Kensei Matsudaira: 14 Years Old, Racing in Spain, and Chasing MotoGP

Kensei Matsudaira is 14 years old. He has been racing since he was four. He holds multiple national championships in MotoAmerica, Supermoto, and Speedway, and he represented the United States at the FIM Speedway World Cup.

Now he's competing in Premoto3 in the Spanish championship, the same junior class that feeds into the Moto3 World Championship. He's doing it as a privateer with no factory support.

In this episode, we sit down with Kensei and his father Kuni to hear the full story. How it started, what it costs to race at this level as a family, and where the road goes from here.

This is an honest look at what it takes for a young American rider to chase MotoGP.

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00.13)
Well, hey everyone and welcome back to the podcast. It's great to have you all here again. Today I'm really excited and honored to introduce you to another young rising star here in the circuit racing scene in the U.S. Kenzai Matsudaira. Kenzai has been racing since he was four years old and over the last five years has been racing at the national level in the U.S. Three Moto America championships under his belt.

an AMA Supermoto National Championship and an AMA Speedway National Championship. Quite the accomplishment for someone that as of today is only 14 years old. He's also been racing full time in Spain since 2021. Four years now with race wins, podiums and even a runner up in one of the Spanish National Championships. The categories that he's been racing in overseas are Moto 5, Moto 4,

and a category called pre-Moto 3. Now, after pre-Moto 3, the next step for Kenze is to put his hand up to be considered for MotoGP Moto 3 series. That's a big step for any young, talented, ambitious rider. Now, one of the things you'll notice on this podcast is that I love talking to young up and coming kids.

We've spoken to Kayla Yakov, who is competing here in the US Moto America scene at the highest level. I interviewed Cormac Buchanan at the beginning of last year when he was right on the cusp of getting accepted into Moto3. Since then, he has been accepted into Moto3 and is competing super well as a rookie. And I was lucky enough to see him at Moto America circuit here in the US, the Kota circuit, which

is the host of the MotoGP rounds and Cormac did really well. In fact, he's earned points in every round now except for one. So Kenze, the thing I love about Kenze is he has shown to be very skilled across many categories of motorcycle racing, not just closed circuit racing. He has the mind and mental toughness of someone much older than him.

Speaker 2 (02:25.002)
He listens. He thinks. He's a thinker. And he just loves what he does. Now, of course, it's also helpful that he has an incredibly supportive family. His mother, his father, Kuna, he'll be on his podcast, his younger sister and a great set of sponsors who have gotten them a long way so far. But as you remember from my time talking to Cormac,

This is not an inexpensive sport. Following your dreams is one thing, but having the funding to do it is a completely other one. And these kids need all the help they can get to realize their dreams. And that's where I'm going to be asking you for your support, like we did with Cormac. With Cormac, we had a GoFundMe campaign, which did pretty well and really helped. We're doing this on our own accord as fans of Rick and I. And so if you're interested in helping Kenzay achieve his dreams,

then please donate to the GoFundMe. There's a link up here and I'll put it again in the description. Anything you can do to help would be much appreciated. And I promise you, you're going to see this kid go places and hopefully go places even faster. Thanks to all the support from the community who just love watching these races. So let's get over and have a chat with Kune and Kenzei and thanks again for tuning in.

All right, really excited today to have Kuni and Kenzai Matsudaira. And it's really awesome to see you guys here. Welcome to the podcast. As you know, we've been doing this podcast on YouTube for a while, but we're now actually on the podcast platforms too. So welcome.

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:13.122)
Yeah. And so where are you joining us from today, guys?

Right now I'm at home. I spend a lot of time in Spain, but right now I'm home.

Home is

yeah.

Yeah, well, that's true. looks like a teenage bedroom, too. You've got all sorts of stuff going on in the background there. think I see racetracks. see AMA.

Speaker 1 (04:40.718)
Those are my old Moto America trophies. And then my dad has a few comic books, Japanese manga, so he keeps them in my room.

Good on you, Dad. That's a lot of trophies up there for a 14-year-old, right? 14?

Yeah, right now I'm 14.

Yeah, and you know, obviously we just did the intro so folks know a little bit about you. But for those of you that might be hearing about sort of Kensei for the first time, why don't you give us a quick intro Kensei about who you are and Kooni, how you guys got started. Tell us who you are. Who is Kensei? What's your story?

I'm Kensei Matsudaira. I'm 14 years old. I'm an American, Japanese, Korean motorcycle racer. I started racing when I was three or I started riding when I was three, racing when I was four. I started riding with a CR50 and then I slowly moved up to KX65 NSR50 and then eventually I started racing at the national level.

Speaker 1 (05:52.962)
So the Moto America Mini Cup, I won the 110 and 160 of Bali Championship on my second year and the 190 on my third year. And I also raced in Spain. This year will be my fifth year in Spain. I've raced the Mini GP, Moto 5, Moto 4, pre-Moto 3. So yeah, I've been racing for 10 years now.

Wow, so you've been racing in five years now in Spain. That's amazing. And obviously there's a family of influence and Kuni, you and I and Rick, who will be joining us soon, we had dinner at Coda, went to watch the MotoGP and it was really also getting to know you guys a bit. Kuni, suppose for you, sort of taking it back to the beginning, how did Kenzie first get into motorcycles? Were you the bad influence on him or the good influence?

