Supercross
Brandon Hartranft Leads Rookie Supercross Team
With just a few professional seasons under his racing belt, Brandon Hartranft finds himself in a leadership position among a team of all rookies.
23 min
New faces in Supercross
Heading into Anaheim 1, Cooper Webb has an old rivalry rise again as he works to defend his championship.
In three short years as a professional Supercross racer, Brandon Hartranft has earned the opportunity to ride under the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM tent as a factory team rider. However, when most would view this first-time opportunity as a learning experience, Hartranft has the rare responsibility of leading his entirely rookie team through the Supercross season as acting captain. This quick cruise from greenhorn to guide has left Hartranft with some added challenges that few new factory riders are forced to endure. However, duty doesn’t wait for the call, and this 21-year-old is ready to step up to the plate.
Check out the Moto Spy Season 4 Episode 2 video above to see which up-and-coming Supercross riders will set the world on fire.
Under the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM tent sits the likes of Brian Moreau, Pierce Brown and Derek Drake — all rookies in their professional Supercross careers. While each of these riders honed their skills on the amateur level of racing, they have yet to prove themselves on the professional circuit. This leaves the team to look at their older, more experienced rider for intel on the bikes, tracks and training regimens. While most teams have a lineup of experienced factory racers, in this case, Hartranft fills that spot being that he has already raced professionally for two years on a non-factory program. This forces Hartranftto put his own learning curves to the side and focus on the team’s progression as a whole. “They (the rookies) test a handful amount of times compared to me, and I feel like the team looks for more answers from me than them,” Hartranft said.
Brandon Hartranft Races at Round 6 of AMA Supercross Series in San Diego
© Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool
Coming off of his success and near win at the Red Bull Straight Rhythm, Hartranft's confidence was at an all-time high. For Supercross racing, this kind of result-built confidence can lead into a hot-streak of good results. However, as the off-season progressed and the Supercross season grew closer, training with the rookies and retaining this confidence has been tested. “The biggest challenge is when the rookies are close to me or the same speed at the practice tracks, which can leave me scratching my head,” Hartranft said. However, even he admits that there have been benefits from riding with the younger riders. “It’s not just me teaching them. Every day we’re learning from each other. Brian [Morreau] rides like Marvin [Musquin] and is super good at the technical stuff for example, so it’s good for me to absorb all of that,” he said. “Even though we can learn off of each other though, as team captain I still feel like I have to be better than my teammates every day. And that can be hard on my confidence.”
“The natural order of progression is getting a good result, building confidence, doing it again and then believing you belong up there,” said Seth Rarick, Hartranft's trainer. “He (Brandon) works hard, he’s in great shape, but he needs to believe what he can do. Without that belief, it’s all useless.” This natural progression has been evident in the 2020 Supercross season, as Hartranft has been able to obtain his first podium finish, and back it up with another podium the following weekend. These results leave Hartranft at the top of the leaderboard with his team, and fourth overall in points on the Supercross season.
Through the odds, and unexpected duties, Hartranft has been able to achieve the best results on his team this year and take his role as team captain in stride. “I was expecting to just get on the team and not be the captain, so this whole year has been a learning experience for me,” he said. But now, as captain, it’s go time for the 21-year-old professional Supercross racer, and there’s no looking back. “There’s no excuses now, and if you have one you just look stupid.” In essence, it seems as though for Hartranft, the price of greatness this Supercross season will be responsibility. And by the looks of his results, that responsibility may have been just what he needed.