Photo by: Hoppenworld
These “Privateer Showcase” presented by Race Tech Suspension at MotoXAddicts are interviews telling the stories of the guys in the trenches week in and week out just trying to chase their dream of racing in Monster Energy Supercross. While the riders at the front of the pack get the money, the T.V. time and the glory that goes with it, there’s a huge pack of kids just hoping to become regulars in the main events. This week’s “Privateer Showcase” rider is one of those guys.
This week’s privateer showcase features an interview with Team Chiz’s Kyle Chisholm. The Floridian joined the Monster Energy Supercross circuit as a 250SX rookie back in 2006, and in 2009, just when it looked like he might be breaking through in the 250SX class, he got the chance of a lifetime: getting signed as James Stewart’s teammate on the San Manuel Yamaha to race the 450. For a privateer 250SX rider, it had to feel like an incredible opportunity, but nobody told him if he finished in the top-twenty in points his 250SX career was essentially over. Kyle went on to finish sixteenth in the 2009 450SX Championship, and under the rules, he was now a career 450 guy. Unfortunately, while finishing sixteenth is good enough to end your 250SX career, it was not good enough to score him any big team 450 offers for 2010. So with that 2009 dream ride and some bad advice, Kyle essentially went from a 250SX rider on the verge of breaking out to a struggling 450 rider.
Even with that, in 2010, Kyle did score a ride with the MotoConcepts squad and moved up to finishing 10th in the 450SX Championship, earning himself the permanent #11. Since then, Kyle has had his issues with injuries and with jumping from privateer satellite teams to doing it on his own dime, but the man has no quit in him and his friends, family and long term sponsors always seem to have his back. Year in and year out, employed or unemployed, the #11 gets himself and his wife Britney to the races, and year in and year out, he is always in the fight. Kyle is one of the most likable riders in the pits, and now in 2015, with the help of friends like professional golfer Ricky Fowler, family, and select sponsors, Kyle and his wife Britney have formed Team Chiz.
We gave Kyle a call to talk to him about Team Chiz, how 2015 has gone so far and about his career as a whole. You can check out that interview with Kyle below.
Kyle, what have you been up to lately? You’re back in Florida now, right?
Yes. We just got back to Florida from Dallas. I’m kind of happy to be back home, back in Florida and all that. Just been really busy. Doing my own program, my own little team this year. It came together really late so that kind of made everything a little tougher. I literally didn’t get a bike until like a week before Christmas, and that’s when I was able to start making phone calls and doing stuff. So everything came together really late. It’s been pretty hectic the last couple of months trying to just get sponsors nailed down and kind of figured out. Keep trying to test and make the bike more comfortable, ordering stuff and talking to people. Normally when you’re on a team, you train and ride and show up ready to go. You’re not worried about the way a logo looks on your graphic or making sure you have graphics for the weekend or talking to seat companies and wheel companies and handlebars, chains and sprockets and clutches, making sure you order all that stuff and have what you need. It’s a lot to take on and deal with, but I enjoy that part of it. I enjoy managing stuff just in general, so it’s been good. It’s just been tough with the time that I have to do everything. So it’s been definitely really busy. I’ll put it this way – I normally like to golf at least like once a week, even during the season and maybe a couple two, three times a week during the office season, and I golfed one time since my birthday which was the beginning of December. So I played one time since then, and it wasn’t even 18 holes. So, yeah, been busy.
Last time I looked there’s not even a sponsor listed on the official results sheets. We know FELD’s not worried about that, but what would you call your team?
Yeah, I don’t know why they don’t have anything on there. We’ve been trying to get them to change it, but they haven’t. At one point they actually had me on a KTM as well which I’ve never raced a KTM before. We’re really just calling it Team Chiz. We were thinking of names, what we should call it. I was like should there be Kyle Chiz Racing or Chiz Motor Sports or 11 Racing, stuff like that. We were just like everyone always says Chiz, all the fans and people like that. So we’re like just do Team Chiz, and then I had a buddy of mine come up with my little logo. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it says Chiz with a number of 11. The “I” is the number 1 and then part of the “H” is like a number 1. So we went with that, just used that as the branding of the name Team Chiz and ran with that.
Is Team Chiz something you maybe want to grow for the future or just something you’re doing to get you to the races this year?
Kind of both. Kind of backing up a little bit, I had talked to a few teams. Obviously I was talking to everybody that I could, trying to put something together, get a ride on a good team, but it’s been really tough this year as there are quite a few good guys that didn’t really have anything coming into the year, like Josh Hill, Jake Weimer, Brett Metcalfe, myself and quite a few good guys that were left out. Obviously things have kind of worked themselves out and they have places, but they’re probably not places that they would have wanted. Like Weimer, I think, has a good deal with the Team Tedder, but if you told him he was going to go from Factory Kawasaki to Team Tedder — not that his team is bad or that he doesn’t have a good bike or anything, but just the thought of it — you wouldn’t really think that would be a move that somebody like him would want to make. So a lot of us had to kind of go that route and do something like that. I was talking to teams, but I wouldn’t be getting paid a salary. I’d be riding their bike, maybe get my expenses paid but riding their bike and using their parts and locked into a deal with them and not getting paid and not doing my own gear, stuff like that. Do I settle for something like that and make it easy to race or would it be possible for me to put my own deal together? Obviously financially it needs to make sense where I’m not spending more money than I’m making or much more at least. Can I break even? What can I do? So when it came down to that it, why lock myself into something that isn’t any better than what I could do on my own? I’m using the stuff I want and doing it my own way, and maybe that can grow into something bigger for next year. That’s obviously in the back of mind and that’s what I’m aiming for, but also if this can catapult me to a fill-in ride this year, that’s obviously on the table. It’s a risk or gamble, doing my own thing, but’s been going pretty well so far.
