MIKE BRANDES MIGHT BE DOWN, BUT HE ISN’T OUT

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mike Brandes, he can be characterized as a normal guy who has been racing professionally for ten years (since the age of 16) and has been through the ringer somewhat. Mike has been on relatively high profile teams, such as Chaparral, Primal Impulse and Moto XXX, and has seen his fair share of good days and bad. His breakout season was in 1999 with Primal Impulse, finishing seventh overall outdoors. Since then, Brandes has found himself fighting for a top notch ride with better equipment and backing. This last season gave Mike a glimmer of hope when the newly formed ECC Suzuki team was formed and Brandes was given a shot. Things didn’t work out well for ECC, and Mike was left without a ride after the Washougal round of the Nationals. We caught up with Mike to see how he was doing and what he has planned for next season.

MXA: Hey Mike, we just have to ask, what happened this year?

Mike Brandes: Well, I was happy initially with riding for ECC because Suzuki was the bike I was set up with. Characteristically, the Suzuki’s are pretty fast bikes, but my bike just wasn’t that good. It had to do with the motor work, it was like I was running a stock motor! Racing against the top guys in the world, you need a fast bike in order to compete, and I just didn’t have it. The team was very unorganized and didn’t put in as much effort as I wanted them to. Another thing was that I wanted to ride the 250 class outdoors, but for the first three rounds I rode 125’s.

MXA: Yeah, we were wondering why you hadn’t jumped up to the 250 class.

MB: After the third round, I jumped onto a 250 full-time, and even placed 10th overall at Budds Creek. It was great to make the top ten, but after that, everything seemed to fall apart. At Washougal, we were all told that ECC was no longer going to the races after that event, so I was left without a ride for the last three Nationals of the season.

MXA: How come you didn’t put something together for those last races?

MB: Good question, it was a matter of not really having enough time to throw everything together and get the correct sponsors lined up. It was unfortunate, because I wanted to go racing but just couldn’t.

MXA: What are your plans for next year with ECC out the window?

MB: Right now, and in the next few weeks, I’m trying to pull together sponsors. I guess you could call it my own project, where everything is in my hands, whether it be racing or taking care of sponsors or whatever. I just want to sort of control my own destiny.

MXA: Kind of like be the racer and team manager?

MB: Exactly, I’m sick of having everything out of place and unorganized.

MXA: This question has come up before with other riders, but what are your thoughts on the AMA?

MB: You know, it seems that money and the AMA always go hand in hand. The riders complain that they don’t get paid hardly anything, then again, nothing will happen if the riders don’t band together. Let’s just say riders who usually finish in the top 15 or 20 complain to the AMA that they should get paid more. Nothing will happen, because they believe the spectators come out to see the top guys race. We need to form a riders union or something that pulls all the riders together. If Ricky Carmichael mentions to the AMA that the riders aren’t getting paid enough, then I think something will happen. Otherwise, the riders are all stuck in the same boat with earning poor money.

MXA: That brings us to our next question, do you get burned out because of treatment like the AMA or just from racing so long?

MB: Nope, I’m not burned out at all. There isn’t any way I can get burned out, because I feel I’m always learning something from every race and season. For me, I just love riding and racing, it’s is simple as that. Racing motocross is not about the money, because to be honest with you, I could be making more money selling real estate, but would that be fun? Motocross is all about having a job that you really love, I mean look at all the perks! I can do something I truly enjoy, all the while traveling across the country and overseas. It’s just amazing to be racing.ÿÿÿ

MXA: What do you do in your free time?

MB: Just since last year, I’ve gotten heavily into road cycling not only for training purposes, but just because I find it fun. I’ll ride anywhere from 100-200 miles a week, and when I’m not racing on a weekend I’ll ride even more. I’m also getting into racquetball, although it’s tough to find people to play with.

MXA: We’ve heard of a lot of riders starting to play racquetball.

MB: Yeah, it’s just great not only because you’re getting a workout, but because sometimes the games are so close.

MXA: So sum up how you’re feeling about now and the next season if you would.

MB: I’m happy. I love riding and racing, and I’m just trying to put things together for racing next season. I might not know what bikes I’ll be racing right now, but I sure know that I’ll be racing next season!

MXA: Thank you very much, Mike.

MB: Thank you!