Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542014
P108 INTERVIEW I 2025 AMA H&H AND AMA NGPC CHAMPION DANTE OLIVEIRA hare & hound would be. "After winning that, I thought, 'You know, I think I could do this; I think I'm up for it,' and I kind of stayed quiet. "I brought it up to [FMF KTM Team Manager] Timmy [Weigand], and he didn't think I was all too serious, but I bugged him a couple more times, and he questioned me on why I wanted to do it because they'd tried to get me to do it for five years, and I'd shut it down every time! "So, he was a little thrown off even asking if I could do it, but I kept bugging him. "I think it was Thursday before the race on Sunday, and he gave me the okay at, like, 4 o'clock, so I had to go to the race site out - side of Lucerne Valley, Califor- nia, on Friday to camp out and ride ar ound a little bit." Though defending series champ Zane Roberts beat him by over eight minutes, Oliveira's runner-up finish turned heads. The question was, could he do it again when it was dusty and/or he got a bad start? He proved doubters wrong by compiling an incredibly consis - tent first season in the desert with two wins and seven runner- up finishes to wrest the crown away from Roberts—his first time out—the final points a close 235- 231 in favor of the desert rookie. However, he claims he was confident the whole time. "I'm a racer, so I have high expecta - tions no matter where I go. It impressed me with how gnarly the desert is and the skillset involved in racing there because I've raced against fast guys like Zane in other series, and I know he's a good rider, but in the des - ert, those guys ride well. They read the terrain well, and it's a steep learning curve, for sure. "It's a crazy style of racing, I think, but pretty enjoyable. You haven't seen any of the course before; it's always changing. Sure, you're in the same desert the whole time, but some races you do 80-plus miles, so you're covering a lot of land, from flat-out sand washes, up over big mountain tops, nasty, rocky terrain—it's always different—pinning it across a valley then going to nasty, technical trail into the next valley. You've got to be on your toes, looking around—ev - erything's always changing. It's kind of exciting and something I've never done before. It was pretty fun this year. "It would've been cool to start doing them a couple of years ago and not put it off." The career span of an athlete, of course, is not infinite. At 25 years old, Dante Oliveira may be just getting into his prime, but racing at such a high level has no longevity guarantee. How does he see his future, especial - ly now that he and his partner, Carly, welcomed Vinny Angelo into the family earlier this year? Not surprisingly, he looks for - ward to the challenge, saying, "It hasn't affected my mindset so much. It's an awesome blessing! It's a new chapter, an amazing gift—maybe it changes me to be more of a man, in a way, and more of a provider rather than just having me race a dirt bike with [my] lady. Now we have a family, and I need to be a man and take care of them. "But on the bike, nothing changes. The need to win is much greater! "We have some strong racers coming up, which is even more motivation and a little more exciting to go race against them. Time will tell. I don't know. I'm going to fight for [every champi - onship] again next year, and we'll see what happens. I don't have a specific number on how many NGPC titles I want. Maybe I'll go and change up and do a differ - ent style of racing in the next couple of years—who knows?—if an opportunity arises." CN