Hypothetically, if the rules changed, do you think you could have gotten a good paying ride in the 250 class?
Honestly, yes, I do think so. That’s one thing that’s been frustrating for me for really my whole career. Again, I’ll back up. I only rode two years of supercross in the 250 class and neither of those years I never pointed out. I got the opportunity to ride for San Manuel in 2009 which was only my third year doing supercross. So after only two years in the 250 class I obviously took that opportunity on a good bike and a good team. I think I got 13th in points or somewhere around there which was not bad for my first year in the 450 class. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I did more supercross races that year than I did my whole life up to that point. I learned a lot, but the downside to that whole thing was because I got top 20, which I guess I should have done my own research. I was told by a team member that it was the rule that if you get top 10, you have to stay in the 450 class, and at the time if I get top 10, well then I deserve and should stay in the 450 class, but if I don’t I always have the option to go back. Well, again, I should have done my own research. I got top 15 and ever since then I’ve never been allowed to go back to the 250 class ,and that very next year going into 2010, I didn’t have a ride. They wouldn’t let me go back. They changed that rule for a few guys. They may not say it was for a few guys, but they did change it to help some guys out on teams back in those years when they were making those rule changes, and I asked them to change it to top 10 or doing something to allow me to go back. Which again, just to answer your specific question, I had offers from two different teams to be paid a salary, ride for the team that I had to say no to, and I had to turn around and just spend my own money and race the 450 class.
I’m like you in the sense that I’m not against anybody riding the 250 class. I hear Martin Davalos catching shit all the time, but if anyone had his choice to move up to 450 for little to no salary or stay in 250 class and make great money, I doubt they would move up to 450.
Exactly. With Martin, he turned pro a year before I did, and he’s still in the 250 class. Again, I’m not against that at all. Awesome for him, more power to him. Like I said, it’s professional racing. Guys are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to race that class. So you look at Martin, he did a couple west coast 450 races this year for the first time and I beat him at the one that he raced. It’s one race; it is what it is. He was a main event guy, but he wasn’t even the top 10. But he can go to the 250 class, and top 5 or top 3 guys get paid six figures and make good money. So why should I not be allowed to do that?
How are you getting your bike from race to race?
I have my own rig, my own truck. It’s my dad’s motorhome and trailer that he uses for my little brother, so I stole that from them and my dad’s letting me use it. That’s obviously helping me quite a bit, but I still have to put fuel in it, get it around the country and all that.
Who’s driving the rig for you from race to race? When you’re going Santa Clara to New Jersey to Las Vegas, who is driving the bike back and forth?
My mechanic Mikey. He’s a good guy. I’ve known him for few years and he wanted to do it. He wanted to get back into professional racing and do it. So he’s driving and mechanic-ing for me for all the races. It’s definitely a lot of work on him, but obviously it’s helping me out quite a bit. I rode in the motorhome from Dallas and then from Dallas back to Florida. Obviously I’ll drive up and back to the Atlanta races, and then it’s Daytona, and then from there out I’ll be flying to the races and he’ll stay on the road. Having a place in California and staying out there for the west coast stuff, I haven’t had to fly to the race at all this year. I rode in the motorhome to Phoenix and out to California and up to Oakland and all over California, and I rode in it back to Dallas and back here to Florida. I’m really only going to have to fly to seven races I think. Just trying to cut as much cost out of the budget. I would have liked to have just flown to Dallas and flown home and ridden three days and trained and all that. It is what it is. I’ve got to draw the line at some point and save where I can and save that money for the flights for the east coast.
So far, you missed A1 due to motorhome problems, obviously, but then you went on a streak and made four main events in a row. I think you’ve finished something like 13-13-14-16, which is solid. How do you feel about your season so far?
It’s good. When I’ve been in the main event, it’s been pretty good. I honestly haven’t ridden to my best ability I don’t think. Whether I would finish better or not it’s hard to say, but me personally, I haven’t ridden to my best ability yet this year. A lot of it I think is just bringing it to the race and then also just getting comfortable with the bike. We’ve been testing stuff nonstop — not a ton of stuff but little things, trying to get me more comfortable. I was on a Yamaha all the way up until a week before Christmas so just getting time on the bike, seat time, getting used to what the bike does, how it reacts, how it turns, how it jumps, just everything. So it’s getting better each week, every time I ride. That’s been good. I wasn’t happy with any of those results from a personal standpoint. I could have done better. If you had told me before the season started that that’s what the results would be, considering how late everything got together, doing my own thing and being on a new bike, I would be pretty happy with that. I definitely have more in me. I think I could be top 10 which is what the goal is, what I think I should be if I ride to my ability and get a good start.
