It was nice to see plenty of young American talents in the Junior World Championship paddock at the weekend. Saturday didn’t exactly go according to plan for Braxtyn Mes as he had to go to the LCQ race but he was able to win that and then on Sunday he was very impressive.
9-6 meant he ended up sixth overall in the 85cc despite the deep heavy conditions. You could see Mes continued to improve throughout the weekend as he got used to the conditions.
We caught up with Mes after the event to discuss his weekend which you can read, listen or watch below…
GateDrop: Braxtyn, that is Heerde the Junior World Championship done and dusted. You had a longer day than most with making it hard work for yourself yesterday with the LCQ, but overall a really really good weekend for you. You must be happy with your progress from yesterday to today?
Mes: Yeah, it was really good. It was not the starts that I wanted with the LCQ that I did not want to go to, but we pulled out a ninth and a sixth overall, so I’m pretty happy about that. That’s a sixth in the world and I’m pretty happy.
GateDrop: I think you’ve been in the Netherlands for a week. How have you enjoyed that and seeing different parts of the world?
Mes: Yeah, it’s been awesome. We went to Belgium and a couple little towns. It was so much fun. I rode Lommel and yeah, it was a lot of fun.
GateDrop: You’ve been riding a lot of sand. What’s your thoughts been on the sand? Do you have anything like this at home in terms of how rough the tracks are?
Mes: Not close to my house in California, but it was something different. It was a lot gnarlier than Loretta’s, which is our gnarliest race of the year in the US, but it was a lot of fun here. It was, I would say more fun than the United States, a lot more jumps and just you have to focus the whole time.
GateDrop: Can you just talk me through your motos today? You had some bad starts, but you kept plugging away and came up through the field…
Mes: Yeah, in my first moto, I think I was in 17th or 20th and I ended up making a lot of passes to get me into 9th. It was gnarly. One kid’s bike was smoking and then a lot of people crashed. First corner crashes are pretty bad, but then in the second moto we had a worse start and we made it up to 6th. The first corner pileup was still there. There was a second corner pileup and then two kids took each other out over a jump and then I took advantage of that. Made a couple passes and yeah, it was a fun weekend overall.
GateDrop: Have you been outside America before or is this your first time outside America?
Mes: This has been my first time outside of America.
GateDrop: How do you find it all being outside America?
Mes: It’s way better. The food is better and the tracks are better. I mean, everything’s better out here.
GateDrop: Hopefully you’ll get to come again soon then?
Mes: Yeah, hopefully next year or the year after that, but we’ll have some fun.
GateDrop: What are your plans for the rest of the season now in America?
Mes: We will be going to Loretta’s in two weeks and then after that we have got to figure out what we’re doing next.
GateDrop: What are your goals for Loretta’s?
Mes: Hopefully to win. I’ve been pretty good this year, but if not, just be up there, have good starts and have fun.
GateDrop: Racing here, a lot of new competition. What was it like racing against riders from all over the world and different nationalities?
Mes: Well, it was different because I didn’t know any of them. I only knew my teammates, but yeah, it was a lot more fun. I got to see how people ride and all that. The riders are way more aggressive here, but it’s all good.
GateDrop: In the future, would you maybe consider coming and racing EMX? Maybe not a full championship, but a selected round or something?
Mes: Yeah, it’d be really fun.
