INTERVIEW I AFT SINGLES CHAMPION KODY KOP
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the Nicky Hayden AMA Flat
Track Horizon Award recipient.
The very next year, he earned
Progressive AFT Rookie of the
Year honors.
But for as much as we all
thought we knew, 2022 still
proved illuminating and Kopp still
managed to be a revelation.
In some ways, Kopp's epic
Parts Unlimited AFT Singles
Championship run began with
the narrow defeat that con-
cluded his '21 campaign—a
defeat that sent him into the
off-season more focused and
motivated than ever before.
"The last round of 2021, we
were close," Kopp said. "We led
a decent amount of Charlotte and
went back and forth with Max
[Whale]. But I ended up coming
up short. Getting second was
cool; it was the closest we came
to a win all year long, and it's
pretty rare for a privateer to even
be up on the podium. So, in that
sense it was good. But obviously
I want to win. I'm a racer.
"That just fired me up for the
off-season. It made me hungry."
To transform the results, Kody
decided first he needed to trans-
form his body.
"I didn't take my training seri-
ously at all going into my rookie
season, transferring from ama-
teurs. As a result, we just didn't
have the stamina. I just kept
fading and fading, and the other
guys up front were just more
physically fit than I was.
"But after last season, my
training was pretty hardcore. I
had the goal—once we got that
win taken by Max—the goal was
to come out and win the sea-
son opener. So, we worked all
"I didn't take my training
seriously at all going
into my rookie season,
transferring from
amateurs. As a result,
we just didn't have the
stamina. I just kept
fading and fading, and the
other guys up front were
just more physically fit
than I was."
Kody hopes to follow in his father's
footsteps, Joe Kopp, and eventually win
a SuperTwins title. But first, he still has
unfinished business on the singles.
