BENNY BLOSS INTERVIEW: “I TRULY LOVE THE BIKE NOW, AND THAT HAS HELPED A LOT”

It’s actually pretty exciting being a Supercross fan. along with seeing the best in the sports battle for the championship, we get to see Supercross welcome some new brands into the series. Beta is one of these brands, with the Liquid Moly Beta race team. Comprised of riders Benny Bloss and Colt Nichols, the team may have begun the series near the back of the pack, but Benny Bloss has been on the move as of late, taking an impressive eighth overall at Nashville. which is where we caught up with Benny.

BY JIM KIMBALL

BENNY, CONGRATS ON YOUR SEASON BEST WITH YOUR EIGHTH AT NASVILLE. Thank you, overall, it was a great day. I felt good coming to the track, and everything seemed to work well. I felt I rode well, and the bike was good. I also had a good start which I’m pumped about. The first couple of laps were hectic, and I was shuffled around for a while, but was happy to take eighth!

OVERALL, YOUR RIDES ON THIS ALL-NEW BETA HAVE BEEN PRETTY IMPRESSIVE.  HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SERIES SO FAR? Pretty happy.  We started off a little rocky, very up and down the first couple of rounds but we expected that. I want to say maybe right around Daytona we made some suspension changes that were awesome, and I made very, very small tweaks every weekend since then. In some races I have not even touched a clicker. I have had that consistency with the bike of it being the same every time I ride it now – and it is good. I liked the bike at the beginning of the season, but I truly love the bike now, so that has helped a lot.  These last few races have been going well.  My speed has been getting better, my starts have been getting better and it is just time to finish in the top ten or more.  

Starting to get comfortable on board the new Liquid Moly Beta Team.

YOU HAVE RIDDEN BOTH JAPANES AND AUSTRIAN BRANDS, HOW DOES THE BETA DIFFER? All bikes are similar, I would say.  I will say that it is not too much like the Austrian bike or too much like the Japanese bikes.  It has its own feel to it. It is a steel frame, and the chassis works well. It has a good balance to it that I feel like some other bikes don’t have.  The starting point was good.  I was just trying to figure out those little settings that we liked.  Man, it has been awesome since we got it more dialed in.  

I HAVE READ REVIEWS WHERE THEY REALLY LIKE THE OVERALL POWER, AND HANDLING OF THE BIKE, PRAISING IT AS A GREAT BIKE FOR EVERYONE. Yes, definitely; the slogan for the brand is rideability and it is true for it.  I have not ridden a stock bike like the production version.  Obviously, we run different engines and whatnot, but my bike is good.  It is powerful.  It is not too aggressive.  It is smooth and controllable. A bike that is too aggressive could be great for one lap but for twenty laps it is going to beat you up. A bike that is too aggressive you are not going to be very consistent on it, whereas with this bike I am able to really hit my marks repeatedly. It is all I can ask for in a bike.

Benny had his best finish of the season which was eighth in Nashville.

BETA HAS HAD THE MXGP TEAM FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS.  DO YOU THINK THERE IS MUCH COMMUNICATION WITH THEM? Yeah.  I do think they communicate. I don’t know how involved the two teams are with communication.  I know in January when we were going through some stuff, they were talking about and trying to figure it out, but I am not super aware of how close the communication is.  

IF I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY THE TEAM IS RACING SUPERCROSS ONLY. YOU ARE SO STRONG OUTDOORS; WILL WE SEE YOU AT ALL? I think the plan right now is to do three of them.  I don’t have 100% confirmation on that, but I think the plan is to race three, somewhere in the middle of the series. So, we will get a small little break after Supercross and then get to do three. I am excited to see how the bike is outdoors.  I have not actually rode a full outdoor set-up on the bike yet.  We have been in full Supercross mode. As you said, I am an outdoor guy and I prefer the outdoors.  I wished we were racing all of them, but Supercross is really the more important of the two right now for us, so that is where we are at.  

With a new team comes a few years of building and Benny believes the progression is going faster than usual.

YOU MENTIONED GETTING INTO THE TOP TEN MORE OFTEN, WHICH YOU RECENTLY HAVE. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT HAS HELD YOU BACK FROM THAT? Getting familiar with the all-new bike has been one thing, but I have been known to be horrible at starts, basically my whole career.  My riding has been good for probably two months now but when you start eighteenth in this class, it is really hard to move forward. During the last break that we had, I worked with Brian White (Engine technician)on some start map stuff, and he changed my life.  I went from my start being around twentieth to the other weekend, where of the four starts I did, my worst start was fifth. So, it was crazy to have that drastic of a change, but we have been doing everything we can just trying everything to see what works for me. I am really, happy where my riding is at, so I feel like If I start near the front, there is no reason, I should not finish there.  

SO MANY PEOPLE I TALK TO ARE STOKED TO SEE A BETA RACING SUPERCROSS. DO YOU GET FANS ASKING YOU ABOUT BETA? Yes, it is always exciting when a new brand comes under the sport.  It has been a while since we have had new teams come in. It is huge for the sport.  Everybody wants to see more of that.  It creates more rides and jobs. I live in the Kansas City, Missouri area and we have quite a lot of off-road guys riding Beta’s. It was cool that I was able to get this opportunity with so many people I know already riding Beta. I think it is good for the sport when a new brand comes in.

Looking to continue building on this momentum Benny is going to finish the season out strong.

THE BRAND HAS SUCH A HARDCORE FOLLOWING. One thing I will say is when we first started posting about it, it was mixed fifty-fifty, about what people thought of the bike. Now, for the most part, every weekend, we have people coming up to talk about how great it looks.  I love the way it looks, and it helps to ride it as well.