Racing

Bradley Taft's Day At Unadilla Motocross | MX 2016

Bradley Taft went 26-12 for 18th overall at Unadilla MX, check out his race day in photos here.

August 16, 2016

Bradley Taft made his pro debut this weekend at Unadilla after coming off a successful week at the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Amateur National at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. The Horton’s Yamaha Amateur rider made the switch to the Cycle Trader Yamaha for his pro debut. We will take you through Bradley’s day at Unadilla from start to finish:

Bradley Taft won the premier 250A class at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch last week by scoring a 1-2-1 on the Hortons Yamaha Amateur Team bike. Christina from the Cycle Trader Yamaha team contacted Bradley three days before the start of the Amateur National to tell Bradley to apply for his Pro license so he can do the last three rounds for the Cycle Trader team. The Hortons Yamaha team has a partnership with the Cycle trader team so the transition was smooth for Bradley to move over to the pro team.Photo by Rob Koy

Bradley’s pro bike gets prepped before the first practice at Unadilla under the Cycle Trader Yamaha tent.Photo by Rob Koy

In the first timed practice Bradley is followed by one of his training partners Aaron Plessinger. Bradley has been training with Gareth Swanepoel at South Of the Border with Webb, Plessinger and Harrison in preparation for the Amateur National and his pro debut. Bradley said that he was super uncomfortable with the bike and was only able to get a couple of timed laps in. Bradley turned his fastest time of 2:40.397 on lap 3 which gave him the 24th fastest time of the session.Photo by Rob Koy

After the 1st practice Bradley said the team went ahead and stiffened up the suspension to compensate for the ruts because the bike was standing up in the ruts and was just feeling too soft. In the 2nd timed practice, Bradley was able to improve his time with a 2:25.661 on the dryer Unadilla track. This gave Bradley the 17th gate pick in moto 1.Photo by Rob Koy

Bradley said that he kept stiffening his suspension after every session on the track to help go through the ruts. Here, Bradley takes an outside line in the 2nd practice. Bradley commented that the 2nd practice was much better since the track crew groomed the track and the track started to dry up from the earlier session.Photo by Rob Koy

Bradley said he got a decent start in moto 1 and was in about 10th place after the first turn, but unfortunately he crashed on the first lap and was almost in last place after the second lap. Bradley said that he fell over two more times but was able to finish the race in the 26th position. Here, Bradley takes the outside berm instead of the deeper ruts on the inside of the tree turn.Photo by Rob Koy

Bradley taking off one of the table tops after coming out of Screw You, the famous downhill / uphill U-turn. Bradley said that after the 1st moto he had the team stiffen up the suspension for moto 2 to help the bike from diving down into the ruts.Photo by Rob Koy

Bradley had to start on an outside gate for moto 2, ripped a good start and was around the 10th position after the first turn. Bradley made a few passes up to 6th place and was running with many of his training partners making it feel more like a normal day of practice. Bradley went down again and lost a few stops and was in 8th place on lap 4. Bradley said that he started to get tired around the 20-minute mark, fell over again and lost a couple of positions to 11th place. Bradley was able to finish the race in 12th place for a much better performance than the 1st moto.Photo by Rob Koy

Here Bradley powers out of a turn in the 2nd moto were he got to run with his training partners, Aaron Plessinger and Cooper Webb. Bradley showed the speed that is needed to run in the Pro Motocross class but he has to get use to the intensity and the longer motos.Photo by Rob Koy

Bradley Taft went 26-12 for 18th overall on his pro debut day at Unadilla Motocross. Bradley said that this track was the toughest track that he has ever ridden. He said that nothing can prepare you for all of the ruts on a pro track. Bradley admitted that the 30-minute plus 2 motos will take some time to get used to, but he believes the more time he puts on these tracks that he can adapt to these conditions. In the Amateur races, there is only Loretta Lynn’s that you go 20 minutes and the rest are short races. With him training and riding with Cooper and Aaron, Bradley thinks he will be in the race shape that it will take to run up front. Bradley wants to take the next two races and build on each before he gets ready for Supercross next year. Keep an eye on Cycle Trader Yamaha’s number 296 at the last two races of the 2016 Pro Motocross series.Photo by Rob Koy