Next-Level Tech Tips: HEP Motorsports’ Travis Soules on WD-40 Specialist Products
The blue and yellow can with the red top. How many times have you reached for one in your life? For a lot of us it’s just a reflex at this point. Squeaky hinge? Stuck lug nut? New baseball glove? Scuff on hardwood flooring? Check, check, check, check. But that product, the Original WD-40 Formula —known officially as WD-40 Multi-Use Product—is only the tip of the WD-40 Brand iceberg. The company also produces an astonishing array of lubricants, cleaners, and more—several of which qualify as must-haves for motocrossers of any level. It’s time to get to know the WD-40 Specialist line.
WD-40 Specialist includes a full line of lubricants, penetrants, greases, contact cleaners, degreasers, and rust-management solutions scientifically designed, as they like to say, for the world’s toughest jobs. One of those tough jobs? Maintaining the factory bikes under the Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports tent, where the WD-40 Brand is a vital team sponsor for riders like Adam Enticknap, Brandon Hartranft, Justin Bogle, and Marshal Weltin. To get a feel for how WD-40 Brand products are used under the Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports tent, we spoke with Hartranft’s mechanic Travis Soules.
“I rely on WD-40 Brand,” Soules says. “Everything they make is great, and their line of Specialist products is made for pros. Fortunately, they’re one of our sponsors, so I always have them on hand.”
Soules started out as a racer himself, going racing at age 16 and doing all of his own mechanical work. Realizing he loved working on bikes enough to make a career of it, he furthered his studies, taking a powersports technology class at Minnesota West, and eventually landing a gig with Team Tedder in 2013 (through a listing right here at Racer X Online, no less!) He made the move to California, starting him on the path that would lead to his current high-profile gig with the HEP team.
Like a lot of us, Soules’ first memory of WD-40 Brand is of the Original WD-40 Formula in his dad’s shop. “I sprayed that stuff everywhere—my dad and I used it on just about everything,” he says. “It’s cool to look back on that and think about how many more products they have now. I don’t think people even know that they have more than just the Original Formula.”
Having used WD-40 Brand products in some seriously harsh, high-pressure situations, Soules has started singing their praises to his fellow wrenches in the pro pits. “When I tell other mechanics about their next-level products like the WD-40 Specialist Silicone, they always go, ‘They make that?!’ So, besides the Original Formula and the Silicone, I like the WD-40 Specialist Contact Cleaner for taking grease off, and cleaning axles. You can even use it to clean residue from decals. I also like the WD-40 Specialist Gel Lube because it doesn’t drip, so it’s great for footpeg pins, and you only have to use a small amount.”
Soules relies on WD-40 Brand products to make sure his factory bikes run at their peak, but he also recommends them for us weekend-warrior types too. “I’ll say this,” he says, “if they’re not using these products, they should be. Go get some and try it because, as a professional, I have not found one thing that I don’t like.”
High praise indeed!
Learn more about the WD-40 Specialist line—and how it can take your bike to the next level—right here.