Yeah, definitely. I started riding like in college. Eventually got into track riding, bit of racing, and when Kensei was born, kind of switched to racing minis. I wanted to kind of explore the mini scene and see if that was something that Kensei can get into when he was a little bit older. So from the time that he was born, started doing some minis with

local organizations and as soon as Ken was you know kind of old enough to ride a bike when he was three he started riding and by the time he was four the local organizers thought it would be you know he was good enough to race so we did that he started racing in 2014 with M1GP one of the local racing organizations and we've been doing it ever since

And Kensei mentioned the Ovales, so you're racing on the Ovales too, right? I'm not sure everyone understands those bikes. I've read a lot about them. I've actually seen like MotoGP riders on them. So tell me a bit about those. Were they some of the smaller bikes you got started on or were they even smaller?

Speaker 3 (08:08.078)
You want to start it? Um, you know, like a really small dirt bike, like a CRF 50. Um, so, um, you know, it's very similar in size to like a PW 50, which is what a lot of the local motocross kids will start on when they're three, four or five years old. So we just put, um, you know, road tires on them, um, started riding at the local car tracks. Uh, when Kensey was four, he also started riding, uh, know, speedway flat track as well. So.

He's been riding dirt for 10 years too.

old. Most kids aren't even riding a bicycle at four. Were you riding bicycles first or motorcycles?

I actually started riding a Strider. Yeah, this little push bikes I guess I used to have a lot of fun on them. I don't really remember too much but I think I learned how to ride before I learned how to ride a bicycle

well okay that's that's that's a key nugget there because i've told my son and we we share some similarities here my son is japanese japanese american also and i told him you know in turning masters bicycle he's not going to be riding a motorcycle and i seven right now so i want to get him on a fifty that's that's cool so was in the blood and i'm guessing that what your dad still rides i'm guessing you're a bit faster than him now is it

Speaker 2 (09:37.09)
that set there.

hasn't written in a little bit. He says he says he's faster than me, but, yeah, I guess we'll have to see soon.

Not quite.

Speaker 3 (09:49.87)
Shit.

Only one way to find out, you know.

doesn't want to shame me, know, he doesn't want to like he doesn't want to

make you look bad.

Yeah, exactly. Make me look bad.

Speaker 2 (10:03.246)
That's good rivalry there. Now know also Rick is trying to get into this call with her, had some technical issues, but Rick Rayner, who I call the professor, is a pretty fast A-group guy, very fast A-group guy, doesn't race, he's older than me, which means he's pretty old. And so you and him sort of build a relationship as well, right? He met you.

at the California Superbike School I think and you guys actually did race and you kicked his ass right?

So we actually first met at a code race At Willow Springs streets of Willow we had the same superbike school coach James And I was there riding the NSF 250 and Ninja 400 So we are just out there riding together a group He has a really funny video of me passing him on me passing him

on the NSF 250 and tapping my tail. Yeah, and he had a great laugh. So, kind of kept in touch and yeah.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:17.678)
that's great and we definitely get a find that video on to go about that because the folks are listening you know tends to a lot of the technical interviews on the podcast so we're do another session with with can say which is going to be more around like clearly has got some talent but he's clearly learned a lot to for coaching and we want to understand that a little bit that'll be a really good podcast

So we talked about how you first got into motorcycles and how it was something that was already in the family a little bit. And we talked about your first bike. But at what point did you realize, and maybe you both realized, that this is kind more than a hobby and there could actually be a career in this for you?

So I think, know, Ken's been racing since he was four, doing a lot of local races and stuff like that. Still very much a hobby. But when Kensey was eight, we went to Spain to visit one of our American friends that had moved there, Christian Daniel. He's racing in the Red Bull Wookiees Cup now. But we spent a bit of time over there because Kensey and Christian were best friends since we started racing. And when we were over there...

can say got to train out there, see the racing scene and, know, over here, Ken say was always the youngest rider and always racing with older kids that were bigger, faster. And, you know, that was kind of his place, but over there, he saw kids that were younger, smaller than him going really fast. So he's like, okay, if these kids can do it, I can do it too. And that kind of, I think, was a bit of a, maybe eye opener or.

something clicked for him where he's like, okay, I want to do this more seriously. And I guess in 21, when Kensey was 10 years old, that was when we started sort of racing seriously in the Motor America series here, the national series on the Ivales. And at that time, Kensey has just started racing for American racing team. And that was sort of like a

Speaker 3 (13:31.416)
breakthrough year for Kensei where he was racing full time in Spain and also full time here in Moto America and he actually won the 110 and 160 championships in Moto America here. from there, I think it definitely got a bit more serious and we're like, okay, let's see what we can do here.

Yeah, mean, look, you guys are so humble. mean, he's already won a few titles as clearly developed a talent that you're generally either born with or not, think. So a lot of people I talk to, and James, you mentioned James, your coach, one of your coaches. We interviewed James and we talked a little bit about writers that are intuitively great versus

those that need to be taught. And there's not many that are intuitively really good. But one of the things I've noticed to be very common, where I was talking to young writers like Kayla Yakov, who's also, she's a bit older than you now, or Cormac, who cannon, is that they've known from a very young age that they just want to win and want to race. It's always been there. It's not something that...

It's just always been there. It sounds like it's always been in your belly too, can say.

Yeah, yeah. I think I have a very competitive nature. I think I like to, even now, like with little things, hobbies, mountain biking, anything really, I like to be competitive. Even I remember like, in elementary school, we do these like foot races with like my friends and I always have to win, you know. So I think I've always had that competitive nature.

Speaker 1 (15:25.07)
I think that's definitely helped me.

Yeah, no, for sure. When I interviewed Matt Oxley and he said, look, at their heart, racers are killers. They just want to win their killers. They're cold-hearted killers. When they're on the track, off the track, maybe you wouldn't always know. And certainly, I've found that to be the case of a lot of racers. So, Sukuni, as a parent, what's it been like guiding Kenzay through the racing world as a dad?

