Following the 2015 Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National, Bradley Taft, who had just won the championship in 450 A, didn’t have a ride lined up to turn professional. Taft made the decision to hold off turning pro, a decision he can now look back on and say was the right one.
“I really wanted to race supercross this year, but I’m glad I didn’t,” he told us earlier this week.
His decision turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Taft started working with his new trainer Gareth Swanepoel and has become a different rider. Last week Taft capped off his amateur career (for real this time) with a 250 A title at Loretta’s. He didn’t have to worry about having a ride either, as a week before the event the 19-year-old signed a deal for 2017 with CycleTrader.com/Rock River Yamaha.
Taft will make his pro debut this weekend at the Unadilla National. We caught up with him on Monday to see how he’s handling it all.
Racer X: Has it hit you that the amateur days are done?
Bradley Taft: I don’t think it has yet, but I don’t think I’m going to be that upset over it.
How did Loretta’s go from your perspective?
It wasn’t exactly the week I was hoping for. Obviously I was able to win 250 A, so I was stoked on that. My goal going into the week was to win everything and finish out my amateur career that way. I made a couple of mistakes and it cost me in Open Pro. All in all it was a good week. I was finally able to win the premier class. That was my third championship at Loretta’s, but I was never able to win the premier class. It was awesome to win the title that was most important to me.
I don’t ever remember that much rain during Loretta’s week.
Oh no, it was raining everyday pretty much. It would rain and we would be on a delay and it made the track insane. On Thursday it was the roughest track that I had ever ridden in my life. It was nuts.
You had some good preparation for Unadilla then…
Yes, it definitely was.
How long ago did you find out that you were going to make your debut with the CycleTrader.com/Rock River Yamaha team at Unadilla?
I actually found out that I was racing Unadilla about three days before Loretta’s. I wasn’t going to do it, but then [Colt] Nichols got hurt and they had his bike there for me. The original thing was that they weren’t going to have the equipment there for me to do it. They said I could race and that’s what I wanted to originally do. Christina [Denny, team manager] called me up and told me to fill out all of my paperwork so that we could mail it in, so I did.
If you didn’t race Unadilla what were you planning on doing going into next year?
I was going to race the Monster Energy Cup in the Amateur All-Stars class again and then race Anaheim 1. The reason I wanted to race the outdoor season was to get my feet wet. It’s a huge transition to the pro ranks. Obviously I would ride supercross and would train for it, but it’s just so much different than outdoors. I really just wanted to race the last three to learn everything and be comfortable on the tracks that I was riding.
Every year we see the A riders who won at Loretta’s run the pace of the top guys in the final nationals. It used to be kind of shocking, but now it’s just kind of expected.
That’s how I feel too. I train with Gareth Swanepoel and today I did motos with Cooper Webb and I also train with Aaron Plessinger, Alex Martin, Broc Tickle, and all of those guys on a daily basis. It’s kind of easy for me to see where I’m at compared to Cooper. It’s good because it lets me know what I’m capable of doing. It’s awesome to have those guys around. I’ve learned a lot from Cooper.
How do you compare to those guys?
I can run with Cooper, I just can’t do it for 35 minutes. I think that will come with doing the long motos. As an amateur you never have to do a long moto, the longest is at Loretta’s where we do 20 minutes. It’s completely different. Usually on a daily basis I can run the same speed as Cooper and Aaron, but I need it for a full moto. I have the speed I just don’t have the stamina just yet.
"I just need to go out there, get a good start, and not worry about anybody else. I need to sprint until I get tired."
How hard is it to have the speed to run with your training partners during the week and then jump to Loretta’s and have that same intensity?
It’s very hard. The hardest part for me is practicing in what I think is rough and then going to Loretta’s where it’s rained and dried out. The bumps are as big as me! No matter how rough I think it gets during the week its nothing like the tracks at a race. The tracks I race are ten times gnarlier. I think that’s why I don’t have the stamina just yet because I don’t ride the rough tracks every week. I think that is what is going to be the biggest thing for me racing these outdoors. It’ll help me get more physically fit on the bike.
You’re coming in under the radar. I was trying to do some background information on you and I came up empty handed.
Yeah! I’m under the radar and people say its good. It’s not a bad thing but it’s frustrating for me because of how much I have done. Obviously there are people that notice it, but a lot of people don’t. I’ll hear that this kid is better than Taft, or that kid is better than Taft. It’s good for me because I just want to prove those people wrong. It gives me more motivation. I’m hoping I can go in under the radar and surprise people.
As we are getting closer to Unadilla what has been going through your head?
I’m just excited mostly. My goals are to just get a good start. I know I can run with the guys up front. If I get a good start I just want to run with them for as long as I can. I don’t have a lot of pressure on myself because it’s just me learning too. I have a deal lined up already for next year, so it’s not do or die on me just yet. Once I line up I’ll probably be nervous, but I’m not yet stressed about it.
How long ago did you sign your deal for next year?
I want to say around three weeks ago.
Did you get your amateur number for your debut?
No, I didn’t I will be #296.
It was tough for the amateur riders last season because no one had a deal really lined up. All of the teams were full, so the riders coming out had to look elsewhere for a job. You’re ahead of the game this year.
I raced A class last year and that was the reason that I stayed back again. I didn’t have anything last year and honestly it’s too hard to do it on your own. I knew it would be smart for me to stick around. As much as I didn’t want to do it, it was honestly the best thing I could have ever done. I had a really good year this year and I was able to get something.
Besides riding dirt bikes what do you want people to know about you as you make your pro debut?
I don’t do a lot. I train, ride, and by the time I’m done with that I don’t feel like doing anything. I’ll go out to dinner with Coop, Aaron, and the guys every once in a while. I just like to chill out and watch TV. I play MX Simulator and I’m pretty good at it.
Have any of the guys given you any advice for this weekend?
It’s only Coop and me that are in South Carolina right now. Coop is different. In our group that we have we’re like half helpful and half not. It’s the hardest thing to tell if someone is being serious or not. They will tell you something and you’ll think that they are joking with you. Or they will say something to you and laugh, but you think they are serious. Coop tries to help me. Today we did two thirty-five minute motos. The first one I started off pretty strong, slowed down towards the middle, and the last half was faster than the first half. The second one I went as hard as I could until I got tired. Cooper just told me that it’s better to start and go all out rather than have mediocre lap times and then go slow. He said that at the end of the moto everyone is so spread out that it doesn’t matter if you’re going to sprint towards the end because it’ll be too late to even do anything.
I just need to go out there, get a good start, and not worry about anybody else. I need to sprint until I get tired. Broc Tickle has been the most helpful to me. He gives me advice a lot and he’s awesome to be round.
You have some good company to learn from. Coming in as a rookie and having guys with championship and race winning experience around you doesn’t usually happen.
It’s huge for me. Since I started training with Swanepoel after Loretta’s last year I have become a completely different kid. My entire amateur career I was always fast, but I had a lot of mental issues. I would always doubt what I was doing and myself. When I would go race that was my problem. Since I started working with Swanepoel I have so much more confidence and I don’t doubt what I am doing. It’s hard to doubt your program when you are working with these guys. Without being able to ride with them and having them give me advice I wouldn’t be where I am today.