Brady Kiesel hasn’t made all the right decisions. Not many 17-year-olds do. Admittedly, he turned pro earlier than he should have in 2013. He was 17 and made a rash decision. It happens. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Kiesel has learned from his mistakes—a learning process that quickly saw Kiesel trying to manage a racing career and being on his own for the first time at just 19. He’s persevered through it all—including missing nearly all of Monster Energy Supercross in 2014 due to a broken jaw—and is optimistic 2015 will provide more stability. We caught up with the Texan earlier this week to discuss his transition to the pros, his hopes on securing a ride, and much more.
Racer X: You turned pro in 2013 with Eleven10 Mods and then transitioned into your own deal last year. You’ve only been professional for two years, not a long time. How has the transition been for you?
Brady Kiesel: The transition has been really good. I’ve just been working a lot on trying to prepare myself for the best and worst case. I had some pretty bad luck last year. I got hurt in the beginning of the year. I broke my jaw in three places and had to get surgery. I was out until basically a month before outdoors. I tried racing at Daytona with my jaw wired shut, which I did, and I qualified. I think I qualified eleventh or something, and I got really fatigued and ended up not racing. I decided to call it a year and just start with outdoors. I started training with Randy Lawrence the beginning of the year and started getting prepared. So I got into the first round at Glen Helen. It didn’t go as I planned; I crashed in both races. Then I came back and got a top-fifteen at Hangtown and another top-fifteen at Colorado. I went in my pickup truck, so I just drove to every round basically. When the rounds got towards the East Coast I stayed with my girlfriend in South Carolina and went to every round from there. I didn’t have a mechanic, so I worked on my bikes. I basically drove to every single round with just me and my girlfriend. It was just kind of mess, honestly. As soon as the rounds started getting a little later in the year, probably about Muddy Creek, I blew my race bike up and had to race my practice bike, and actually that was my best start of the year. I was still managing to get inside the top twenty with basically a bike that amateurs could ride. It was just kind of a mess of a year. I had to go to every single round all by myself. My parents are on the other side of the country, and I’m over doing my own thing, got my own truck, got everything in the back. I’m looking like the Clampetts [Laughs]. Every bit of money I made went straight back into travel and expenses and all that. I talked to some teams on the way, and trying to get a deal squared away for this year, and just trying to get by.
You’re a younger guy. Not only are you growing up and becoming an adult, but you’re also trying to put together a race career. In the amateurs, your parents were there. You probably had the motor home or whatever. How difficult was it trying to transition? You’re on the other side of the country from your parents, and, like you said, you’re on your own now.
It was absolutely a really tough transition. I’m only 19 years old. I’m just starting my career. I went pro a year earlier than my own age group. My last year at amateurs I won pretty much almost everything except Loretta Lynn’s the last year of B. I went to Loretta’s and had a lot of issues and ended up coming out and just saying, “If I’m not going to get a ride because I didn’t do good at Loretta’s, I’m just going to go ahead and go pro.” I was 17 years old, didn’t have a ride. I hooked up with Eleven10, and their bikes were really good. I seemed to transition on their equipment really well. I was riding really good. It was pretty much a stupid decision on my part. I should have stayed another year of amateur, which was a big mistake on my part. I passed up deals that I would have been like, wow, what am I doing right now? I made some bad decisions. I could have been with KTM my last year of amateur. But I broke my bike at Loretta’s and almost every race, so I was like, I don’t know what to do. I kind of just made that decision as a 17-year-old kid not knowing what was best. I just kind of made the wrong decision and moved up early, but I’ve had some good results as an 18-year-old. For basically a low-budget team, I have good finishes for being on my own basically.
You said you think you made the wrong decision. What would you have done differently now?
What I would have done different would be to listen to everyone else around me instead of making the decision myself. I kind of took charge and said this is what I want to do. I look back at it now and I’m just like, oh man, why did I do that? I could have done so many different things. Honestly, I look back at it now, and just whatever, I made that decision, and I’m just trying to make the best out of it.
How have you grown from it? You made a rash decision, but two years later I’m sure you’ve learned some things from it.
Yeah, it some good came out of it. I made that decision, and so now I look at is as me being more experienced than the kids that I came up with. I have that extra year advantage of experience on the kids that I came up with, like Matt [Bisceglia] and [RJ] Hampshire and all those kids. I was supposed to come up with those guys, and their first race was this summer. Matt has been a pro for a year, but I should have been up with that group of [Aaron] Plessinger and Hampshire and all those guys. That’s where I should have been, but I decided to move up early, so I have an extra year, which I think works in my favor. I’ve been there and I’ve gone through these situations. I’ve gone through the worst possible scenario, so I know what it takes.
I know you’re still trying to put some stuff together for next year, but what are your hopes as far as getting a deal put together?
Right now I’m just talking to two guys. It’s looking like I’ll probably get some support, but if not then I’m going to do my own thing and just give it my all. I was on my own last year, so I know what it’s like. I’m going to work hard and make sure that I’m up front.
You’re going into your third year, but you missed pretty much all of last year. What are you going to do differently coming into this year with a little more experience behind you?
What I’m going to do different is I’m going to prepare myself for the good situations and the bad. I want to be able to come into the season open-minded and have a good attitude and be able to focus on making it through the year with solid results and making good decisions and trying to work as hard as I can physically and mentally and be on the bike every chance I get. Last year I wasn’t prepared coming into supercross. My mind wasn’t there and I wasn’t in the right place. This year I want to be able to be fit mentally and the best I can physically, and come out swinging and show people that I belong.
You’re part of that whole Texas crew that’s come up recently with yourself, Matt Bisceglia, [Kyle] Cunningham, you name it. What’s your deal down there? Do you ride with a bunch of those guys?
Yeah, Matt is like my best friend. Whenever he’s here I’m always at his house, or he’s always at my house. We’re always with each other when he’s here. He’s usually out in California, but when he’s here we hook up a lot at the track and just go ride together and just hang out. He’s one of my best friends. We benefit off each other. We try to talk to each other about racing and all that. It’s fun.
Are you still training with Randy Lawrence?
Yeah, whenever I’m out in California he helps me out. He knows what he’s doing. I’ve been just kind of going back and forth. Whenever I’m out in Texas I kind of just do my own thing.
Your rookie year you were kind of knocking on the door of that top ten. Is that the goal this year?
Absolutely. The goal this year for sure is to get top-tens and be consistently in there. My problem is, I’ll have a round where I mess up in practice, get a terrible gate pick, and then go and barely get in the main and have a bike problem or have a breakdown and crash or do something dumb, but this year I’m going to be really working on my consistency and getting inside that top ten every single round and being able to put myself in good situations, try and capitalize on good starts, and have some good heat races, some top-five heat races and top-ten mains and build from there.
You mentioned the mental side. You turned pro at 17. I know you’re only 19 now, so you’re not that much older, but how have you been able to mature and take the good with the bad? How have you been able to grow these last couple years?
I’ve been able to grow a lot. Like I said, I made bad decisions coming in. I don’t know how to say it really. I’ve just been making better decisions for myself with training with Randy, and putting myself in better positions in the long run instead of thinking about the short-term thing. I’ve been trying to position myself to get into better situations.
