After finishing the supercross portion with two titles–450 B and Schoolboy 2 (13-16) B/C–Utah native Pierce Brown won the 250 B and Schoolboy 2 (13-16) B/C titles in the motocross portion, and finished runner-up to Garrett Marchbanks in 450 B. Collin Speckner had the chance to speak with the Troy Lee Designs KTM rider after the motocross portion of the race about his week at the Winter Olympics at Gatorback Cycle Park, training at Millsaps Training Facility, and more.
Racer X: Pierce, congrats on winning 250 B on the motocross portion here at the 2017 Mini Os. It’s rained a lot this week. How was the track shaping up throughout the day, and what did it take to pull out the win here?
Pierce Brown: Yeah, this track’s really rough out here. It’s the roughest I've ever seen Gatorback before. They added a bunch of sand earlier in the week and that helped with the rain on Wednesday. That last moto was pretty good, I got a second-place start; the track’s so rough you have to get around everyone early and spread a lead because it’s pretty on lined out there and hard to pass.
Mini Os takes place on Thanksgiving week and a lot of people come here and spend it with their family and friends. Is there anyone here that you’re spending the occasion with?
Yeah, my mom and dad are here with me. My brother and grandparents and everyone else are at home. They're watching online but they couldn't make it out here this year; they came last year. It’s pretty fun to spend Thanksgiving with your family racing dirt bikes.
Who are you training with, and what have you been doing leading up to Mini Os to prepare for this event?
I’m training at Millsaps Training Facility in Cairo, Georgia. There’s a ton of fast guys out there: Carter Halpain, Marcus Phelps, Justin Barcia goes out there too, plus Jordon Smith just bought a house out there recently. So, we have a really good group of guys out there that we train with. Just training and riding with those guys out there every day is really what’s helped me most to get to this point.
What’s next after Mini Os for you?
After Mini Os, I’ll be heading back to California to train a little bit for Freestone and Oak Hill. Those are the main big ones that we’re looking forward to.
