VOLUME 56 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2019 P129
There was even more dra-
ma earlier this year with the
downfall of the AMA Enduro-
Cross Series. That must have
been disconcerting.
Yeah. Obviously with Enduro-
Cross not being around it would
be a bummer because indoor
enduro racing is my main thing.
Not having it would leave me in
an awkward situation. Luckily
they were able to pull together
enough of a series, and it went
off actually really well. The
series had packed arenas. They
changed the format. I kinda
begged them to change it years
ago when I started racing Super-
Enduro, and they finally did it.
They decided this was the most
exciting racing they've watched
in the last five-10 years. And I
think they got a handle on it now.
Is the format you're talk-
ing about the three-moto
main events with the middle
moto having the inverted gate
picks?
Yeah.
Speaking of SuperEnduro,
you just announced that
you're not going to be com-
peting this year. What was
behind that decision?
Basically I wasn't offered to
go. My contract offer was to race
EnduroCross and then miscel-
laneous events in the U.S. and
Erzberg. That was my contract
offer and there wasn't any other
opportunity to do SuperEnduro.
I looked at it from both sides,
which I do all the time, and it
makes sense. On one side, I
would love to go back and try to
defend that title, or make right
from last year. That, for me,
would be the best-case sce-
nario. But also, on the flip side,
for the corporation I ride for, it
doesn't really make a whole lot of
sense as a company to send me,
a U.S.-based rider, all the way to
Europe to race a championship
when they already contract riders
in Europe who are capable of
winning that championship.
It's not ideal to not be able to
go, but there's nothing wrong
with a new challenge. It is what
it is. You gotta look at both sides
of the coin and be able to move
forward.
I get paid to ride a motorcycle,
so I think that's pretty cool.
Whether I'm racing in Europe or
in the States, I'm still racing a
motorcycle for a living and enjoy-
ing what I do and getting to hang
out with awesome people and
do what I love. How much more
could you ask for?
Speaking of new goals and
moving on, you sold the Haak-
er Hacienda this year! That's a
pretty big move for you.
Yeah, the Hacienda, as most
people know, is my house, my
home in Southern California for
the past seven years, and it's
kinda like it was a staple of mine
and who I was. I built my career
anything wrong because I just
raced. I don't know what goes on
behind closed doors so I'm not
too sure if there were any internal
conflicts. But on my end, they just
said, 'You raced as hard as I could
and the cards fell where they did.
You didn't have control of that and
you're the champion.'
