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but fortunately Gage proved to be not a real crasher, y’know. He never got carted out in an ambulance at one of my events, so I didn’t have to split or anything like that. I think Gage learned a lot literally by sitting on the sidelines when he was eight or nine years old; he just soaked it all in. Now he does a little more teaching to me when it comes to the riding than I
can give him, but it’s changed now that he’s on his own and has kind of figured things out, so he doesn’t need me. But it’s encouraging when I get phone calls or a text message when he’s at a race and I can tell he’s looking for my response or some feedback to give him the peace of mind he’s looking for.
You provide instruction for a lot of current and upcoming riders with the California Supermoto Schools, could you expand on that?
We do a lot less of that today in terms of the schools, but we’re still able to schedule something a couple
of times per year. We have a track at my house that Gage has been riding on since he was a wee lad -- literally, we’ve got three MotoAmerica kids out there today riding as we speak; Braeden Ortt, Jackson Blackmon, and Garrett Gerloff is out here too. We’ve got a place that we do a lot more private stuff now where we spend a couple hours with racers or even beginner riders. I think that we’ve learned as racers
-- being at the races, watching people ride, riding our- selves -- what an advanced rider needs compared to what a beginner rider needs for example. Gage is a big part of that and he gets a lot of cool opportunities
now because of his credentials that I might not get anymore (laughs), so we certainly do a bit of that.
Before the economy crash back in 2008, Supermoto made a big splash — being featured in X-Games, fielding big-name riders — it seemed like it would be the next big thing and then it kind of disappeared. In your opinion, where is the sport at now and where do you see it heading in the future?
I think we have a new audience. Fortunately, it’s still pretty strong in Europe and certain parts of the world, so that’s encouraging. I really do think we’re kind of rebuilding and recovering and it’s a slow process. I think Supermoto got hit particularly hard because it’s a relatively new discipline. Motocross, Road Racing, and Off-Road has deep roots and has been going
on for upwards of fifty years, so it didn’t take the bite out of it like Supermoto. But I really see two things: a new audience where we’ve got to sort of re-educate and it’s a chance for us to make some changes -- maybe having more dirt and not being afraid to have an all asphalt race once in a while. The bottom line with Supermoto is that it speaks to the skill of the rider and having the ability to respond to the different track conditions, jumping a motorcycle with slicks, and so forth -- it really brings the talent out. Guys like Danny Eslick will come out and they do it because it’s fun; it’s just not going out to ride your dirt bike, you get a little bit of all the fixes.
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