VOL. 52 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 18, 2015 P33
GAGNE VISITS MOTOCROSS ROOTS
T
he 2014 AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Champion and current
leader in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Championship
Jake Gagne returned to his MX roots at the Utah National.
Gagne qualified 23rd for the 450cc field at Miller Motorsports
Park, although after practice he indicated that it was the roughest
track he'd ever ridden. In the first moto, he started around 30th,
and then worked his way up to 22nd at the finish, but he was no-
ticeably struggling as the moto wore on.
"It was pretty much all good, besides...well, shit, it was all good,"
Gagne said. "Just to be here, it's always been a dream of mine to
race a national. Lining up for practice was huge. That was really,
really cool. Like I said, again, it was a dream come true. I ended up
qualifying, I think, 23rd, so that was pretty cool. I got 22nd in that
first moto, which is awesome. I came in here with a goal of getting
close to a top 20 and I'd be really, really happy. We did that in one
of the motos. That was awesome.
"Unfortunately I had a little crash at Indy last weekend on the Su-
perbike and banged up my hip a little bit. So I was kind of nursing it
this whole week. I felt okay. It wasn't really bothering me, but then
in the middle of that first moto, how gnarly those ruts are, I caught
my leg and it twisted back. Just kind of flamed up that old injury
that I had last week. So we made the call to just not go out in the
second moto."
Gagne said he learned a lot and really hopes he can do it again
next year, applying what he learned in his first-ever AMA National
MX event.
"You can't leave the roots," Gagne, a former Loretta Lynn's 65cc
champ, said. "Motocross is in my roots. That's what I grew up do-
ing, so it's in my blood. I sure hope I can maybe work something
out to come out to some next year."
Steve Cox
Mitas
Motorcycle
Business
Unit,
Savatech
d.o.o.,
Škofjeloška
cesta
6,
4502
Kranj,
Slovenia
Flat Track Tire
H-18
Distributed By:
www.durelleracing.com
www.motorace.com
www.mitas-moto.com
Road racer Jake
Gagne qualified
and finished just
outside the top 25
(in the first moto) at
the Utah National
Motocross.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
STEVE
COX
