During the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season, Blake Baggett was the breakout rider of the 450SX class on his new Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / KTM 450 ride. Blake scored just one podium in Atlanta, but his speed all year long was something we had never seen before from the former National 250MX Motocross Champion. Because Blake has always been better at motocross than supercross, most thought the #4 would be more consistently at the front during the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.

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At the 2017 Hangtown opener, though, it quickly became apparent that Blake was not quite comfortable on his new KTM outdoors. On a track that has been historically one of Blake’s better outdoor tracks, he was a non factor at the front and left the opener with a 6-8 scorecard for sixth overall. After Hangtown, though, the team and Blake went to work on making him comfortable, and the work finally showed in the final moto at round two.

In moto one at Glen Helen, Blake left the first turn buried in around 20th and climbed his way up to eighth before the end of the moto. In moto two, the Californian got a good start and we were finally able to see what Blake can do. After starting in second, he got to the front on lap five. Two laps later Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson pushed him back to second, but Blake would maintain a comfortable gap in second until the end. His 8-2 on the day scored him his first podium of 2017 and more importantly let him and the team know the changes they made pointed them in the right direction moving forward.

Blake was fired up after his first podium of the 2017 MX season.

After the race, Blake answered some questions in the press tent.

This is a cool day for not only you getting on the podium, but I believe this is the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / KTM team’s first podium outdoors. How does that feel?

I forgot all about that. I got the team a podium in SX too, so that was cool. It was good to start out at the second round and end up on the box. The first moto didn’t go as planned by all means, but in the second moto, I turned it around and had a pretty good day. I can’t ask for anything more than leading some laps. In that last one, Jason [Anderson] had a little more speed, but we had a pretty good pace and a pretty good gap.

 

I noticed in your interview after the race, some part of me felt like you were going to be ecstatic. It seemed more like you were saying, “Okay, time to go back to work. I feel like I have more in the tank.” Are you looking forward to going back east? I know you ride well at Mt. Morris and tracks like that. Do you feel like you can be one of the guys in the 450 class and dominant at the front?

I’ve done it in the past. It’s in there somewhere. I might have to dig through a few boxes and knock some dust off some stuff, but it’s for sure in there. I’m still getting used to the KTM. I haven’t had a chance to ride it outdoors that much and I’m trying to figure out what setup up is geared to me and what I like. In SX, I had it figured out and I was able to race with these guys at the end of the season and battle with them. It might take us a few more rounds before we can put up a good fight, but we’re definitely making improvements. I can’t take anything away from these guys. Marvin [Musquin] was solid all day, and Jason was on it.

Blake (right) and Marvin Musquin (left) gave KTM two spots on the podium despite the brand losing Ryan Dungey to retirement.

In that second moto off the start, you walked a wheelie down the start straightaway. I was kind of marveling at it. You did have that loop out earlier in SX. What’s going on with you and wheelieing?

Thank goodness I didn’t loop out. That would have been really ugly. I probably would have been missing the back half of my KTM if I would have done that here. It hooked up, and Doug Domokis [former Wheelie King] was a bad dude, so I just let her eat. I just kept her out there; I let her go.

 

Do you think of this track as dangerous?

The hills, either one way or the other. You either got to have it super rough so you don’t just coast down it, and basically you’re on the brakes the whole time and it brings the speed down. If it gets in the middle, you accelerate for the first few seconds and then you try to get on the brakes. It’s either better just completely gnarly rough, where you’re on the brakes from the top, or bone smooth.

Photos by: Simon Cudby

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.