Between the Motos: Jason Anderson

Anderson, also the 2014 AMA 250SX West Region Supercross champion, continued on as the rain fell, speaking to the amount of sacrifice, demand, and commitment involved in being a full-on factory rider expected to win main events and contend for championships.

"One hundred percent demanding," he said. "There is a lot of demand on my family, too. Realistically, I've got to drag my wife and my daughter around 31 weekends out of the year. I live in California, so when we have East Coast races, that is flying six hours each way. Fly there on Friday and fly back on Sunday. I go to work and they're at home. As glamorous as it can seem from the outside, it's tough on us. Luckily, my wife is really, really supportive in the way where she sees I'm able to live my dream and everything like that. There are sacrifices you make, but at the same time, you can make a very good living and luckily I get to hang out with people that have very common interests with me. We all love what we do and I don't think you'd make it to this level if you didn't love it to a certain extent."



At one point during the conversation, the talk turned to race results and the almost life and death importance they present to a rider and race team such as Anderson and Monster Energy Kawasaki.

"Yeah, as far as the results, it is tough on you because I think for a lot of us who have done it for so long, it's really hard mentally because I think a lot of our self-worth comes from our results," Anderson said. "Whenever you don't have the best results it's hard on you throughout the weeks. For me, and I'm going on my 14th year, luckily at this point I know that if I have some tough times with results and that if I keep digging, I know that the results will eventually come. I'm lucky to be in the position that I know that if I do that, the results will come. For some people, they dig, dig, and dig and nothing ever comes of it. But when you do get the results and you are on the podium and you are doing all of that, it is a cool feeling and it's what keeps you coming back for more."



A racer who has always been his own guy with his own way of doing things, Anderson, with the nickname El Hombre and penchant for creating YouTube videos and TikTok and Instagram posts featuring his Team Fried colleagues, has certainly entertained and even inspired racing fans the world over.

"It's tough because with our sport you have sponsors and stuff, so you're supposed to act a certain way and be a certain person," explained Anderson of going about it all in his very own way. "I always had a hard time with that, so I think over the years I became a little bit more quiet towards the public. Yes, I do it differently. For me right now, I live in Laguna Beach and I ride in California and that's kind of rare for the 450cc class guys nowadays. A lot of them live in Florida. I did that, but I'm a West Coast kid. I grew up in New Mexico and I love being out here. I love the weather and I'm lucky enough and have done well enough for me and my wife to live in a very beautiful area. I work hard and I'll do everything I can, but there is a part of me, and I guess you could say my humanity, that I wanted to keep. I feel like we give up enough with the sport and I did the Florida thing for eight years and had that humidity and summer heat and all of that and I said to myself, ‘I'm going to get the job down here in California.'"

And what does the veteran racer hope to achieve come the start of the 2024 racing season?

"I would like to be a multiple race winner and I would like to think that multiple wins can carry me to more success as the years goes on, you know?" he said. "We have a new bike for this year and I think it's quite a bit better than our bike was last year and I think there are some areas where we are a little bit more comfortable on it. I also think the pace last year got raised from the year previous and I think we were having a hard time finding a setting to help me be on that pace. But with that said, last year, and even though it didn't go as good as I would have liked it to, I think I knew that I would still be able to be P1 on the board and I'd still be on the podium some nights and I was able to win heat races relatively easily. I know my talent and skill is still there. The execution of the main events was not there. And another thing too, I was having my daughter last year. It was kind of hard when you have that little life event. I was trying to race and I'd go to the practice track and I'd be worried about my wife being stressed-out with being pregnant. I didn't want to get hurt or anything like that. Right now we have our daughter and we are in a good place in life, so I think that is going to help and benefit me a lot.

"You know, I just did a two-year deal with Kawasaki," he continued. "To be honest, I feel like from the outside looking in, you wouldn't see me as too much of a social person, but any team I've ever been on, I can really get along with anyone. With Kawasaki it's a really good home for me because they support the way I go about it. I live in California and they're not pressing me on stuff and I enjoy working with the brand. So for me, I have a two-year deal and my whole goal is to be good enough to where they have to re-sign me for another two years, you know? That's really a big goal of mine and that's to be competitive and be one of those first-tier signing guys. That's where I want to be.

"Right now it is tough because I'm in my 30s and I'm having to change my way of thinking about how I ride my motorcycle," continued Anderson, looking over at his 2024 Kawasaki KX450 being tuned-on by Anderson's rock-steady mechanic Jason "Rango" Montoya. "It's not all about fitness. You actually have to have speed, talent and fitness. You have to have it all together. And I also think the bikes are getting to a level where you can ride them differently and faster and it's a change and I think you see that. It's an evolution. I've gotta go with the wave or else I'm going to be left behind and I'd love to be a 30-year-old that isn't left behind and still be the cool old guy. I still love the sport and there is nothing else I'd rather do. My goal is to be closer to 35 years old by the time I'm done."