PEAKS AND VALLEYS: JACE KESSLER’S PRIVATEER JOURNEY

Dedicated to a full season this year is none other than Jace Kessler. Coming from Michigan, Jace has been competing in the entire AMA Pro Motocross Series. Currently, he’s making his mark in the 450 class, holding a respectable 25th overall position. Jace has reached a new career high with his impressive 12th-place finish at the Red Bud National. He’s keen to continue improving these results as the season progresses. We had the opportunity to catch up with him for an interview to discuss his experiences and progress so far.

2023 WASHOUGAL NATIONAL // FULL COVERAGE

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JACE, RED BUD NATIONAL WAS ESSENTIALLY A HOMETOWN RACE FOR YOU. HAVE YOU SPENT A LOT OF TIME THERE IN THE PAST? Yeah, I live about an hour and a half from Red Bud. It was good for me this year. It was actually my career-best finish and career-best overall. So it was good, especially the last two weekends before that I had bike problems. I’ve had good speed this year overall. So coming in there, I really wanted to make a splash. I knew I had the speed and that I had good fitness; I just had to put it together and put myself in a good position. It was good;  we went 12th, 15th, for 12th overall.

DID THIS LOCAL CONNECTION INFLUENCE YOUR PERFORMANCE, PARTICULARLY AS YOU ACHIEVED A CAREER-BEST 12TH-PLACE FINISH? Oh yeah, I had a lot of friends and family come out. You know, pretty much everyone that I’m close with, they all live in Michigan. So that’s always one people look forward to, and especially because Red Bud is the most iconic race on the circuit, it’s pretty cool. A lot of people like coming out to the race and watching, so it’s cool having all the people there support me. It can be a little, a little nerve-wracking sometimes, but I feel having them there made me push. We performed, and I was happy to do well in the home race.

Jace Kessler navigating to an 18th-place finish at the Hangtown National, the second race of the season.

THIS SEEMS TO BE YOUR FIRST SEASON WHERE YOU’VE ATTENDED EVERY ROUND THUS FAR, AFTER PARTICIPATING IN A FEW RACES IN 2021 AND 2022. WILL YOU CONTINUE ON THE SERIES FROM HERE, OR WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE SUMMER? Yeah, for sure. I went pro in 2021. I did three rounds before Loretta’s, and then I did the last four after Loretta’s. Just get my feet wet realistically for the 2022 season. Going into the 22 season, I actually got hurt very first round of Supercross, which was my rookie year. So I missed a good half outdoors, or else I would have probably done the whole season last year. Going into this year, the plan is to do the whole series.  I need to be there every weekend and get myself out there putting in those good results. So, fortunately, I was able to have good sponsorships and good funding to make that possible to do those rounds. So, you know, if not for those great people helping me out, I wouldn’t be able to do that.

YOU’VE CHOSEN TO USE REVX OIL IN YOUR HONDA CRF450. COULD YOU DISCUSS HOW THIS HAS ENHANCED YOUR BIKE’S PERFORMANCE DURING A GRUELING 30-MINUTE MOTO? It’s cool because they’re a local company to me. They’re from Michigan, the Grand Rapids area, and I’m from Eagle, so that’s about 45 minutes from my house. They reached out to me during the springtime, and I jumped on board with them and have been working with them ever since, and you know, I gotta say, this stuff is actually really amazing. It keeps the bike running cooler. I definitely notice a little bit more performance in the low end of the bike than before. It runs a lot more clean and crisp. It’s good stuff. I don’t think you can go wrong with having it on your bike. It’s a win-win. 

Water pump troubles ended Jace’s weekend at the Thunder Valley National.

DIDN’T YOU HAVE ENGINE TROUBLES AT THUNDER VALLEY? I actually have a good story for that. At Thunder Valley this year, my bike blew up in the second moto. My water pump failed, and I started losing all my coolant; the bike actually ran on completely nothing for about 6 or 7 laps, and the bike was at 500-600 degrees, and the thing actually didn’t even technically blow up; it was just my stator that melted. A testament to it, you know, it works for sure.

BEYOND THE IMMEDIATE PERFORMANCE, HOW HAS USING REVX OIL INFLUENCED THE MAINTENANCE ROUTINE AND OVERALL LONGEVITY OF YOUR ENGINE? I definitely change it less, and it just keeps everything in the motor, you know, running clean, everything lubricated up nice. For us pros, like being so hard on bikes, you know, it’s good having that keeping your engine lasting longer. As a privateer, I don’t have the budget and the money to have multiple bikes and different motors and this and that. So anything that can keep my bike running longer like this is done is better for me.

SOUTHWICK WAS A CHALLENGING RACE WHERE YOU, UNFORTUNATELY, DIDN’T QUALIFY. WHAT ARE SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THAT EXPERIENCE? SOUTHWICK was tough for me. I actually had a tough couple of weeks leading into it. I had some family-related problems in California, so I’ve actually been going back and forth from California to the races during the week. It’s been tough, but yeah, I got to Southwick and just had some setup issues with my bike the first practice, and you know Southwick is not the place to be having setup problems for sure. You know, you pretty much the one practice because the second practice is so much slower, so I was out there and couldn’t get enough time in the first session and had to go to the LCQ. The LCQ, I put myself in a good spot though I would have been just fine; I came out of the start second and very first lap, about three-quarters into the race, I had someone hit me from the back, and ended up taking me down. So that was kind of all she wrote on that.

Overall, Jace has been progressing this season. Consistently pushing himself for better results.

YEAH, I GET HOW IT GOES. IF YOU DON’T GET TIME IN THAT FIRST PRACTICE AND THEN GET SENT TO THE LCQ, IT’S JUST LUCK OF THE DRAW, PRETTY MUCH. YEAH, especially there. You get all these locals and guys that just rip and show up and, you know, coming out of the other practices and in that first one. So if you’re not on it in that first one, it’s hard.

WITH MILLVILLE NOT BEING TOO FAR FROM HOME EITHER, IS THAT A TRACK YOU’VE HAD EXPERIENCE WITH PRIOR? I’ve only been there one time, and that was last year. That was actually the second round that we had raced, but I was looking forward to it.  The track’s really cool. I like the dirt; I like the town and everything. I’m excited for this year and ready to put in some solid results and finish this last half of the season.

2023 WASHOUGAL NATIONAL // FULL COVERAGE