Photos by: Hoppenworld
During the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season, Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / WPS / KTM’s Blake Baggett had a breakout season in the 450SX class and he has carried that momentum into the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season. The outdoors season started rocky for Blake with a sixth overall at Hangtown, but he fired back with a third at Glen Helen and his first 450MX overall win at Thunder Valley last weekend.
Not only did Blake get his first-ever win, the former 250MX AMA National Champ made a monumental statement in the process. It was the kind of statement that possibly inserts the #4 as a title contender on the 450 now in ’17. In moto one, he picked himself off the ground in the first turn in around 30th place, and before he was done, he had passed the red plate holder, Marvin Musquin, and the championship favorite, Eli Tomac, and finished third.
With the confidence gained in moto one in the bank, the #4 got the lead early in lap one of moto two. Blake was passed by Tomac before the opening lap was recorded, but he latched onto the Kawasaki for seven laps in advance of making a hostile pass around the outside for the lead on lap eight.
“The goal was to do what he’s done to us many times, and that’s just break him,” Blake said in the post race press conference about passing and dropping Tomac in moto two. “That’s the bottom line. He’s done it to all of us a lot. I felt like today was the day to do it.” The California raised Florida resident was not lying; it was his day, and after “breaking” Tomac, he checked out to a 12-second win in moto two—the overall win with a 3-1 day. Blake’s post-race sound bite is bold, and the last scenario Tomac and Musquin want to envision is a boldly confident Blake Baggett outdoors. They know all too well what that couple possibly lead to.
After the press conference, I talked with Blake for a few minutes about his day in Thunder Valley.
Welcome back to the top step of the podium. It’s been a while since you were on the top step of the podium and your first ever on the 450. Congratulations!
Yeah, definitely. It was a goal for a long time to win the Lites class and then move on to the big bikes, but it’s a whole different ball game and animal. You can win on a Lites bike, but to win on a 450 is a lot tougher I feel. The other goal is to try and win a championship on the 450. We’ll keep plugging away, and if we have more days like this, it will be closer to within reach. You got to have days like this and salvage your bad days like this morning. We were down in first turn, came back to third, and you got to have days like that to get it done. There’s guys like the Ryan Dungeys, the Ryan Villopotos, James Stewart and all those guys—they were the best because they salvaged their worst days.
You talked about it a little bit in the press conference, but was the way you were able to go through the pack in that first moto surprising to you at all? I mean, you were working those guys. Did that surprise you?
I just felt good. I don’t know if I surprised myself or what, but I felt like I did on my best days on the Lites bike. The bike is working amazing right now, so it allows me to keep pushing things.
Does the altitude up here mess with you at all?
No!
With Dungey, RV, Stewart and all those guys gone, the 450 class is really the same riders you won your championship against on the 250.
The field is deep right now, and at any time you don’t know who is going to step it up. That’s why fans watch this on TV and come to the races on the weekends to see if the winner is going to be different every time, and sometimes a guy can get on a roll and get quite a few wins. The goal is to try to get on a roll. The more you win, the more the other guys want to stop it. They’ll put in that extra little umph just to stop you. It’s going to be tough each weekend.
How big is the support you are getting from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / WPS / KTM team for you mentally? You are the #1 guy, and it’s been a minute since you have been in that position. At Suzuki you had James, but here you really have a team throwing all their resources at you as well as the factory KTM team helping. Is that big for the confidence?
The team is so mellow, and there’s not really a number. We all get the same things. If we want to make changes, we all have the same options. But yeah, KTM is behind us 100%, Rocky Mountain and WPS have stepped up huge and their behind us. They’re behind us because they feel we can get the job done and win races. That’s what we need to do.
You have a week off this weekend. What does Blake Baggett do during a week off after his first 450 win?
I’ll probably drive some tractors. (laughs)
We have High Point coming up next. Is that a place you like? Can you keep this going?
I mean, I won there a few times, and we’ll give it what we got. If it’s enough, it’s enough. If not, we go for it at the next round.
