VOLUME 56 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2019 P133
ship, winning that was awesome.
Every championship has its own
story and its own challenges.
This one was no different. It felt
good to collect another one and
now be a three-time national
champion and a three-time world-
champion. Six titles in four years;
that's pretty good.
I won the first round pretty
handily. Then I ended up moving
from the Hacienda, so the second
round I came in just a little bit off.
Taddy rode well and he won. Then
the third round, I just focused on
my racing as much as I could. I
only had a week in between so
I didn't have much time. Taddy
gained a lot of confidence and
momentum. And he's one of those
riders that once he wins, he's
kinda deadly. He gets that confi-
dence and he's really difficult.
I knew the final round was go-
ing to be tough, but I did what I
had to do and won. And I didn't
have any teammates at this one so
no one can fault me. [laughs] CN
step away, and if you just have
perseverance and continue to
dedicate yourself, you most likely
can achieve it. I feel like that was
the message of the movie.
Another unique aspect of
the movie was the theme of
confronting the fear. That's
a side of racing that people
don't see from the outside.
That was real. In that year [of
filming in 2018], I was already
starting to have that feeling of
what the Hacienda was—like a
hindrance and convenience.
Racing was the best thing and
the worst thing. Like you love
to ride a motorcycle, but racing
can be a nightmare. Expecta-
tions can drive you to just want to
stay in bed all day. They can just
eat at you day and night. Every
racer has to deal with it. Every
sports athlete goes through it. No
one's impervious to it. I hope that
people understand that message.
The 2019 AMA EnduroCross
Series was a short one, but tell
us how it went.
The EnduroCross champion-
baby on the way.
Bang, bang! Just get it done!
Your movie "Rare Exception"
came out this year. How has
that been for you?
I'm still halfway in the hole on
that one. [laughs] I don't think
movies are a big money maker
nowadays, unless you're making a
really famous movie. But that was
a fun project. Most of the filming
that went into that was in 2018 and
then it came out early 2019. But
that was one of those things that
was a challenge [for me]. I made
so many videos that were vlogs
and I wanted to make something
that was longer lasting.
The movie starts with me as a
kid doing what I love, and my dad.
And then you see the highs of me
winning and you see the lows of
me losing or crashing. It's really
about pursuing your dreams.
I just had a talk at the FIM
Awards Gala with the FIM youth
world champion. He's 20 years
old and he was sitting next to me
eating dinner and he said, 'This is
just crazy. I can't believe I'm sitting
next to you right now.' I was like,
'What do you mean?' He's like,
'Man, it's just so cool where I've
already gotten on dirt bikes.' I was
like, 'Yeah, I was a kid hanging on
a fence watching a Geoff Aaron
trials show and then two years lat-
er I was in his trailer traveling to a
race with him.' That's how it goes,
right? And that's what the movie
was about. You feel far away from
it, but you're really not. You're one
Haaker heads for the win in Boise, where he clinched the the EnduroCross championship.
