Trading in his kid’s bicycle for a sportbike, Chad Kagy, two-time BMX gold medal winner in the X Games, is preparing for his first road race in August at Virginia International Raceway.
Kagy regularly competes professionally in the BMX Vert and Mega Ramp classes, and is well known for his X Games gold medals in those two classes. About his unusual profession Kagy said, "When I was in my late teens people in my neighborhood would see me on my BMX bike and ask if my parents didn’t think I was old enough to have an adult-sized bicycle. They didn’t know about BMX and thought my family was too poor, or something, to buy me a bigger bike. Now that the X games are on TV they understand and think it’s pretty cool. And, for me, riding a BMX bike is a good way to keep from growing up."
To prepare for his first racing event, Kagy has been to a racing school and is taking part in the riding school at Miller Motorsports Park, July 23-24. Kagy said, "There’s nothing like dragging your knee around a corner. I like things to be exciting, which is why I do the 90-foot-tall Mega Ramp in BMX. I can’t wait to actually be in a race. I have Pirelli Rosso tires on my streetbike and from how they feel I’m eager to be using their race tires." Kagy’s first outing as a road racer will be at the WERA Cycle Jam, August 6-9, at VIR in Alton, Virginia, on his Yamaha YZF R-6 outfitted with Pirelli Supercorsa DOT tires.
A native of Gilroy, California, now living in State College, Pennsylvania, Kagy became a pro BMX competitor in 1997 and has competed in all types of BMX, starting out as a kid with BMX racing and eventually moving into freestyle, where he now competes in the Vert and Mega Ramp classes. He has been riding dirt bikes since he was a child but didn’t start riding sportbikes until about six years ago. Kagy said, "Woodward Camp is my life. It’s the world’s premier BMX training facility. Here kids learn how to ride, how to do what we’re doing, and I get full run of the place all year round to practice and develop new tricks. And we have fun and creative visitors, such as Travis Pastranas’s Nitro Circus TV show."
Will BMX training prove to be the latest hot ticket to winning road races on sportbikes? Will Kagy attempt a "Flaming Moe" passing maneuver on his race bike? The answers to these and other questions will be revealed at VIR, August 6-9.