So, you know, the racing world is definitely something that I'm learning to navigate as well. I wouldn't really consider myself a guide, but we're kind of figuring this out and learning the whole process together. As a parent, one of the things that I learned early on was that what I thought would make me happy, for example, see, can say when or do what I thought

what's would be considered doing well didn't make me as happy as i expected but rather it was seeing him enjoy himself sort of set and exceed his own goals and seeing the joy he got out of that and the excitement that really made me happy more than seeing him win or do well so i think that was something good that i learned early on and that sort of thing

an important part of our approach.

Speaker 2 (16:58.022)
That's a great attitude. Rick, welcome. Glad that you're here. We've teed you up. We've teed the professor up. So I'm excited to get the professor in here to make sense of what I generally don't make sense of. So it's good to have you here. So, so we've talked about your journey and where it all began. And I love the fact that you guys are partners. As a father myself, I know that...

You there must be also some level of, you you're a protector, you want to protect your kid, but you also want to empower him to learn through mistakes and successes. Are there any sort of major turning points that have, you talked about the wins, but losses or setbacks that have sort of shaped your approach so far?

so after I won the 160, national championship, each country selected, think three riders to go to the FIM GP world final. and at that point I just felt like there was a lot of pressure on me. not like kind of from everything, maybe that I had pressure to do well. just lots of different things.

And in the end, I did much worse than we all had hoped or expected. And I think after that, we were considering to maybe even stop writing. But together as like a family, especially my mom, my sister, my dad, they all helped me. And we all figured out that pressure is definitely not the best solution.

So from there, we started lowering the pressure. And I think it's definitely helped me improve as a rider, but also as a person. So I think that experience helped me just overall.

Speaker 2 (19:03.49)
Yeah, that's really interesting. I think about myself as when I was a teenager, which is many hundreds of years ago, not only are you becoming a man and going through all of that, all of those things, but it sounds as though you're also having to learn a of a mental toughness and understand that.

there are ups and downs, maybe even a lot earlier than most kids would. That's certainly what I learned from other kids I've met is, and who are racing, is that there's a level of maturity, mental toughness that you don't see in a lot of kids of your age. And I'm sorry to call you a kid, but compared to me, you are. I'm curious, Kearney, have you seen that as well? There's just a level of growing up that happens faster when you've got a big audacious goal like Kenzie has.

Yeah, I'm definitely very proud of him. I've seen a lot of moments even from very early on where he really impressed me with his sort of mental resilience. You know, even while we were not taking this too seriously and just doing it for fun, even at local races and stuff, there would always be people that show up with, you know, no one's really

checking the bikes, of cheater bikes and things like that. you know, we decided or I decided early on that even if people are cheating, like we'll never do it and we'll never protest anyone doing it. So, you know, if other people don't cheat, that's fine. We'll just do our best and that's it. But, you know, the kids too, even though no one's talking about this or doing anything, they can kind of tell, you know, when, when you know that someone's maybe not as fast, but they're super fast in the streets.

it's frustrating right but i've never seen kensei complain about it like he talks about it like this happened but the way he approached it like hey you know he might be faster than me in the straights but i'm faster in the corners so i'm gonna i'm gonna beat him you know and he's carried sort of that mentality even to this day so

Speaker 4 (21:24.686)
Wait, how many people in the chat here can attest to that?

You know, it's it's funny we actually talked about that and you're gonna see me a video of Going by or Kenza going by you I think where?

the trash.

Speaker 4 (21:45.998)
Yeah, dude. Look at him smiling. Look at him smiling.

I remember how excited you were when you got that video on camera.

Yeah.

Dude, I was, you know, I don't want to hijack this thing, but, that you being at that race training was the highlight of my weekend, man. I just have to admit, I didn't even know you. You were a 12 year old kid. I thought you were 10 and you wasted no time at all correcting that. And, I guess you could kind of say we were on the.

same team or whatever we were sitting next to each other all day when we weren't on the track. Yeah. And I loved that you were tenacious enough to pass me and then tap your tail. Like, like bring it on, dude. I didn't even know. It was just really, hey man, this all blends into what you're basically talking about. Like you were just having fun while you were kicking everybody's butt, basically.

Speaker 1 (22:44.706)
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:49.578)
So it was a sight to behold, man. I gotta say, I have to admit it, it still makes me smile.

And here is the said video that needed to be played here as part of the evidence. If you're on YouTube, you better see this video.

Speaker 2 (23:11.918)
you

Speaker 2 (23:20.47)
I want to get into kind of that life behind the scenes, sort the work that like no one else sees, that the daily life, the sacrifices, the financial pressure. And as you know, Rick and I, we just love supporting young up and coming writers and we love telling stories and learning from those stories. And so, you know, this is a couple of fans, know, Rick and I both have day jobs. This is not our day job. We're a couple of fans wanting to get you out there so people know who you are. And like I talked about in the intro.

We're setting up a GoFundMe because we know how hard it is. But outside of the financial pressure, just the race, what does a typical week of training and prep look like for you, Ken? I know that the professor has had you doing some training, but let's talk about what it looks like and how you've worked with Rick a little bit. I know Rick's been kicking your ass in the boxing arena or something. So tell us about a typical week of training for you. What's it look like?

So usually when I'm home, I go running or I go mountain biking. I have a lot of nice trails by my house. So I can just ride over to the trails, do a lap and then come back home. That's probably my favorite kind of training. It's good cardio. I love going downhill, obviously. I think running is also very good. I try to do either or every day.

or maybe both every day. I try to do as much as possible. We also try to go to the car track like twice a week. Try to ride hard, some good training in. But yeah, that's what a normal week looks like.

