Kevin Windham has the honor of being the guy who gets to explain why he is second to Ricky Carmichael the most, although that’s still pretty good. He’s one spot away from winning. What is that like, anyway? What does he think about? We stopped him for a chat after the Binghamton riders’ meeting to see how his race with Stewart in the first moto went, and what’s going on with the guy who is second in points.

Windham is searching for that extra second a lap to close the gap on RC

Racer X: Kevin, thanks for doing the Monday Conversation. Do you look at them? Are you an Internet guy yet?

Kevin Windham: I am now. I used to not be, but I finally got a DirecWay [satellite connection]. I’m out in the sticks, and I can’t get high-speed, so I was stuck with dial-up. I started using a DirecWay and got a little speed, so now I’m into it. If you’re doing it without high-speed, you might as well not try.

What web sites do you look at?
I go on and check out the Racer X deal. I do a little work with my own. I’m kind of in silly season with my contracts and stuff, so there are a lot of e-mails going back and forth.

Let’s talk about your racing today. How did things go with the 2-2?
It went good. You know, I go to those press conferences and we talk about many years I have been in second so many years in a row, and some of these places I was the last guy to win besides Ricky, so all that stuff feels good. I’m just trying to keep my head high. It’s one of those things where it’s easy to get disappointed. It’s easy to get bored.

That’s why it was nice to have Bubba back. We got together in the first moto there, and he kept me honest. I was worried about him in the second moto, as fast as he was breaking away with Ricky. It gave me something to shoot for. I don’t rule myself out for winning, but Ricky, he’s dominant right now. The time that he has on me is going to be very hard to make up for the next couple of years. I know he’s talking about doing only another couple years, but I see myself going longer than that, and I would love to take a couple plates from him or whatever.

"I hope Pat doesn't bring up the I-was-the-last-guy-to-beat-RC-and-that-was-in-2003 thing again...."

When you think back on the races each day, do you have things where you go, “I should have jumped that,” or do you just look ahead?
Yeah, there are things that I reflect on, that I should have done, and then there are things where I can just look forward. I can’t look back all the time. There are some things I need to think about so I can make them better. But in reality, he’s just doing some things that I’m not doing right now. He is consistently a good bit faster. It’s not like we get to a track that I like and I lay down times better than his.

So if he has one second or 1.7 seconds, that’s a lot?
Yeah, that’s a good cushion in our sport. That’s a lot of time. There are some things that I have to change about my riding so I can knock them off. It sounds easy - shave off a second - but the faster you go, the harder that second is to achieve.

You guys [RC, Whitelock, and DeCoster] had a meeting after the press conference. Did you talk about the des Nations?
Yeah, we did. I officially can’t comment on that. It was a decent meeting, and we’re pretty excited about it. It will be good.

Fans cheer KW loudly when he is on the track and want him to find that second or so per lap, but that's a lot of time at this level

With the preparation going on with the MXdN, does it make you and Ricky closer?
Oh, yeah. We’ve become teammates. That’s a pretty tight bond. Our objective is to cross all the lines between manufacturers, and we come together. Ricky and I can work together like that. We’re pretty tight in the grand scheme of things. I don’t have my speed dialed, but when the gate drops, obviously we go at it, but we are pretty tight.

You guys are definitely ready to go over and kick some butt?
For sure. That’s where I am right now. That’s my motivation. I can’t get lackadaisical. Especially with the distance to first place, and behind me the distance from third place at the majority of the races, it gets real easy to slide into a rut. I want to stay focused.

Thanks, Kevin. Good luck.
Thanks, Steve.

Reprinted from www.racerxill.com