Andrew Short Interview

Back on Hondas now, Andrew Short is preparing for his assault on the 2012 Motocross and Supercross seasons.

After many, many years with the Honda factory team, Andrew Short made a move to KTM in 2011 and raced the 350 SX/F. But after a year with mostly disappointing finishes and a big injury, breaking both elbows and one wrist in a testing crash, Short has returned to Honda, albeit for the newly formed team run by Larry Brooks and Jeremy McGrath. Still, he’ll be racing a factory Honda CRF450R, just like the one he had been racing with success the last few years prior to 2011. We caught up with Shorty at the Honda test track as he prepared for the 2012 season.

Andrew Short is still working through some pain in his elbows, but he's getting better every day. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Motocross.com: You spent a year away from Honda. Obviously, you were getting along with Honda when you left. How does it feel now?
Andrew Short: I rode for Honda for six years and it seemed like the bike and the team became a family. All I did, it was second nature. The year at KTM taught me to ride a different bike. It felt like an adjustment the whole time, getting away from what I do. Now coming back to the Honda it honestly didn’t feel… It wasn’t as easy coming back as I thought it would be. It wasn’t exactly how I remembered it, but I was also coming back from two broken elbows and a broken wrist. Everything was coming at me a little quicker than I expected. It has been cool to work with the people and get back on the bike. I know the bike, what it’s capable of and the resources they have. That’s the good aspect for me.

And how are the arms coming along?
It’s probably my most difficult injury to come back from yet that I’ve had to deal with. But they’re doing really good. I get frustrated at times but then I stop and think about it and how far along I’ve come and how quickly it has improved. It makes me really happy. We still have a while out until January 7th and that’s the goal. I think we’re right along schedule, if not ahead. I’m happy. Obviously they’re not where I hoped they would be. I wouldn’t say it’s more my elbows, it’s just me riding. I spent some time off the bike and I wish I could just snap right back into it right where I left off.

Well, you’re sort of adjusting to 100 more CCs, too, since you were riding a 350…
But that part is good. It’s almost like the 450 can make you lazy and the 350 really made me work. Hopefully, I can carry my 350 skills over with the momentum and apply it to the 450 and I think it would really benefit me racing.

Andrew Short is just trying not to overdo it in his return to riding. He's taking it slow on purpose. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Larry Brooks said he looks forward to working with you because he thinks he can help bring a lot out of a guy with your kind of work ethic. How do you feel the other way about having him to work with?
I think working with Larry is definitely one of the reasons why I really was excited to come aboard this team. I knew the bike was good with Honda, and for me personally I’ve always worked really hard, but sometimes when you apply that hard work and direction into something where you can actually improve is a huge benefit on the track. That way you’re not really spinning your wheels, if that makes sense. I think it’s a huge asset for me and for the rest of the team, working with different people. It’s another set of eyes. I think that’s really valuable.

Your wife Jackie has been keeping a head-count on Twitter of the armadillos she has hunted down at your ranch in Texas. What’s her count up to now?
She got like 12 armadillos or something before we left. We’ve been gone for a while. They were tearing up her flowerbed and our yard and everything else. There was no relocation program going on at the farm; it was seek and destroy.

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