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Do you remember how weird it was after the 2020 Daytona Supercross? Life went on hold for everyone and everything shut down. It seems like a fever dream at this point, but it very much happened. A week after that race was the Indianapolis round of the series. Riders and team personnel were already en route to the city–and some had even already arrived at the venue–when the announcement was made to postpone the race due to COVID-19.
That was the case for Garrett Marchbanks, who at that time was coming off of his first career 250SX win for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team. He was riding the wave of confidence and looking to make a serious run at the championship. Marchbanks, who was only 18 at the time, scheduled a flight back home that day in Indianapolis and sat at home for nearly two months like everybody else. He came into the Salt Lake City 7 strong with 3-5 scores before injuring himself in the third race.
The next time we would see Marchbanks lineup in a main event was at Orlando 2 in 2021 on a ClubMX Yamaha. Wait…what?
The Team Green Manchild prodigy, who won the 2019 250SX Rookie of the Year and had a supercross win, was showing some steady progress. He was making a run at the 2020 East Region title before getting hurt. Wouldn’t the Pro Circuit team see that their investment was paying off and have another deal on the table for their up and comer?
Marchbanks weighed in on this question on last week’s episode of the Squad Pod available now on the Vurbmoto Podcast Network. Here’s what he had to say:
“Right after Daytona, COVID hit and everything shut down,” said Marchbanks. “Then we went to Salt Lake for the seven rounds and there was talk with them [Pro Circuit] and Star. That was about it at the time. I mainly wanted to stay with PC because I was with them for so long. I was really happy with the team and everyone. I wanted to build that relationship like [Ryan] Villopoto and AC [Adam Cianciarulo] had. I grew up racing Kawasaki’s and I wanted to stay on them all the way until I retired. That was my thought.
“I remember Star offered me a deal first and I pushed it off,” he continued. “It was kind of like I’ll accept it, if PC doesn’t really set a deal up. It was like a last second deal. Yeah, we went into Salt Lake, I got another podium and PC reached out to me at the second round in Salt Lake. Kawasaki said we want to do a deal, we want to sign you, let’s do it the Sunday after the third round. So, I pushed off Star and basically let them know in a way that we were sticking with Kawasaki. At the third round I blew my knee out, my PCL and MCL, and some other stuff. Yeah, that was it. There were no more talks, the head of Kawaski people told me that basically they were going to stick with another rider and that I was more than welcome to shop myself around and do something else. We called Star back and they had already signed [Christian] Craig at the time and that was it I was left with no more options.”
Garrett went back home and did some training schools and at the last second the ClubMX team reached out to him. He tried the bike in late September of 2020 and the rest was history. Together the two parties have accomplished some new heights together and this past Pro Motocross Championship was another step in the right direction. Marchbanks has found a great fit. He gets to race a 250 indoor and 450 out. Next year is shaping up to be one of Marchbank’s best yet.
Listen to the full episode below or on the Vurbmoto Podcast Network:
Main image: ClubMX
