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there will be a lot of people there and it’s always cool to race events like that.

The other big news over the weekend was Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) purchasing all of AMA Pro racing. This, of course, included the AMA Pro series. What are your thoughts on this?

I think that’s for the good. I don’t think anything bad can come from it, that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.

Well, Pell City will be here before you know it. What are going to do to keep the momentum up?

I’m going to hit the gym and head down south to get some riding in before the race. I’m going to try to step it up a little bit more and try to keep this going. We’ll set up the bike for that track and be good.

Sounds good. Hey, congratulations again and thank you for your time today!