And I suppose, know, definitely, you know, again, keep I've got a mad ox earlier, but, know, he was talking about, you know, gone are the days when he first started in this business and he was he raced in the Isle of Man actually won one of the races where, know, you're at the of the day, you'd have a cigarette and, you know, have whiskey and party all night and then get on the train in the morning and go the next race. You don't do any of those things because you're underage. But it's fair to say you guys are like athletes at a level, certainly at a professional level, you're like,

Speaker 2 (25:40.354)
man level fitness and I know that Rick has taken an amazing interest in both of you and Rick, the reason we call him the professor is that he's very fast for an old guy like me but he's way faster than me. He has an ability to teach people in a way that is super impressive but I want to know what you did with Kenzai. You've been coaching with him.

Yeah, okay, but before I forget, what did you mean by you like downhill?

So, my dad, I think even before I was born, he mountain biked a lot. He'd go to bike parks, like with his friends. I think after I was born, did a cross Europe, he did like a mountain bike trip. And then he kind of taught me how to ride bicycles. He brought me to like local trails since I was very young as well.

and I think I've always loved mountain biking for a long time, but, as I, like recently, I'm starting to be a little bit more independent. he doesn't have to take me to the trails anymore so I can start riding to the trails. and all of the local trails that we used to go to as like when I was younger, I can, I can, I think I can appreciate it more now.

The trails are usually they go up into the mountains pretty pretty high up. Like okay. How much elevation do you think?

Speaker 3 (27:18.926)
1500 feet elevation, maybe more. Even the foothills of like the Pasadena area. So there's a lot of kind of big mountains around here. And so there's a lot of great mountain biking trails. So obviously you go up and there's some nice downhill mountain biking trails. So Kensei enjoys that. Obviously I do too. So, you know, there's some flow trails, jump lines, things like that. And, you know, Kensei has been enjoying that a lot.

That's really interesting. you isolated that you like riding downhill, which to me is inherently unstable. So you really like the unstable part of riding your mountain bike, which is pretty cool. Yeah.

Right? Uphill for me, I think it's a motivation to go downhill. Like downhill, the steep trails, the big jumps, the rocky sections. I think that just gives me a supplement, I guess, for when I'm off the bike.

Okay, I'm learning something here that's pretty cool. So you're paying the price to get up there, but the payback it's like skiing. You basically just want to get up there so you can come down.

think it's a cool point that Rick raised is...

Speaker 2 (28:40.43)
If the other day you're on a gyroscope, whether it's a bicycle or a motorcycle, and you just love being on two wheels. And I'm guessing that what I've heard is that the actual outside of cardiovascular, we talked about mental toughness and that just you just build him out of a time. But how did you and Rick end up getting in a boxing into a boxing ring? I heard something about like Rick invited you to a boxing lesson or something. Tell me a bit about that. What's all that about?

Yeah, so after we first met at California Superbike School, we kept in touch and he came down from Washington to come give me some boxing lessons. And he stayed down in SoCal for a good few days. We did some nice boxing together.

I still do boxing with my dad. So, yeah.

What do get from boxing? I'm curious.

think boxing it's, it requires a lot of focus, to be precise. and then also your technique is very important. so one thing me and Rick really focused on was, staying, focused, even when you're tired. so even at the end of the practice session to keep my technique good.

Speaker 1 (30:18.062)
and not start to get sloppy.

Yeah, and like when you're racing, you know, as you are now and you start racing in very hot climates around the world, I remember talking to Cormac Buchanan after his first race in Thailand and how hot it was and how, you know, some of the riders were literally just, even though they were very fit, that focus from the heat was, you know, it was really hard. And so it sounds like you're really working on that, which is great. I'm curious for you,

How do you manage being a coach? I've seen you do some level of coaching, being a dad. I know the Red Bull Rookies Cup dads, they're in their mechanics, their coaches, they're doing everything. What's your involvement like in a typical race day?

I'm definitely playing much less of a coaching role as Kenzie has gotten older, gotten better. And so we rely on like actual coaches to give sort of that technical and, you know, on the bike advice, even some off the bike advice in terms of the aspects of technical aspects of riding. You know, fortunately, we have a lot of people around us here, Superbike School.

in Spain that are very experienced and have been instrumental in Kensei's career up to now. Being a mechanic for sure is something that I've had to learn. When Kensei started racing, I could barely change the oil and brake pads on the motorcycle, but I've quickly had to learn how to do a lot of things. I think mechanically, you know, I'm okay now, but...

Speaker 3 (32:06.638)
You know, it's just one of the things that as a race dad, have to learn how to do. So I've learned that and obviously being a dad.

Honestly, I'm still learning that as we go too. We spend a lot of time together traveling, things like that. So sometimes that gets difficult just because we spend so much time together. But there's some great moments that come out of it too.

Well, I'm conscious I want to keep this G rated because, you know, you know, I've got to keep it G rated.

But I definitely see that relationship and at dinner I definitely saw it. And you know, that was a really great discussion and it also got me thinking a lot about, you know, I know that you have a day job, Cooney, and I'm just curious, what's the sacrifices, I don't want call it sacrifice, sacrifice is maybe the wrong word, but what has the family had to do to make and keep this dream alive? Like, you know, to the extent you're willing to share, it's not all roses, right?

for sure. Obviously, there's a huge amount of travel involved. So being away from home, I'm a software engineer. So I'm very lucky in that, yes, I have to work every day, but I can do it from the road. So my employer is very understanding and supportive of us. And the fact that I can spend so much time away from home in the office that I can do my work remotely has been massive for us. But

Speaker 3 (33:42.734)
You know, this is a it's a huge sacrifice commitment for us as a family because that being on the road for half the year means that me and Ken say are both away from my the rest of our family. My wife can say has a little sister who's 11 now and we obviously don't get to spend that much time together as a family with us traveling so much. So definitely some big.

family sacrifices there without the support of my wife and daughter, we wouldn't be able to do this. obviously there's the financial aspect of that too, but.

