So, so, so much silly season news this week, although most of it was stuff we already knew. Quietly, in the background, one rider was still trying to make moves, though. Blake Baggett had offers, but he was hanging around late hoping to put a deal together on a 450 ride with Yoshimura Suzuki. Baggett, the 2012 AMA 250 Motocross National Champion, announced a two-year deal today. To find out more details, we talked with Baggett earlier today.
Racer X: We just saw a press release. What is happening for you next year? We actually have news on you now.
Blake Baggett: Yup, I signed with the new team of Yoshimura Suzuki for 2015 and 2016 season for supercross and motocross on a 450.
So, what big part of this do we talk about first: the 450, two-year deal, going back to Suzukis? That’s a lot of big stuff!
For sure. Super excited I get to ride, and super excited to be on the Yoshimura team. Great staff over there and a team built on racing and winning races, and that’s the goal. My teammate is going to be James [Stewart], so that’ll be awesome to work together. We rode all of 2013 outdoors together down at his house, and we’re good buddies. Just work together and try to put the two yellow bikes up front.
[Note: We know you’re all asking “But is James Stewart racing next year?” All we know is that his WADA case is still pending, and Suzuki has said they have his back. Whenever we learn more, we’ll report it.]
So let’s start with the Suzuki part here. That team: We haven’t heard a lot lately about exactly what’s going on there. They’ve had a one-man team for a while. Was this in the works for a long time? Had you been talking to them for a while? Did you always want to go there, or did this come up late minute? How did this happen to add a second guy?
It definitely happened really late. It happened after the outdoors were well over. It was something that we’ve been working on, I guess you would say, but there was nothing set in stone until weeks after the outdoors were over.
That’s what I heard, and it sounded to me like you were taking a bit of a risk. Could you have signed with someone earlier just to know you had a deal set in place? Were you kind of waiting and hoping here?
I was just waiting it out. I was focused on trying to win the outdoor title, anyway. I had a few minor difficulties in that; it didn’t really go my way. [Jeremy] Martin ended up getting it, and good for him. We fought for it and came up with second. But basically our main focus was just on outdoors. We were just waiting. Sometimes you wait too long and it doesn’t come your way, but we were just gambling on it and waiting all the way to the last second.
That’s what I’m getting at. It sounds like this is what you wanted to do. You wanted this badly, so you were willing to take a risk to get it.
For sure, just waited it out and was risking not having something, but it all came together and I’m super excited where we ended up.
Could you have written your own ticket to just stay in the 250 Class? You’ve got some pretty good credentials and you won races this year.
Yeah. There were options to ride 250s, and there were actually other options to ride other 450s as well. I had a plan set in stone in my mind, and that’s what we were going for. Just basically waiting it out. Sometimes you wait it out and it turns out good. But we were gambling on it.
Let’s move onto the 450. How many times have you ridden one? How do you think it’s going to go? And, by the way, every rider always says, “I think it suits my style better,” so I’m waiting for that answer.
[Laughs] I’m not going to use the common “It’ll suit my style better.” I rode one two times. I practiced on one and then raced it in Mammoth in 2009. Haven’t touched one since, so it’s been a while. I’m probably going to be rusty on it considering that’s the only time I ever rode one. I even had to borrow the bike from [Team Green Manager] Ryan Holliday.
[Laughs] How old were you in 2009?
I don’t even remember! That was too long ago. I know I was like 116 pounds on it, and it felt like it was lighting a match on a rocket.
You’re not exactly the hugest guy, but does that even matter? For Villopoto it seems to work. Does that mean anything?
Yeah, I’m a whopping 135 pounds. We won’t be lacking any HPs to say the least.
I would like to say this means that you’re going to pull a ton of holeshots, but I don’t know if I should go that far considering your starts…
I don’t know but we’re definitely going to try. That’d be the goal, is to come out swinging right away. Just a whole new team, whole new bike. Everything’s completely new and different, riding a 450 instead of a Lites bike. Maybe we can turn it around and come out and get one holeshot after another.
Now, how about supercross? That’s the next thing everybody’s going to ask about. What is the deal there? Can you get this thing dialed in?
I’m thinking so. A lot of people don’t think so! [Laughs] I’d say 99 percent of the people you’d ask would probably say I won’t be able to figure it out. I don’t know. I’m going to surprise people this year!
I like it. Just explain why you wanted to go to the 450s. Like you said, you could have stayed in the 250s. You probably would have won races; you would have been in title contention for sure. So what is the desire to move up when you could have cashed in for another year or so?
Basically just go out there and play with the big boys, play in the premier class, and race seventeen rounds of supercross and then go into outdoors. It’s pretty much like last man standing, basically. That’s a long, long year. I just wanted a new challenge and something that I could build on and go for a long career. I felt like it was a good opportunity to go, and about the right time to go. Most of the guys I raced with in 2011 and 2012 are there. I raced them then and won races racing with them, so I didn’t see a problem with stepping up and taking on a new challenge.
You are slapping a number four on a factory Suzuki. Is that a little strange? Does that add a little pressure? Is that something that even crosses your mind?
To me it’s just…I’m going out there to ride and race and it’s a number. A lot of people hammered on me about it, but bottom line is there’s only so many numbers out there. If nobody was going to take any numbers, then nobody would have any number under 900! It’s just a number and I’m just going to represent it the best I can and go out there and try to be known for Blake Baggett as number four.
What’s your schedule here like? When will we actually see you racing this bike or riding this bike? Do you have something ironed out yet?
I’m pretty sure that we’re going to be at Monster Cup. We should be ready to go for then.
What’s up with some of the injuries you had leftover? At one point we thought you were going to have to get a dead guy’s eye or eyeball. What’s the status of your eye?
The eye healed up really good. My wrist is great again.
Really?
Yeah, it’s back to being really good and doesn’t even bother me on the bike anymore. It’s pretty good now. It doesn’t move as much as the other one by all means, but it’s good. This whole year it’s been good. Two thousand thirteen we struggled with it for the outdoors. This whole season this year it’s been really good. The wrist is fine, and the eye is coming around. It’s not perfect but you can work with it, live with it, and it doesn’t affect me when I’m on the bike at all.
This is a two-year deal and I’ve been talking to you and your dad about building your own compound down in Florida like a lot of guys do. You’re in this for the long haul. You’ve got big plans here.
Yeah, definitely. Just going all in. I’m putting the effort back in so that the results come. Definitely giving it everything we’ve got. We’re not going to hold back on anything. The plan is to win races on the 450 in the 450 Class just like I did on the Lites bike. Just work forward and become a 450 guy, basically a guy that’s meant to be up there and everybody knows is going to be up there. That’s my plan—just to try and be that kind of guy in the 450 Class just like I felt like I was in the Lites bike class.