Caden Braswell’s brief time with the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing team has come to an end. After three rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, Braswell saw moto finishes of 18-18-27-16-12-12 before ending his four-round fill-in deal with a 9-13 for a new season best 11th overall in his rookie season of AMA Motocross. Learning new tracks each week, Braswell picked up comfortability with the machine and his results steadily improved. And speaking of picking up, the kind youngster even picked up a bike off of his competitor Ryder DiFrancesco when the Kawasaki rider’s leg was stuck in his bike in qualifying!
Michael Mosiman is sidelined for the remainder of Pro Motocross with a shoulder injury that required surgery, but the team is expecting Pierce Brown to return soon, possibly for the next round of Pro Motocross. Thus, Braswell is officially relieved of his efforts on a factory GasGas MC 250F.
At the end of the day, Braswell was extremely thankful for his time with the factory GasGas squad and confirmed he was uncertain of what comes next. With a weekend off before the RedBud National in Michigan July 1, it remains to be determined if the 2022 Nicky Hayden AMA Motocross Horizon Award recipient will be at the fifth round or not. Hopefully this is not the end of the season for the #243.
Racer X: Okay, Caden, walk us through your day at the High Point national.
Caden Braswell: Got here this morning, looked at the track and said, “It's going to be a good day. It's just a good day to have a good day.” And I had some ups and downs, it was a little bit like a roller coaster. But through it all I had a lot of fun. Super grateful for the opportunity with the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas team with Method Wheels. We enjoyed it, improved from last weekend in Denver, looking forward to whatever comes next. It's the end of my four round races, so whatever comes next, I am praying I get to keep racing.
So, you are not sure…
Not sure yet, no sir. But just a praying, we will see what happens.
So, you will be at RedBud either way? You’re just not sure what bike you will be on or?
You never know, just praying. We will see. Hopefully God keeps here. I’m enjoying it, loving it. This is what dreams are made of right here.
Have you ever raced this track or ride it growing up? Or was it a completely new track for you?
No, sir, just watched a lot of YouTube and old footage on it. There’s a lot of memories here for the dirt bike guys. You can see why when you pull up, the way it swerves in and out of the mountain range, it's a truly cool track. Just natural and it's awesome.
I know it was kind of muddy so it is hard to compare, but how would you rank this track compared to the other Pro Motocross national tracks you have raced so far, or even some amateur tracks?
I don’t know why but every time I get to a new track I say this one is my favorite, so this is my new favorite. Until maybe next weekend. I enjoyed Colorado a lot, I liked Hangtown. And then this track, I got here, and I was like, “This track looks good!” Super excited about it, it flows really well, it connects. It was a really fun track to ride and race, because it's wide enough to race. I really enjoyed it.
What in terms of dirt, do you like? California hard pack or do you like the East Coast dirt? What is your personal preference, you wake up and you get to pick the track, where are you going and what conditions are you picking?
I’m picking sand. Deep sand. Maybe even deeper than Southwick, I heard it's got a pretty hard base. But this is my type of dirt right here, anything deep and gnarly puts a smile on my face.
Anything else you would like to add?
God is good all of the time and all of the time God is good. That’s about it, that’s about all.