Countdown to EnduroCross: Interview with Beta USA’s Max Gerston

Beta USA’s Max Gerston is one of the most amazing riders on the EnduroCross circuit. The twenty-five-year-old Phoenix, Arizona native may commonly be seen wearing his cowboy hat with a large grin on his face when he’s not assaulting the track on his Factory Beta 350RR. We caught up with Gerston prior to the beginning of the 2017 season to find out what’s new in his world.

You won the Amateur EnduroCross Championship in 2011. Essential was that to give you confidence leading directly into racing the Pro class in 2012?
“It’s kind of a humorous question because at the time, I was so mentally ready. I really wanted to earn that Amateur title and I had been training really hard for it. I was obsessively riding and training because I had been literally scared to death associated with not winning an Amateur name because I knew I could get it done. I just had some issues the year before. I didn’t even qualify for a main event the year before because I wasn’t good enough. I was obsessively trying to not do that again. I did so not want to do that so bad. However came back and everybody else that was there was clearly better, too. I won and after that I thought, ‘Woah, that was crazy! Anything that I did actually worked! ’ Therefore even more valuable than actually successful the Amateur championship was the value of learning that hard work actually works. From there, my mind was like, ‘Well merely could do that, I could probably perform anything. The sky is the restrict. ”

After winning the Newbie championship in 2011, you won the Junior championship in 2012. The championship was close between you and two some other competitors leading into the final circular in Vegas. How intense was the pressure leading into that race?
“That was nerve-wracking. It had been between me, [Bryan] Roper, [Ryan] Sandoval, and Keith Sweeten was during there a little bit. We had all kind of had our shining spots throughout every season, but none of us were able to toe nail down any level of consistency at all. We would all kind of do okay one race and then not do so great the next. That last round in Vegas was a double top level. So it was pretty much whoever had the main event was going to win the particular title. It was between Sandoval and am in the last LCQ and I beat your pet and got into the main event. I simply had to get 10th or much better. I had to do okay in the main to win the title. I was pretty relieved at that point because I was therefore down because the whole year simply wasn’t going how I wanted it to or how I had imagined. Typical rookie year stuff; simply kind of getting run off the monitor all year. It was tough, so it felt really good to get that. ”

When you won your Junior championship title, you were teammates with Cody Webb at Beta. What were you able to learn from him while you were under the same camping tent?
“It was just countless amounts of everything. Mentally, he’s a really strong rider, so it was good to pick up on that and kind of find what his thought process was going to the races. I was able to pick up on that will. A lot of riding stuff, too. Just watching him ride and seeing how he did things, I had been able to, in some ways, soak that up and kind of adjust my driving style where I needed to in order to try to do more of like what he was doing. He’s successful and he’s crushing it, so why not try to ride like this guy. It had been more so just spending time around the guy that I learned from him. He’s a really cool dude and he was such a pleasure to be around. He or she was just a regular old kitty, man. That was what was cool about him. That was a good time. ”

After you switched to Beta, you rode a four-stroke, switched to a two-stroke, and returned to a four-stroke. What is it that you like better about a four-stroke designed for EnduroCross?
“It’s so challenging because I love both of those bikes so much. The 300 is such a quality machine and the 350 is right generally there with it. They’re both niche bicycles and they both shine equally as a lot in certain environments. For the majority of the EnduroCross races, the 350 is a little little bit better for me than the 300 just because it’s so easy to ride and yes it just puts the power to the ground. Honestly, it’s easier to jump. You can jump well on a 300, do not get me wrong, but the power is just therefore consistent on a four-stroke. You can emerge from a corner and know exactly how significantly or how short you’re going to go just from memory. The four-stroke just lays the power lower really good. You can get a start on a four-stroke, too. Two-strokes, you certainly can as well, but nothing hooks up on the start like a four-stroke does. ”

You live in Az, which seems to be a hotbed just for off-road talent. Who do you trip with while practicing at home?
“Taylor [Robert] isn’t racing EnduroCross this year, so this individual won’t be coming out. Him and I do all other types of training collectively like jet skiing, trials, training for hare scrambles, and for him, Hare and Hounds. So even though he’s not racing EnduroCross, he’s still my main training partner, I would say. There are some other guys out there here, but it’s kind of difficult to develop any level of consistency along with anybody for training because it is so easy to get burned out from it and it’s easy to say, ‘No, it’s alright. I’m tired. Dont really really want to come out today. ’ I can have certain other guys away here every once in awhile. But for the most component, like today and two days back, I rode EnduroCross by myself. That’s kind of what it’s like the majority of time, which is kind of surprising. ”

You’ve built quite an impressive EnduroCross monitor on your property. How has creating a pro-level track at your disposal helped you improve?
“It’s helped so much in every aspect. Everything from starts to stones to corners to this and that, I could practice every little thing and just make sure almost everything is right. The best thing about it is that training in the off-season, I can get in all the training I want for free from the back door. You can’t beat that. The other thing is if I have a specific area I am struggling in, I could set my track up for that will. If I have a rough weekend where the rocks kicked my [butt], I’ll come back here and change our rock section and make it gnarly. Or if my timing has been off on my jumping, I can come back here and change some jumps around. Just having that capability to make the track harder for my design and keep making it miserable is what is nice about it.

