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VOL. 50 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2013
is more of an advantage," Baker
said. "Of course, being short is
kind of nice for being able to get
tucked in on the miles and having a little less weight, but when
you get some of these little horse
jockeys on a 450 and you have
to manhandle that thing around
a rough little short track or TT,
or even a rough mile like Santa
Rosa… I think any place where
you need some strength to manhandle a 320-pound motorcycle
with 100 horsepower. I'd rather
have a little bit of weight and
strength and height on my side to
muscle that thing around - rather
than the motorcycle doing it to
me. Of course, I don't want to
be six-three and 170 pounds because that would be a disadvantage."
As for being from Washington
and not Michigan? Well, your
heroes are different. Instead of
Scott Parker, you have Joe Kopp.
But there are plenty of racetracks
and plenty of talented racers to
battle with. Oh, and you don't
race on ice.
"I never knew really the history
of the sport, though I do have
a picture of me and Jay Springsteen when I won my first 85cc
championship. But I knew of all
the Grand National riders and
around here we had Joe Kopp
and he was definitely my hero all
the way through until I turned Pro
and started riding with him. He's
still someone who has always
TIME I
" EVERY LEG OVER
SWING A
A BIKE, MY OBJECT
IS TO WIN THE
RACE. I KNEW I
HAD THE SPEED AT
THAT RACETRACK
[POMONA] TO WIN
THE RACE. I KNEW
THAT I'D HAD THE
SPEED AT THAT
RACETRACK TO WIN
IT IN THE PAST AND
I WAS READY TO PUT
A CAPITAL C ON
"
CHAMPIONSHIP.
been really special to me. It's really having someone to look up
to and push myself to be like,
'Hey, I want to be like Joe Kopp