Yeah, I'm curious, know, like, I was, you know, I've heard numbers and I've been shocked by how high the numbers are just from others I've spoken to that have on this journey. I know I've referenced Cormac a few times. He's now in Moto3, right? You know, that's a big deal, but it's also like super expensive. Like, like, what sort of costs are you guys facing per season? You willing, you want to share a little of that or?

Yeah, I mean when we first started racing, you know doing get at a local level it was super easy You know like very cheap just going to the track on the weekends and things like that But as we started traveling nationally and obviously internationally it gets expensive very quickly obviously the travel but Probably the biggest thing as we move on to the bigger bikes more serious racing and really like international level racing

We're looking now at junior world championship categories where just to race for a season, we're looking at 70, $80,000 plus. And that doesn't include any travel, training, which adds up to quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (35:46.316)
Yeah, well, what I'm curious about is we're going to move into like sort of today's focus, like, you know, current season, what you're doing, what levels of competition, all of that. But before we do that, do you have sponsors today that are helping out that you sort of want to do a shout out for? like generally, if you have a sponsor, what is their involvement in general? Can you give me an example of that?

Yeah, I'll let Kensei kind of go through our sort of full list of sponsors. There's a lot of people helping us and we're super appreciative of every single one of them. The support varies from product, gear, you know, some of them support us financially, even things like getting us on the track, coaching, advice, you know, just connecting us to different people. You know, everyone has

different things that they can help us with. all of that is so important. It's not just having money or having gear or having equipment. You gotta know the right people. gotta get places. There's so much that goes into making a racing program work. So Kent, you wanna go through?

Yeah, yeah. so, I just, I'll just go down the list. so yeah, iconic motorbikes, Dave designs, HGC helmets, Alpine stars, bison track, TJ course, bullet electric Dunlop, California super bike school, Modo Technica, Slackery USA, Mad Labs, 73 Moto parts, Yoshimura R and D, Oval USA.

Cuba's sub is okay.

Speaker 1 (37:34.968)
Project Slush, Apex Motorsports Park in John Hopkins, NLab Studios, Bickel Racing, Venom Sport, DID Chain, Gopher Brakes, Vortex Racing, Caranot Photography, Minimoto Alliance, Amasera Altay-Taylar, Juan Baybear, my coach and his whole family, and Hans King.

another one of my coaches.

That's a great list of supporters and we're gonna make we'll get all the logos across the screen and stuff because That's that's that's really what you could consider Rick and I supporters and for sure

What about your boxing coach, man?

Yeah, Rick Rainer is my boxing coach.

Speaker 4 (38:23.886)
That was really fun.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we have to do that again. Yeah.

Yeah, we talked a little bit about that that might be But you know you might be better than them in the ring right now, but that won't last very long Rick so excited so what bikes you on so There's so many so many we could talk for such a long time because over the weekend I actually uploaded a video I rode the ZX4RR and I also rode the ZX6R which you can argue like you know

They're different, but they're the same, but they're kind of not. But I really enjoyed that small inline four, man. It was so much fun. But I know you guys are racing KTMs and Hondas in Europe, right? that what you're, tell me what you're riding, like tell me what you're racing in right now, what you're riding right now and how it's going.

So last year I was racing Primo to three, which is a Beyond 250 It has a YZ 250 motor in it But it's a GP chassis This year I'm gonna be training and racing on NSF 250 And I'm also going to be racing and one night of all a 190 class for the minicup

Speaker 1 (39:43.182)
And I also train on a ZX6R. So yeah, that's a great bike as well. I train on the Ovale again, the 190. And then I also train on a Moriwaki 250.

Wow, okay, so that's a wide range of bikes. that's some, and tell me, so in Europe, you mentioned the Junior Cup, so just make sure I get this right. My understanding is, like, there's a few different paths, right? Some folks, they wanna go to World Superbike, and others wanna go to MotoGP. And the path to MotoGP, ideally, is you get into the Junior GP Series in Europe, right?

And if you do well there, you maybe get a seat in Moto3. Is that how it works? Or is there no path?

There's a bit of a clear difference between the GP type bikes and the production bikes. When you're younger, I think they all start on sort of pocket bikes, mini bikes, maybe even like the Moto 5 bikes. But from there, the GP chassis bikes would be the Moto 4, pre-Moto 3, the Talent Cup bikes like the NSF 250, and then the Moto 3 bikes. Those are all non-street bikes.

race-prep chassis with maybe production engines, but the way they ride will be very different than something like Yamaha R3 or a CBR250. Those are common production bike series for younger riders. And then from there, they'll move to maybe something like the Yamaha R7 or R6, the super sport categories. But a lot of GP riders do train on

Speaker 3 (41:37.774)
the 600 production bikes at the kart tracks and even some of the bigger tracks. So that's definitely something that we started incorporating into our training. We also spent a lot of time on the supermoto bikes too, which is another great training tool.

I've seen your Instagram, Kenzie, of you on the supermoto bikes. That's also something, there's the dirt, flat track supermoto. It's interesting, a lot of the American stars from the past, Kenny Roberts and others, Wayne Rainey, all came from dirt and flat track. And it seems to be a theme also in Europe. And so how does that, we talked about training earlier, but.

What does dirt and flat track give you that helps you be more competitive in road racing?

Well the flat track really helps with the sliding and the bike control overall. When you're just racing road racing, you don't really get a feel for the limit, you don't really get a feel for the rear sliding, the front sliding. Whereas in flat track you can feel both front and rear sliding, you can feel the rear sliding, you can feel the whole bike moving under you.

