Next: Luke Fauser

“The pro-am was great, I did awesome,” Fauser said. “I pulled a holeshot in the first moto, battled with Steve Roman. Second moto I battled with Roman again, which for me, I’ve always grown up looking up to those guys and now I’m riding with them, which was awesome. But yeah, the weekend was awesome. The track got super rough, you can’t ask for anything else, it was awesome. …That was really, really good practice.”

“Growing up and riding indoors as Switchback MX and I would always see him [Roman] there, just seeing him everywhere at local races and always seeing him winning and stuff and racing pro nationals,” Fauser continued. “And whenever I was riding against him the second moto, I was behind him and we were so close, it was crazy how much harder it is to pass him than the kids I would be racing in my class because he just has so much experience and he’s a good rider. It was crazy how close we were at the bottom before the uphill triple at the finish line. We were side by side, but I just couldn’t get him I was like, ‘Ah man!’”

The Fauser family then loaded up and made the near one-and-a-half-hour drive home to Midland, and the 15-year-old resumed his weekly training routine. He has other interests—shooting basketball, golfing on occasion, and playing video games—but motocross has been his main sole sport since a young age. A couple of years ago, Fauser and his mother would go to practice tracks once a week every Wednesday, but in the summer of 2019, things got more serious. Fauser surrounded himself with a strong group of individuals during the week: working with Gary Semics and his stepson Dave Kilgore at Semics’ track and riding with fast local rippers close to his age in Gavin Towers and Cole Jones.

“It was good riding with Gavin and Cole. Me and Cole have always been close in speed—at times I’m faster or he’s faster—so we really get to push each other during our motos we do,” said Fauser of Jones. “And Gavin was—and still is—a really good rider and there is a lot of stuff to learn off of him. And I could base off of him and try to latch onto Gavin and do what he is doing. But me and Cole have always been close in speed so we would push each other really good.”

Having a solid training program during the week led Fauser to add three more Loretta Lynn’s #1 plates to his name: 65cc (10-11) in 2019 and the 85cc (10-12) and 85cc (10-12) Limited in 2020 (taking his total to four with his 2016 51cc (7-8) Limited overall). However, last August the possibility of making mistakes held Fauser back from his true potential. His goal for this year has been to improve his mentality (positive thinking in place of negativity) and translate his practice motos to the important points-paying motos. Semics and Kilgore have helped significantly as the #462 looks to piece together a successful year.

“I have the speed, I just need to put it to the racetrack,” Fauser said. “You learn all this stuff on the practice track but it’s hard to put it together on the racetrack. If you learn something new on the starts, you’re able to do it because you’re not too worried about it but whenever you’ve got 40 other guys on the track, you just want to go back to what you’ve done since you were a kid.”

“[The mental side of the sport] is definitely the hardest thing,” he continued. “Like I can learn and do anything on a dirt bike, but [the] mental [side] is really hard. You just always have to tell yourself that you can do it and just try and get the bad thoughts out of your head and think about what you’re doing in the present moment.”

It is tough to break old habits. But on/off the bike coaching and training and mid-race scenarios during motos are helping Fauser.

“Gary Semics helps me a lot with my mental game and my workouts and stuff,” Fauser said. “Gary helps with my fitness and mental health, he’s a veteran in that type of stuff. And Dave is one of the best trainers that I have ever seen or known.”

Going to the racing gates, Fauser also has backing from the Orange Brigade KTM amateur program, which he has been a part of since the beginning of 2017.

“The Orange Brigade program has been so great for us with all of the sponsors that come with it along with the backing of KTM really helps us with getting all of our goals accomplished,” said Fauser. “They do training camps and had us out west a few times like Mammoth Mountain and Anaheim [Angel] Stadium. We’ve been to Daxton Bennick’s compound for OB Training and besides training sessions on the bike we also have media training to help us represent our team and brands. For real I couldn’t imagine not having the KTM support. I owe them all the thanks for where I am today.”