Kelley: “Three Years of Injuries, Which is Brutal and Annoying”

There has to be a little bit of like, “I don't want this kid on a 250 from the back row beating me.” So, does that put you in a different mindset when you go race?
I think so. I mean, anyone who catches you from a minute down is definitely a little demoralizing, especially if you're out there and you feel like you're going as fast as you can, and next thing you know, this person behind you has caught you! Definitely hard to grasp, but at the same time, I have a lot of respect for him and the top four or five guys in the XC2 class. Luckily, our off-road racing sport and series has gotten very professional over the last few years. So, for me, I just respect what they're doing. When they do beat me, you know, obviously I'm not happy about it because I don't want to lose to anybody, but it's not like I'm ashamed of it. I know that they're on good bikes, they're good riders, I know what they're doing essentially during the week. I think it's just the evolution of the sport, which is awesome. There are so many rides out there nowadays. They're still not enough for the number of good riders we have, but overall, I think it's cool. I'm not one to really think on it or dwell on it much.

I would like you to compare this championship with ‘21 when you battled with Stu Baylor and how it came down the last round again.
I think the first one was a little sweeter. It was an intense battle for sure with Stu and I. It was my second year in the XC1 class and my first year I had an injury in the first part, so it was really my first full year, so I was like learning so much throughout it. I was just super proud of how I handled that also with that being like the first year Kailub wasn't there, so it was kind of like, KTM's looking for the next guy to fill his shoes, and I felt like I was able to do that that year. The fact it came down to the last round, and it was like a crazy monsoon mudder and Stu and I were battling. A guy like him who was in the class for a decade or so, for me to be battling with him and get the job done was super cool. Then this year, after all the injuries, I'm very pumped and happy with the championship. The only thing that leaves a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth is the fact that I'm not pumped on how I did at the last four races. Grant and I weren't able to battle it out at the last round. He had to pull off because of, you know, the head injury and stuff. I'm sure it sucks for him because he was on the verge of doing something pretty impressive. But he’s super young and it's good that he played it smart. You can't be messing with the concussion symptoms.

I would like you to tell the story of that final round at Ironman in 2021. Jason Weigandt says it's one of his favorite racing stories of all time. So yeah, tell us that what happened. He gave me some of the details, but I'd like to get it from your vantage point with Josh Toth and John Girroir helping you out a little bit.
So that whole day was kind of a blur. I was just so locked in, I guess! It was crazy monsoon coming in. I feel like if there wasn't a championship on the line, they would have canceled the race. It was that crazy. And so, we're sitting there in the pits. Everyone's geared up and it's just downpouring and flooding, and we're just waiting. We're like, “Uh, so when's the race gonna start?” It felt like we were waiting for hours and finally they said what time we're gonna start. So, alright, let’s go for it. I remember just being in the zone and getting a decent start, I guess, and Stu was in in front of me and it was like the second we entered the woods, he hit a huge water hole and it looked like his bike shut off, and little did I know, they weren't able to get his bike fired for a long time.

Finally, they did, but I’m just riding out there, I don't know if I’m fourth or fifth or so, I'm playing it safe, but there are other guys who are sending it and they're flying by me through the river crossings and just tidal waving my bike and stuff. I make it basically all the way through the first lap. I'm through all the hard water sections, and I'm about maybe 1 mile from the finish, and my bike just cuts off, and it won't re-fire, won't re-fire. I’m trying to get it to re-fire and I’m down in this little ditch. Josh Toth was behind me at the time. He comes up to me, and he just sacrifices his race. He just literally did it, I didn't even have to ask. Next thing I know, his bike is parked and he's running over and he's like, “Do this! try this!” He kind of has had experience with these types of things. So, we're working on my bike. We pull the air filter cover off, the air filter is just soaking wet, drenched. We pull the air filter off to try to give it more air flow, and we're trying to get the bike started, trying to get the bike started. Then we have it flipped up on the back fender trying to pour the water out of the exhaust and out of the air boot. We’re still cranking it, but at the same time, don't wanna kill the battery. Then we have it fully upside down, on the bars and the seat. And we’re pretty much in the track because it's so wet and slippery, and like I said, we're kind of in this ditch, so it was really hard to try to get out of the trail. So, people are still passing us, and we're like working on the bike and maybe about here is when Johnny Girroir, who was racing XC2 at the time, caught us and essentially just stopped and asked if we needed help. I was almost giving up at this point. I was like, it's over, but Josh was just like super positive and he's like, no, we'll get it going. So, we have my bike upside down, air filter off, air filter cover off, and we're like turning the rear wheel to turn the crank over and pump the water essentially out of like the air boot. We do that for a while and we're still trying to fire it, flip it back over, still trying to fire it, still won't start. We're like, alright, maybe we can see a clearing, and push the bike out to that field and see if we can get you bump started.

