ONE PHOTO & ONE STORY: THE THREE AMIGOS

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By John Basher

You probably having riding buddies–fellow like-minded individuals who like sharing tools and a spot on their tailgate after a long moto. Consider yourself fortunate. At the same time, save yourself the embarrassment of celebrating your companionship by professing your love through Facebook, memes, or dreadful emojis. No one needs to know how you and your moto friends spend Sunday morning talking about gear ratios and compression clickers. Most people wouldn’t get it, anyway. That’s the beauty of having riding buddies. You are sharing in the enjoyment of something special. Best of all, for the socially awkward or quiet among us, conversation about motocross has a way of uniting all kinds of kinds. It’s beautiful, really.

Every skill level rider, from neophytes up to the upper echelon of professional racing, has riding buddies. Yours might be Jimbo, Donnie, Austin and Bernie. Mine are Daryl, Dennis, Scottie and Eric. Jody’s are Jimmy Mac, Crazy Dave, Fred Phalange and Monty Floyd (that is, when Lovely Louella lets Jody hang out). Even Ryan Dungey has riding buddies, although his inner circle is a bit different than any other. Why? He spends his days training and riding with Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson – two of the faster riders on this rock we call Earth. The Diesel, Movin’ Marv and El Hombre joke, laugh and prod one another off the track, but their relationship is not all fun and games. Under the watchful eye of trainer Aldon Baker, the three amigos ride as hard during the week as they race on weekends. Whether doing sprints, long motos, sections or starts, the three constantly push one another. I don’t know about your inner circle, but my riding buddies are either considerably faster than I am or slow enough that I can handle them on most days.

SOMEHOW BAKER IS ABLE TO PREVENT EGOS AND CUTTHROAT COMPETITION FROM POISONING THE PROGRAM. WHAT HELPS IS THAT, WHILE THE THREE RACERS ARE VYING FOR THE SAME THINGS–BONUSES, NOTORIETY AND CAREER SUCCESS–THEY VIEW BAKER’S PROGRAM AS GROWTH THROUGH UNIFICATION.

Baker’s Factory sits on the outskirts of Clermont, Florida, which is just outside of Orlando. Aldon Baker, the famous trainer to the motocross stars, has a deep and prosperous history of working with racers. Ricky Carmichael put him on the map. He has since worked with Ryan Villopoto, James Stewart, Ben Townley, Jake Weimer, Tyla Rattray, Ken Roczen, Gautier Paulin and Adam Cianciarulo, among others. These days he’s working exclusively with Dungey, Musquin and Anderson. Somehow Baker is able to prevent egos and cutthroat competition from poisoning the program. What helps is that, while the three racers are all vying for the same things–bonuses, notoriety and career success–they view Baker’s program as growth through unification. They swallow their pride and work toward the greater good.

In the photo above, Marvin Musquin (25), Ryan Dungey (1) and Jason Anderson (21) practiced a dozen starts while Aldon Baker dropped the gate. The start straight was several hundred feet long, and all three refused to shut off until it became absolutely necessary. As you can see from the photo, they were taking the exercise seriously. That will happen when three Supercross stars are fighting for the top spot. Yet they didn’t run one another over or knock the outside guy into a retaining pond just beyond the first turn. It’s amazing how a shared passion can bind people together–even the fiercest competitors in the sport.