The Atlanta SX was an exciting night for Blake and the whole Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / WPS / KTM team. All Photos by: Chase Yocom
Since turning pro back in 2010, motocross has always come a little easier for Rocky Mountain AT/MC / KTM’s Blake Baggett. Blake scored numerous podiums and four wins over his 250SX career, but crashes and injuries got in the way of his Supercross successes, while outdoors, he was able to win a 250 AMA National Motocross Championship. This is also why two of his four 250SX main event wins and his only 450SX podium before Saturday night were all at the Daytona SX—but then came 2017 and the switch to KTM.
Since Blake got on the KTM during the offseason, everyone was talking about Baggett’s newfound speed, and we have seen it first hand over the first eight rounds. #4 was even the fastest overall qualifier in Glendale—something we’ve never seen from Blake—but it wasn’t until Saturday night in Atlanta that we saw that speed translate into a top five finish or a podium.
In Atlanta, Blake qualified fifth overall, and we got a taste of what was to come when he went on to score his first heat race win. In the main event, Blake rounded the first turn in third, passed Mike Alessi for second and latched on to Ryan Dungey’s pace. For a minute he was catching the #1, but by lap 15, his focused changed from Dungey ahead of him to Eli Tomac coming from behind. In the end, Tomac was able to get around Blake, but he held on for his first podium of 2017 and Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / WPS / BBMX / KTM’s first ever podium as a team.
After the podium celebration was over, MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom caught up with Blake for a talk about his night.
Blake, your first career 450SX podium inside a stadium [Blake did score a podium before in Daytona]. Third place tonight, it’s got to feel good?
Definitely, it’s good. It’s been a long run and I haven’t been up there. I’ve given it everything I had, but we put it together. Definitely good to feel comfortable on the bike and put everything we had together tonight. Good starts, good heat race, good qualifying times and we made it happen tonight.
What were your thoughts on the track tonight? Definitely a tough whoop section tonight and I noticed it was down to the concrete in some sections. It definitely got tough after twenty-some laps.
Yeah, it breaks down. Skimming the whoops is kind of obsolete any more. It’s good for a qualifying time, but in the main event, you just kind of jump through them. It’s kind of a bummer. I wish they could build them so they lasted and separate people. It’s been tough, but we definitely plugged away and tried to make the least mistakes possible. With the track deteriorating fast, there’s going to be mistakes that happen.
What was your mindset during the race? In the beginning you were able to keep Ryan [Dungey] pretty close and obviously [Eli] Tomac got you late in the race, but it was a great ride.
The longer it went on, it started to get a little tight. But just ’cause I hadn’t been up there and I didn’t want to throw it away or do anything stupid. I held my breath a little, but I’m definitely glad to get that one out of the way and ready to go battle with these guys again.
What did the team have to say to you after this one? Like you said during the press conference, I heard Forest [Butler, team owner] might of shed a tear. (laughs)
It was definitely cool! It’s exciting for all of us to be plugging away and we’re succeeding. That’s the goal: to succeed. We want to keep getting better and better.
It seemed like you had a lot of family here tonight, so that had to make it special for you. There were definitely a lot of people around you and it had to be special to share that all with them.
Yeah, just the team and the inner circle are all here. My mom’s at home, but she’s cheering for us and is the backbone of it all that makes it happen. Everybody else is here. My dad, my wife and everyone helping to make it happen.
Toronto next weekend. How do you like Canada? (laughs)
Eh, I don’t know. (laughs) It’s not the greatest place, but it’s alright.
Alright, congrats on the podium and thanks for the time.
Thank you.