So, we like push my bike up there. I hop on the bike and Josh is behind me and he puts his foot on my exhaust pipe and he's pushing me, and I get into second gear, I try to bump start it. It doesn't work, he keeps pushing me. I try to bump start it and it's so muddy and slick that the rear tire won't grab. Then there's like this small patch of, Ironman in the parking lot where they use all this like crushed up like asphalt and stuff. So, there's like a patch of that where they're storing it. And we go over to there and I bump start it on that gravel, dude, the thing fires! And we're like freaking out, I'm just revving the bike to the moon, trying to clear it all out, just revving it, revving, keeping it rev to not stall it. I go back into the woods where we were working on the bike. I go to put my air filter in, which I probably threw in the mud. It's so muddy and dirty. And luckily there's this other kid, Will Stephen Piper, an A rider, who pulled up. He parked, and he's like, “Dude, just take my air filter!” He's like, “I don't want to destroy my bike. I don't want to race this.” And he takes his airbox cover off and his air filters like fresh, brand new. We're like, “No way.” So, I take off, I go again and maybe like five or six turns later, there's my mechanic! I'm like, you gotta be kidding me! And then I go a little, I go a little further and then there's Antti [Team Manager], and he yells at me, stops me, and he has an air filter. So, we changed the air filter and it's funny because then after the race, Antti’s like, “Your air filter was brand new!” I'm like, “Yeah, well, we stole it from another kid's bike!”

Next thing I know, I go through the finish line and I'm in like 94th or something. Also, I guess a funny thing, as we're working on my bike trying to get it started every Yamaha that passes me, we're like, “Was that Stu? Was that Stu?” We're all just like trying to figure everything out. And yeah, I guess Stu, they finally got his bike running too, and he goes through the finish like a minute or less behind me. It's just crazy how we ended up being like the same! I think I crawled my way back to like 4th XC 19th overall. Come the end of the race. And it was gnarly. The race was so crazy, like 50 people were dropping out. And you're literally crossing these water sections, these rivers. The last lap, I got off my bike. They’re like “you gotta get off your bike, we're pushing it through.” So, you’re keeping it running, and the water's rushing so hard that I remember one of the mechanics, Jamison from Texas, he like trips or something and he's underwater blowing bubbles and he's getting like drawn away down the creek and the water's so high I'm pushing my bike across that it starts floating. It's like the craziest thing!

Wow Weege was right, that's one of the best stories I've ever heard. Talk about training at Club MX and training with the Landers racing KTM Group also.
Yeah, it's cool. ClubMX has been really cool this year, definitely. I had pretty good expectations going into it, but it definitely exceeded them. The variety they have of tracks, the moto tracks, the sand tracks, no matter how much rain they get, you can ride a sand track. They're always really good about prepping something up. And then, yeah, they have the woods section where we have a few different loops in there. It's been good. Kind of refreshing too, something new, a different new place to ride was cool. Training with the Landers KTM team like with Grant, it’s nothing new. To me I feel like ever since I started riding for KTM and racing professionally, this is what we’ve done. My few years XC2, Josh Toth and I were battling for the championships and we raced together and trained together. It was a little bit different cause we've known each other forever, so, you know, we're good buddies and we don't have egos, so we kind of put it to the side, but I feel like everyone I've been lucky enough to train with is that same way. You know, battling, training with Craig Delong in ‘23 when he won the championship and with Johnny and, and now Grant, it's cool, it raises the level. For sure, it can be like a little bit weird at times, but I think for the most part it's really not.

With how successful this season was, was there a reason that you weren't on the ISDE team? Did they ask you? Did you just not wanna do it? How does that work?
No, I mean, I've, I would have liked to go, definitely, with it being my first-year comeback from the injuries, I still wasn't in a great place, you know, still struggling. And that's such a grueling race for 6 days, but I still think I could have done it, and, you know, I put my hat in the ring. I essentially told them, if you want me on the team, I'll go, but if you think someone is a better choice, go for it. And yeah, I went and I did a I did a sprint enduro at one point in April or so and didn't do the best and Cody Barnes, who they chose, had a really good ride that weekend. So yeah, he just earned the spot over me, but I would like to go, just need to do a little more training on that side. I don't race sprints and don't practice that style stuff like the cross tests. I'm good in the Euro test, but the cross tests are definitely a weakness of mine. So, if I do, depending on where the 6 days is, yeah, I just have to kind of brush up on those skills to get myself in the position to be chosen.

Listen to the entire MotoXpod with Kelley here: