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104 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY.29.16
DAKOTA TEDDER
Dakota has been working hard this year pre- paring for the 250 East Coast season. He is expected to be one of the privateers putting the bike in the Main Events in 2016. At the beginning of the year, Tedder was originally scheduled to ride the 250 West region but decided to hop on a 450 to gain some experi- ence. He was able to get into the Main with 15 or more factory riders at Anaheim II, which not many 450 privateers can say they have done. With this extra boost of confidence, Dakota is ready coming into Atlanta. We were able to catch up with Dakota Friday night, heres what he had to say.
Q: First off, where are you from, how old are you, and how many years have you been racing pro?
A: I’m from Surfside CA, I’m 24 and I’ve been pro for 5 years.
Q: How has the experience in the 450 class been? What does that do for you coming into the 250 class?
A: The 450 class was an awesome experience, I was planing on doing the 250 West and one week before A1 I decided on giving myself more time and doing the east. The team said
to ride 450 West and the week before I jumped on my 450 and felt pretty sweet so I raced and couldn’t be happier with no preparation for that class. I guess we will see here real soon if it was an advantage or not but with me having missed a year due to injury I think it was very good for me, getting those extra gate drops.
Q: Are you confident in your equipment?
A: I’m very confident in my bike, I’ve only had a few DNF’s in my whole career and they were all weird incidents.
Q: What injuries were you dealing with last year?
A: I broke my 5th metacarpal and had 3 surgeries on it, 10 months from start to finish. It was considered a nonunion so the bone partially died and had to make a new hand bone out of my hip bone. It shouldn’t affect my 16 season at all!
Q: What are your goals coming into Atlanta ?
A: Well, with last year off not really sure where I’m going
to end up on a good or bad race, but I definitely want to
be in the race, as that may sound weird, I don’t wanna be just filling a spot in the Mains. So, no matter what place I’m in, a goal of mine is to always be charging and ride to my capability, whether I’m moving forward or trying to learn off someone faster than me. My greatest finish is a 10th in 2014 so anything better than that I’ll be stoked on!
Q: It seems like you have some good people behind you, best of luck to you!
A: Thanks dude, appreciate it.
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