Harley Factory Rider Brad Baker2013 AMA Pro Grand National Champion Baker on Factory XR750s in 2014The 2013 AMA Pro Grand National Champion Brad Baker has joined Harley-Davidson’s factory squad for the 2014 AMA Pro Flat Track season.
Baker, 20, of Eatonville, Wash., will pilot XR750 motorcycles for the Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Screamin’ Eagle Factory Flat Track Team. He now joins the ranks of other top riders who competed for the Harley Factory team in Flat Track, including Chris Carr, Keny Coolbeth, Scott Parker, Joe Leonard, Jay Springsteen and Carroll Resweber.He will compete in the 2015 AMA Pro Grand National Twins series aboard Harley-Davidson XR750 motorcycles prepared by tuner Craig Lager. Kevin Atherton, the 1988 AMA Pro rookie of the year, winner of 14 AMA Pro national races, and the youngest ever member of the Harley-Davidson Factory team, will also join the team as Baker’s riding coach and mentor, Harley reports.Following his 2013 title, Baker become the fourth youngest rider to achieve a championship. This occurred when his fight with rival Bryan Smith (Kawasaki) came down to the wire at the season finale in Ponoma, Calif.Brad Baker says: “I’m pumped to be joining the Harley-Davidson Factory Team. As a young flat track racer, it’s everyone’s dream to ride for this team and follow in the footsteps of so many of the great riders I grew up watching.“It’s a great honor to know that I will have millions of Harley-Davidson fans around the world cheering me on. I think we are going to work very well together, and I’m looking forward to bringing the No. 1 plate to Harley-Davidson next season and keeping it here for a long time.”Brad Baker Career Bio Courtesy of Harley:Baker won the AMA Pro Singles Championship in 2009 before moving up to the Expert Twins class and winning the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Expert Rookie of the year award.In 2012, he rode two races for the Harley-Davidson Factory Team as a substitute for injured Factory rider Kenny Coolbeth, before joining the Dodge Brothers Racing team for the 2013 season. Baker won two Expert Twins races this season riding a Harley-Davidson XR750, including the Pomona finale, in addition to earning the Grand National Singles title to claim his first overall Grand National Championship title.Kris Schoonover (Harley-Davidson Racing Manager) says: “Brad was a rising talent in 2012 when he rode two races for the Screamin’ Eagle team, but by winning the Grand National Championship this year he proved he is a star of the present and future, which makes him the perfect rider to lead our flat track racing program into the future. We have a lot of exciting plans for the program and Brad in the coming year, and we can’t wait to go racing.”
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