It's just something that you don't feel when you just ride on asphalt. So once you have some dirt experience, you get much more experience for asphalt.

Speaker 2 (43:13.014)
Right. I had the opportunity once, believe it or not, to actually see Rossi's ranch in Italy, in Pessaro, which is pretty cool. And watching those guys fly around is pretty impressive. So maybe one day you'll get an invite to his ranch, Put your fingers across on that one. But when you talk about the paths, like your dad talked about when you were really young, you're starting to use minibikes.

When you think about the paths and you think about like a year ahead, what is your goal for the next 12 months? Like in terms of competition, like obviously you want to win everything. But what are the big milestones you've got coming up this year? Competitions you're in, milestones you want to hit?

Well this year, I obviously want to do a few wild cards in European Talent Cup So the goal there is to do as best as I can make the main race for sure And then hopefully beat top five and then I'm also reserved for Asia Talent Cup this year So if I could get a call up to do even one round and I can do well there that would be that's

big goal for me and for sure next year as well to get into Asia Thailand Cup for next year. That's probably one of the biggest goals I have for this year.

Yeah, the Asian telecom has been pretty cool to watch. They're starting to really produce some real stars at Moto 3 level now that have come up through that Moto GP level. so, okay, so what does it take to get a wild card? I'm not sure everyone understands that, but can we understand the wild card thing? Is it like everyone's name in a hat and they pull it out? Is it connections? What is it, KUNI or Mkenze?

Speaker 1 (45:10.254)
You can answer.

I think it depends on the championship. But for something like the European Talent Cup, there definitely needs to be like an opening and opportunity. Maybe someone's injured or can't make a round and then could possibly get a call up. We've definitely been in touch with teams that are aware of our sort of willingness and desire to do something like that. Obviously, there's costs involved with that too. So just being prepared sort of financially and

you know, for Kensei to be sort of mentally, physically ready to go when something like that does happen. I think it's a little bit more difficult to be prepared since you don't know if you're going to race or not, but to always be ready rather than having a schedule. that being said, we are still planning on racing one of the Spanish national championships with the Primero 3 bike.

We also want to support the Mini GP organization that's really growing and expanding here in the US. So, Ken State is going to be racing the Oval E 190 Series in the US locally here. So, you know, he'll have plenty of chances to have participated in races and obviously we'll still continue to spend a lot of time in Spain training and doing some local races there as well.

Get tired just hearing all of this. I guess a lot to manage right you've got you got your homeschooling you're learning online I know you told me that when we had dinner and what break what can I had dinner if you guys you've got? Potentially the phone ringing. Hey, what are you doing next weekend? You've got these tracks that are completely different to the tracks you write in the US as well Like tell me about that like, you know, you're you're writing your local tracks. You're doing your best When you turn up to a track in Spain

Speaker 2 (47:04.014)
Like, is it just like visiting another planet? what is it? How do you prepare for that?

Well, the first time I went over there it was completely different. It was like a it a huge shock especially because the tracks were Much better maintained than in the US at the time one of our local car tracks apex They had a bunch of cracks in them As soon as like the edge of the track There's like a two inch drop to just dirt

No runoff. Just a little bit sketchy, you know? But when I went to Spain, there's these tracks with curving you can ride on. There's the like tracks with no cracks at all. Good runoff. Just things like that. Now that I've been racing or riding and racing there for more than four years, I think I'm more used to it now. But I think it's...

Still great to ride at little bit bumpier tracks, maybe a little bit, I wouldn't say sketchier, maybe tracks that aren't as good as the ones in Spain. I think just riding everything just makes you very well-rounded.

Yeah, no, I can only imagine. It's, you know, Rick always talks about planning, you know, have a plan, have a plan. And I know that we're major amateurs compared to you, but that planning, do do you, do you watch, do you watch a lot of, do you watch a lot of races on YouTube of good writers on those tracks to prepare? you visual, do you do a lot of visualization? Um, do you use Xbox? Like, are there other things you do?

Speaker 1 (48:57.868)
I think one thing that I do a lot or that I did do a lot before the races was play the tracks on MotoGP before I actually raced them. I think it helped me just get an idea of what the track looked like, I guess what I should expect, like what's coming up in the next corner, things like that. I also watch YouTube videos.

But for me, they don't help me as much as kind of being more interactive, I guess. So I prefer to play the game. And then from there, I do a little bit of visualization as well. But for me, I think the best is just to ride the track. And that's when you get the real feeling for it. That's when you really feel where the limit is. That's where you really know where your break markers are.

So there's nothing really like writing.

Yeah, that's a super clear answer. That's helpful. you know, so when you think about, you know, beyond, you know, obviously, I'm assuming you have really big goals. it MotoGP? I mean, Cormac is an example. Cormac's like his whole life, he said, I want to be the first New Zealander to podium in a modern MotoGP era. That he's wanted to do that since he was five years old.

And I think Simon Kreyfah was the last New Zealander to win a MotoGP level race. And that was like 30 years ago. For you, is there like a North Star, MotoGP, World Superbike, something else that are your biggest goals?

Speaker 1 (50:51.564)
Yeah, for me, the biggest goal is MotoGP, the highest level in the world, the premier class. But right now, we're always looking for one step ahead. Right now, we're looking at the end of the year, maybe next year as well. But yeah, the main goal for sure is MotoGP.

Okay, and Red Bull Rookies Cup, we talked a bit about that. You were too young, I think, last year to apply, right?

Yeah, so I turned 14 last year in October. And this year, I'm to be able to apply to race for next year.

