Images courtesy of Beta Motorcycles
This is an exciting time in the sport of motocross in the USA with three new OEM’s expected to be racing AMA Supercross in a few years. The first of those, Beta, announced their first signing in Benny Bloss to a two-year, supercross-only deal. We had Benji on the PulpMX Show this past Monday to talk about that coming together.
Racer X Online: How’d this come about? Take us through the process of them reaching out to you? I know Carlen Gardner is working with those guys. They got a semi. Obviously, Ben Watson is racing it in MXGP. [Jeremy] Van Horebeek did for a couple of years. How does this happen? Take us through it.
Benny Bloss: Carlen [Gardner] had originally hit me up sometime in the supercross season. I don't remember exactly when. Probably midway through. He asked if I’d be interested in coming and testing the bike. I was like, “Yeah. I’m definitely interested in doing that.” So we had set up a date, and then I ended up crashing at Nashville so that threw the plans a little bit. He was basically just like, “After the season whenever you’re healed up, let me know when a good time would be to come test the bike.” So, that was just kind of it. We hadn’t talked any further than that, and then things had gone a little different. I had verbally agreed to do [FIM] World Supercross [Championship]. So, I was dead set on doing that. Then it was like at first I was going to do three outdoors. Then it was like, I’ll just race all the outdoors except for the two conflicting ones [with WSX].
Then it was probably a week after I agreed to do the World Supercross thing. I didn’t have a contract yet. It’s a Sunday morning and I woke up at like 6 o’clock to a text from Carlen. He was like, “Hey, are you doing World Supercross?” I was like, “Yeah, I agreed. I don’t have a contract yet, but that’s kind of the plan.” He was like, “Well, would you back out of it to do a two-year deal with us?” I was just like, I’m not fully awake at this moment. I just woke up. I was just like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, I don’t even understand what just happened. So, I talked to him more and it was a really good offer. I spoke with the team I was going to do World Supercross for [Craig Dack (CDR) Racing] and they were like, we’re not going to hold you back from this, don’t feel bad.
I thought you were offering CDR a gift of Grant Harlan.
I called Grant. First off, I had talked to Carlen on Sunday. We talked a couple times throughout that day and then we talked a little bit more on Monday. I was so nervous to call Craig [Dack]. I was like, he’s going to tell me I’m just the worst person in the world. But I’m also like, at this point this guarantees my career another two years, compared to six months. And it’s like everything that I’ve wanted. But I was still just super nervous. I called Grant before and I was like, “Hey, I’m about to back out of this World Supercross thing. If I tell them you’re a guy that would do it, will you do it?” And he said, “Yeah.” So, I called him, and Craig was super cool about it. It made it a lot better and easier. He asked me. He was like, “Do you know anyone that might want to do it?” And I was like, “Yes, I actually do. I know that he would do it.”
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Benny Bloss Beta ![Bloss' new Beta bike.]()
Bloss' new Beta bike. Beta ![Benny Bloss]()
Benny Bloss Beta ![Benny Bloss]()
Benny Bloss Beta
And you were like, “He beat me in supercross.”
Honestly, I talked him up so well that I feel like maybe I deserve a percentage of what he gets. [Laughs] So, that worked out and here we are.
So, you never rode the bike, really?
No. With the world supercross thing, I didn’t want to drag them along and then possibly not do it. So, I asked Carlen, how soon could you get me a contract? And he said, “Well, would you sign a contract without riding the bike?” It’s a two-year deal with everything that I want. I’m like, “Yeah. I’ll do that, for sure.”
I’m surprised.
I look at the MXGP’s and it seems like they’re doing good. We have a lot of time until the season. If I were to go out there and ride the bike and be like, “Oh wow, this is not good,” we have a lot of time to try to make it better.
A two-year deal in our sport is rare, so I get that. Is one of the new bikes in America?
Yeah. I signed the contract and then that was like two weeks ago, and then this past Wednesday I flew to California, rode the bike on Thursday.
I thought we were going with you didn’t even ride the bike. So, you did ride the bike eventually.
Yeah, I’ve ridden the bike at this point. But I did sign the contract before. I was pretty confident. Going there, I was kind of nervous because I don't know what to expect. I’ve never ridden one, obviously. I was very pleasantly surprised. I left California very happy. The bike is good.
I’m going to guess expectations were quite low before you rode the bike. I’m guessing you thought that there would be more work to do than there is?
I wouldn’t say my expectations were low. I just had no idea what to expect. I was just trying to be positive. My wife was like, “Well, what if you don’t like the bike?” And it’s like, “Well, what if I love the bike?” She was like, “Okay, that’s a good way to look at it.” Honestly, I get there and riding to the track from the truck I was trying to feel everything out. I’m obviously a taller guy. It fits my height really, really good. I’m very comfortable on the bike, which was my first impression, which is huge. Then riding it is like, okay, this is good. The chassis feels good. The suspension is really balanced and feels good. I was very, very happy with it.
Listen to the full interview below:
