Entering his sixth professional season, Tevin Tapia is a little more relaxed. For the first time in three seasons, Tapia already has his plans for 2015 locked in. In October! Most riders are still looking to secure deals, but Tapia is focusing on training and the upcoming Monster Energy Cup. The Washington native was also one of thirty-two riders in the mix at the inaugural Red Bull Straight Rhythm event last weekend. Although he lost in the first round to Nico Izzi, Tapia was stoked to just have an opportunity to race. We caught up with him earlier this week to talk about his off-season and plans for 2015.
Racer X: This past weekend, Red Bull brought quite a unique event to the off-season with Straight Rhythm. What were your thoughts?
Tevin Tapia: Red Bull Straight Rhythm was pretty awesome. Just to be invited was the coolest thing. It kind of helps that I know the right people with the Stewarts and Roger Larson from Seven—he helped me get in with the guys from Red Bull so I could have the opportunity to race. When they called me, the 450 Class was full, so luckily I had a 250, so they signed me up for the 250 Class.
Most people watched it live on the web, but for those who didn’t, give us an insider’s take.
It was a half-mile long track, so I was a little worried about memorizing the track, but it wasn’t too bad. It was actually really supercross-y, a lot more than I thought it would be. There was a whole bunch of jumps. [Laughs] I think they counted eighty jumps through the whole rhythm. It was so different than any of us were used to. You had to be 100 percent mistake-free through the entire run or you were going to get beat.
A lot of people say fitness wasn’t a factor, but with it being over 100 degrees and fifty-second lap times, it seemed that fitness did play a part.
You’re heart rate gets up there. And you can get arm pump pretty easily through that section. I was lucky enough to where I didn’t struggle with any fatigue or arm pump, but I did see some riders shaking their arms after the run or whatever. You could see it was getting to some of those guys. I prepared myself pretty good, though. Milestone MX out in Riverside, California, had a test track and I spent a lot of time on that, which prepared me pretty well.
You mentioned the Stewarts, and for those who know, you’ve been close to them for a long time. Who did you think was going to win?
Sorry, James, but Malcolm was faster all day. I think Malcolm’s head kind of got to him. He was faster, and he should have took it from James. But I’m glad James did win the whole thing.
Travis Pastrana said on the telecast that James has a mental edge over Malcolm, and James won’t let him win. You’ve been around the family for a long time. Are you able to see that as well?
Well, that’s just a big brother thing. That’s how it’s going to be all the time. James won’t let Malcolm win. But Malcolm had his second run won on James, but he messed up at the wall jump. James got kind of lucky. [Laughs]
The off-season keeps on moving along with the Monster Energy Cup next weekend. What are your plans for that; are you moving back to the 450?
Yeah, I’ll be back on the Team 3BR 450. I’m excited for that. I’ll be back on Suzukis again for Monster Cup and the rest of the year. Focusing on that right now. But, yeah, just getting my feet wet and excited to start making some more mains [in 2015].
We talked earlier and you said you had 2015 figured out already, which has to be a great feeling. Can you let us in on what you having going on?
It’s actually probably one of the best feelings. For the past three years or so, I haven’t really known what I was going to do for the season when it came to this point. So knowing that Team 3BR and my dad with his company (3T Performance) is an awesome feeling. I already know what I’m going to be doing for the year, so I can just focus on my training and racing and what I need to do to prepare myself for the season.
Will it just be you, or are they planning on brining other riders on?
As of right now, that I know, we have three pro riders and quite a few amateur riders. It will be me, Nick Schmidt, and Jake Scarbrough. It’s going to be a pretty good team. Nick did really well for himself last year, and we’ll try and train together and hopefully making all those mains together.
For those who don’t know, can you give us a little background on 3BR and what the team is?
Team 3BR is a family that kind of just went riding together—the dad, the son, and the nephew—and their last name was Borski and they just made up their own team—3 Borski Racing. They just started out helping a few guys and then helped me out last year. So we are kind of building off that. We are trying to get our name out there and become bigger and sell t-shirts and stuff.
Can you give us an idea of what the setup with the team will be this year?
As of right now, it’s probably just going to be a box van with an E-Z Up. But Loren Borski is always coming up with tricks. He’s actually looking for a semi right now, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.
You mentioned you guys are selling t-shirt trying to raise money for the team. Where can people purchase the shirts?
Just go to Team3br.com and it’s all on the website. You can follow us on Instagram or Twitter @Team3br and show us your support whichever way you can.
Thanks, Tevin. Who would you like to thank for helping you out this season?
Team 3BR, 3T Performance, Fly, Bell, BRT, Milestone MX, Dr. D, DCR, Rekluse, Dragon, No Toil, Motul, Mindfx, Rockwell, Recmx, Magik, Risk Racing, and Dunlop.