Okay, so you don't want listen to this. Anyone in the Red Bull Rookies Cup organization, check out Kenza, check him out. He's a kid. No, it's just the reason I say that is that that seems to be a real door opener for folks who are in your situation, have a really supportive family, but it's really hard work. Okay, so you've got a lot of really cool people in your life. Your dad, Rick.

all your sponsors. I'm sure you look up to Rick, the old man on the track and he's fast, to be clear. I'm sure that there are other riders you look up to or try to bottle yourself after, right? So who are your heroes, man? Who are the ones that you look up to?

Speaker 1 (52:20.366)
Well, Nikki Hayden and Mark Marquez for sure. I really look up to their work ethic, the way they train. And in my opinion, I think they are one of the most hardworking guys. I think just the way they train on and off the bike, think it really inspires me to train harder and be more like them.

So yeah.

Yeah, well we won't get into who likes what writers because I know that Rick has very, very, very strong opinions about some writers who I get into that tonight. Mark, so number 93 and I think that, you know, that he's a, I mean, people are going to argue in a few years with who's the greatest full time or not, but he's clearly an amazing writer, right?

And it's interesting the whole, you know, getting back to the Mad Oxy discussion. Some writers are told that they're too nice, you know, they're too gentlemanlike, they're too cordial and polite. And others are just cold, hard killers. And there's a level of that, I think, in every writer. Would you say, you told me you're competitive, you're competitive in everything you do.

And would you say that you're becoming more competitive, more harder on yourself, more ruthless as you progress?

Speaker 1 (53:59.85)
I think, every year, I'm a little bit more harder on myself. for sure. I'm more competitive because I want to do better. but at the same time, I always have to remember to stay humble. you know, don't be. Arrogant, don't have a big ego because, there's people that I see at the track, you know, like big ego, you know, and they're the people that nobody wants to be friends with. They're, they're the people that.

Nobody, I guess, wants to be around. And for sure, I think it's important to be competitive, but it's also very important or even more important to be humble.

And that's a great answer, because when I was your age, I was none of that. It's funny, I've said this to Rick. I started learning the track after 30 years of riding on the street. And I started learning the track when I was 45. And I'm glad I did then, because when I was younger, no one could teach me anything. I wouldn't listen to anyone. I just thought I was the best at everything. And the fact that you're saying this now is awesome. That's why you're a professional, and I'm an old amateur.

That's a cool response, And so in terms of, you know, we talked a lot about your sponsors and we talked a little bit about, you know, how everything helps. I want to sort of also get into a little bit, you know, you've got opportunities to enter through the Asia Talent Cup, through motor, well, you're obviously the racing you've been doing at Motor America and

and then the wild card option as well. I mean, I just want to understand how do you balance all of this? touched on this earlier, but you're being homeschooled, right? You're learning online, is that right?

Speaker 1 (55:50.786)
Yeah, so I have an online teacher. I have online homework.

Okay, okay, well and and so the kids That you hang out with like how relatable are they for you? You know, I mean They're all the kids you hang out with, know, you know performance athletes or They just normal kids

so I went to elementary school, in person, except for COVID obviously. but I still keep in touch with a few of my friends from elementary school. they play basketball, so they're, they're more or less, I guess, normal kids. but I have the friends at the track as well, who are, I think all, or mostly, online or homeschooled.

So I have a few different friend groups.

We talked earlier about how Rick and I tend to balance these podcasts out a little bit. I like to learn about people's stories, especially when we're big fans, like we are of you. I've been watching all of your online racing, so I'm definitely a fanboy. Rick has been going deeper with coaches and riders around how they ride. Often, a lot of the riders we talk to, when you ask them the questions, they don't know that they just ride instinctively.

Speaker 2 (57:19.414)
And so Rick, you're going to be spending some time with Kenzie as well and doing a podcast with him. And what are the sorts of things listeners can expect to hear from that discussion?

With Ken, I'm really interested in a lot of things. So I want to know if you go to the track with a plan. If you do, I want to know what it is generally. I would love to know how your coaches coach you and some of the things that they say and if there's anything consistently that they have to keep harping on you about.

and if you know what those things are, we could spend an hour just talking about that, probably. I want to know if you videotape yourself, I want to know if you review your own videos, and if you do, I want to know what you see, like how are you analyzing yourself and how you keep track of what you're seeing. And then I want to just talk about riding, you know? I've seen you, I've been at the track with you multiple times now, on the bike and off the bike, I've ridden with you on the track.

And to me, I just, I could think of a lot of questions to ask you just as a writer, as a fellow writer. You know, what are you thinking in this corner? What are you thinking in that corner? You know, what are you doing with the breaks here? How do you, are you keeping track of all that stuff? Because I know for a fact that you're very intuitive writer and you're only 14, man. So I mean, you're such a good writer at such a young age.

It's really interesting to me to have an understanding of how much of your writing you actually understand. You know what mean? Does that make sense? Yeah, and all in a good way. You know what I mean? All in a good way. It's like, but you can't understand it all because you're so young, right? So are you taking that with a grain of salt and how are you teaching yourself?

Speaker 4 (59:26.67)
Because your coach, where does your coach live?

So my main coach who comes with me to the races, he lives in Spain. He comes out here a few times. But I have another coach Hans. He helps me with parking lot training. So like the cone drills, the very minuscule details that you can't really do on track. And then also Rocco, Rocco Landers, he helps me.

Okay.

Speaker 4 (59:54.296)
Great.

Speaker 1 (59:59.392)
a lot

If you did with Rocko? Yeah, that was cool.

Yeah, yeah, I did.