I think you definitely can be inside the top-ten, but it’s deep. Last weekend in Dallas was the first main event you missed, and if not for a run-in with Nick Wey on the last lap, you were in.
Yeah, last weekend Dallas was a bit of a bummer. I made a mistake in the semi. I think I would have made it out of the semi, but Tickle got back past me, so I missed it by one. Then in the LCQ again, I made a little mistake and [Josh] Hill got by me, so I was fourth which was okay and I just made a rookie move. I let Nick Wey come inside me and he cleaned me out there before the checkered flag. I was definitely a little bit bummed at myself for that one. I thought I heard him going to the outside, and I found myself stuck, just outside of Hill and [Kyle] Partridge who were in front of me, trying to get into the inside rut and I thought I heard Nick going to the outside. I was not too worried about it. I was just thought, “keep my line, get in and out of the rut quick and don’t let him go around me,” and I had those guys right in front of me in my way. I was just behind them, and like I said, I thought I heard Nick going around me outside. Next thing I knew, I was getting cleaned out from the inside. I thought I had it protected because I thought Nick was going on the outside. I made a mistake. I should have blocked off the inside a little bit more. Like I said, rookie move, my mistake. I’m pretty bummed at myself, just because qualifying is the hardest part of the night. Once I get into the main, I train and work to do 20 laps and do good in the main events. There are some guys that make it in the main events in a short little four-lap race, but then they don’t have 20 laps. They’re riding around halfway through the main, pulling off or riding around. There are a few guys that do that. It’s frustrating because when I make a stupid mistake like I did this weekend, I put myself out of the main and I can’t go do what really counts. The main is the only event for the whole night that counts. So I was definitely a little bit bummed at myself.
You weren’t giving that spot up easily. I think the reason you went down was because you fought so hard to keep the spot.
As soon as I realized he was inside of me — and I felt his front wheel literally was on my arm — as soon as I felt that, I tried to lean over on him. Being a veteran or doing my time in racing, I kind of know what to do most of the time. As I felt him actually hit me and realized he was inside of me, I tried to lean over on him and sometimes that will make them have to back out of it and maybe he hits me and I bounce off of him and keep going, but being the veteran that he is, I leaned in on him, he didn’t let off and kept gassing it into me. Neither one of us were letting go, and unfortunately, I got the shorter end of the stick and ran out of track and into the tough blocks.
It was like a battle of the two nicest, most liked guys in the sport in one turn. You definitely don’t expect that kind of aggressive move from Wey.
I wasn’t happy about it. A lot of my friends and people in general were kind of asking, “oh, did you go say something to him after the race,” “did you go yell at him,” “try to fight him,” or any of this, and honestly our wives are pretty good friends. I wouldn’t say that me and him are friends, but I talk to him every weekend I see him. Obviously I have respect for him and all that, and we actually normally park – like this past weekend we were parked right next to each other – literally within 5 feet of each other, and I went back to the pits and didn’t say a word to him. Obviously I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t say a word to him. He didn’t say a word to me. I don’t want to say that I’ll get him back; I’m not going to go out of my way to T-bone. I’m not going to go out of my way to take him out, but I won’t be as nice as I maybe would be the next time I pass him.
They talk about the class being so deep and making the main event being so tough this year. I think the biggest difference – and I think you might agree – is that in the past, once you made a main event, those 13th through 20th spots, you got a lot of guys riding around. This year, there’s nobody riding around. Everyone’s racing for every spot in 2015.
It is, exactly. I think you see that, because guys that can finish 15th one weekend and then go get top 10 or 7th or 8th the next weekend. Like [Blake] Baggett, he’s been riding really well. He got 4th this weekend, and then weekends before he’s 11th or 12th. He had a few top 10s, but like I said, he could get 12th or 13th one weekend and just this past weekend he gets 4th. He gets a good start, stayed out of trouble, puts in good laps, he rides really well and he got 4th. So I think it’s just the depth of the field, the depth of the talent just gets deeper every year, and it’s deeper than ever. Now there’s three or so guys that are hurt, good guys that should be in the main. So there’s a couple guys getting in here and there that maybe wouldn’t normally get in.
Before I let you go, can you give us a list of who’s helping “Team Chiz” in 2015?
Honestly, I have a lot of friends and family for the most part, but first I want to thank God for everything and my wife, Britney. My mom, dad, brother and whole family, my mechanic, Mikey, TeamChiz, Westfall Auto, RickieFowler.com, Pretty Rebels, Chaparral Auto Transport, Performance Tuning, Ohlins, TwoTwoMotorsports, TiLube oils, Engine Ice, Action Sports Canopies, FMF, Rekluse, Twin Air, Pro Taper, Dunlop, Matrix Concepts, Pit Posse, Dubya, UFO, XTrig, ARC, Works Connection, TMDesigns, CP-Carrillo and MXersForJesus.
Thanks for talking with us Kyle and good luck the rest of the year.
No problem. Thank you.