You finished last season in 7th place overall. Where have you fixed your goals for 2017?
“For 2017, nothing less than podiums. Anything less than a podium is just totally not a good weekend, honestly. I know I’m there and I know I can do it. My training is there, my skill is there, and my skills are available. We’ve got a good bike this year. So anything less than podium surface finishes is not kosher. ”

The EnduroCross tracks have become progressively jumpier over the years. Do you like that or would you prefer the tracks to be more technical?
“You know, that’s a good query. It’s hard because I like both. I like the race-ability of a jumpier track, but then I also like the separation that a technical track provides between riders. I think there is a happy medium that can be found. We’ve had tracks where there was a really good rock area and there were literally four or five lines through that rock section plus they were all pretty hard. There have been some guys that were struggling, however, you could get around them. It still made for really good racing and it was difficult. But it seems like a lot of things they try to make maybe a little too hard and then it just builds up into one-line stuff. But they also need to try things that are different, so it’s kind of hard to find that happy moderate. My final say on which is I don’t think the race-ability from the track should be sacrificed just for technicality. ”

Have you done anything differently to prepare with this season than in the past?
“Actually, I have, the main thing being racing the Traditional western Hare Scrambles Championship. That’s just kind of to keep my busy throughout the off-season. You get more racing within and I think racing is the best way to teach. If anything else, I’ve just been training every weekend. I’ve been racing a ton. I’ve raced more this year than I did all of last year. Now whenever I line up for the races, my heart rate barely goes up just because it’s such a normal thing and I barely get nervous. I think there’s a huge factor to that. In addition to that, these races are two hour and 45 minutes races, basically. I’m able to build up a really strong endurance base. Beginning just a couple weeks back, I’ve started ramping up my sprint speed and my run training so I can get ready for EnduroCross. But now I have that nice foundation to build off of, so that’s great for training as well. ”

What is your preferred EnduroCross obstacle?
“Honestly, smooth corners. I love the flat transforms. Right-hander or left-hander, it’s always fun to come wide and just pitch that thing sideways and get close to that corner. I like the finish collection doubles, too. Those are always enjoyable. I think it would be cool if we could do a 50-foot finish line leap at every round, just like a huge jump just so you could get some airtime. I think that would be sweet. ”

What exactly is your most memorable race?
“Actually, I have two. Denver this past year and the year before that in Salt Lake City. Both of these I got thirds. I like those competitions just because the tracks were really good, really fun, and really race-able. Similar to what I was talking about earlier. Simultaneously, they were still technical, proving that you could have technical without one line. It is technical, race-able, and fun. There were great battles, getting down by it, and smashing bars. That’s actually fun for me. It’s crazy. On a podium night like that, you can be struggling so hard throughout the rest of the season and a podium night like that, everything seems so easy. It’s like, ‘Why could it be so easy? Why were all of those additional ones so hard just to get a 5th, and now this one is just easy and I am getting thirds. ‘It’s weird. It is like everything’s clicking. When everything’s clicking, that’s when it feels good. Denver and Salt Lake City are two races where almost everything was clicking. ”

What is the hardest part of EnduroCross for you?
“It’s funny because every time you think you have one thing figured out, something seems to mouthful you, no matter what it is. I think probably the most difficult part would be the firewood areas, especially in Boise because they have that huge, gigantic firewood. Mainly the particular firewood section just because of the unpredictability of it. Those things are rolling, sliding, slopping, and jacking you all over the place. The rocks are at least staying still, so you can kind of predict these. ”

If there was clearly one thing you could change about EnduroCross, what would it be?
“That’s a good question. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing some more race-able tracks. We need more battles and going along with that, we need more race-able tracks. Going along with that even further, to help the battles, maybe not a 15 minute main event because no matter who you are or how fit you happen to be, everybody settles into some sort of pace during the 15 laps. Nobody can be charging as hard as they can at the end of 15 laps. If we do three eight-lap motos, I think that would be sick. After the main event, you consistently go back and think, ‘I want I would have done that. ’ I think a multi-moto format would be [awesome] because then you could have a shot at redemption for yourself within the same night. "