Speaker 4 (01:00:14.496)
It just sounds like there is so much there, like the information that's flowing to you in all the different forms to me is just super, I'm super curious about that. All of the information that's flowing into your head from, from Rocco and your two coaches and your, especially yourself though, man, I want to know what you're doing because you don't see those guys every time you go to the track. So I want to know how you're coaching yourself.

because that's an important thing and I just want to dip a toe into that and kind of see how you're analyzing yourself and how you're fixing things and maybe maybe Cooney is seeing some things I don't know I mean we could talk about how you guys are getting along with improving when you're just by yourself

I am conscious that you need to get sleep because you've got to be training all the time. But I want to get through just a couple of quick things. First of all, Rick, what were you riding when Kenza kicked your ass on the track? What bike were you on?

I was on my Aprilia RSV4.

And Kenzie, what were you on?

Speaker 1 (01:01:24.955)
I was on NSF 250.

that's awesome. So you you you Just kind of cruise past Rick on your NSF

Just hang on a minute here now. But in no way, form can I possibly take anything away from what I witnessed.

That's why I had to my tail though, because I passed you in the bowl and then I knew you were going to get me on the straight so I had to tap my tail. Maybe you'd stay behind me but-

Hey, did I tap back by the way? Yes. You? Yes I did. I'm like this kid's not gonna get away with that so I tapped back. But look man, the bottom line, we could have fun talking about that and I know we can't right now but... Kenzie?

Speaker 1 (01:01:59.372)
Did you?

Speaker 2 (01:02:09.998)
Who won?

I think, no, the first race you won, because I was on the 400, and then the second race I won.

well we'll get into it more for sure I just want to give you a little rub

What was your interest?

Speaker 4 (01:02:27.352)
Hey man, you know what, like I'm saying man, it was a privilege to ride on the track with a 12 year old that was that talented. And to be passed on the outside of turn two, and I know not everybody knows what that corner is.

What track we at?

she was well springs on the outside of turn two effortlessly was something to be whole and though the whole two days we were there i was just having a blast just watch him go back as he's so fast in the corners there i i couldn't it didn't that the straightaways didn't save me conceding goals

That's awesome. Well, we're going to get to that in the next podcast. Cooney, if you bumped into someone in an elevator and you've got a couple of minutes to talk to them and they ask you, what would you say to someone who's considering supporting your son's journey? What would you be at your elevator pitch on that great kid you got here?

We appreciate any kind of support. We really enjoy just being part of the community and whenever we can we try to give back as well. I think one of the main things for us is really to, obviously we have goals in mind, but really to try to enjoy the process and the journey as much as possible.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05.754)
I think that's the biggest thing for us.

That's great. And like I said earlier, Rick and I do this for fun. We have day jobs. We really want to help anyone who's into motorcycling on the track or on the street learn, be safer, have that sort of learner's mindset. That's why we do this. And along the way, we've become fans of riders and we're a big fan of Kenzai. So we're doing this. This is us doing it.

and you know, listeners, if you want to help Kenzie, keep racing, we've set up a go fund me link and it's going to be up here and trust me, every bit helps. And, you know, we will be kicking that off with a bit of a donation ourselves. but we, we would appreciate the support. This is hard work. These guys are out there dreaming and it's not as easy as it looks from the outside. I'm learning that a lot from all of you. So.

You know, it's really such a pleasure having you both on. It's so great as a father myself, just watching the relationship you have. man, maybe you talk about Mark Marquez, look at his dad on the sidelines with both his kids at MotoGP and just watching them, that journey is pretty cool. So I can imagine it's a lot of fun. So thanks for being on. Rick, is there any closing thoughts you have before we let Kenza get his beauty sleep?

Maybe just one. Didn't you just win some stuff this last weekend?

Speaker 1 (01:05:41.448)
yeah, yesterday, or this past weekend, it was the opening round of the FIM Mini GP. Friday was practice, Saturday was qualifying and sprint race, and then Sunday was the two main races. I got pole and I won everything. What?

How did I not know that? Where was this? Where was the race?

This is at Apex Motorsports.

Hey, is that repaved by the way?

They filled in a bunch of the cracks and they're doing a lot of work on it right now. So every time I go it's getting better and better.

Speaker 4 (01:06:22.958)
I just wanted to make sure and cover that too because they're a sponsor for you,

Yeah, yeah, they're lots of great things to the truck.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what I also just saw there Rick and Cooney was you know, Kenzay talked about being humble like that's a pretty humble reply, know, like yeah Yeah, okay. I just won like hole in both races. Yeah, super cool. We just to see how you responded to that So kudos to you man It's it's gonna be fun. We're enjoying watching you so We're gonna we're gonna call it a call it a night

Before we say goodbye, because these guys need to get some sleep, I think Rick, there was something else you wanted to talk about, right?

Speaker 4 (01:07:08.552)
Yeah, well, I wanted to touch on Kenzie's weekend, his successful weekend with a pull and a sweep. He's real. So you were just talking about the GoFundMe, and if anybody's on the fence, I just wanted to make sure that there's a, you know, that we hammer home, like, this is the real deal.

He's a great kid. He's not just a great kid. He's fast and he's safe. And he just got a hit just this last weekend. You know, gets pulled and gets a sweep of is it two races?

Yeah, two races and a sprint

Yeah, so three races he sweeps it and gets pulled. So let's try to help him out if we can. It's a real deal. We want to help him get to MotoGP if we can. You're not throwing your cash away. Let's see if we can help him out. That's all I wanted to get to there.

No man, 1000 % worth you. So Rick and I will be writing out a couple of checks to get started and then we're going to be hoping that folks want to do the same, invest in these guys. thank you for, thanks for being here. I'm going to stop recording and we'll say goodbye offline, but really awesome to see you. It was great to have dinner with you in Koda. Thanks for paying for dinner, Rick. That was awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39.176)
Guys so

American food. so catch you later one like subscribe YouTube all that fun stuff share it with your friends and let's support America's next MotoGP star