Rookie Spotlight: Grant Hoffman
It's always great to hear that a rider is taking that next step in their career and entering the pro ranks. Race Grade Media had to get in touch with Grant when we heard the news he was moving up to the pro level and had signed with a team! We've known Grant since he was in C class and it's awesome to see the hard work paying off for him. Give the full interview a read to learn how his program is a bit different from others and has benefitted him over his amateur career.
Grant! It’s been a little bit! Tell me a little bit about what’s been going on lately with life and with your program?
Things are good right now! I’ve been down in Florida for the past two weeks just training with Tyler Bowers and working a little bit when I have time. But really, all good things are going on right now for me. Feeling good on the bike and I’m really happy with my program overall right now.
I heard through the grapevine about your pro deal with the CCR Yamaha Team – congrats! Tell me more about how that came together and how it feels to be going pro?
Thank you! There’s a little bit of a story there. I’ve known the guys who run the team/program for a little bit now. But shortly after Daytona they approached me and told me that there was an opportunity with them if I wanted to start to dip my toes into the pro ranks. Racing in the pro scene has always had that kind of ‘allure’ to me so I was pretty interested in exploring more what racing for them would look like. Things came together pretty quickly and from there and I had a deal in place before I knew it. I’ll be racing for them this summer with some of east coast Canadian Nationals and also some of the east coast AMA Pro Nationals.
Does it feel good to be done with the Amateur motocross scene? Do you feel like you would have liked to have one last go at LL in the A classes to get your name out there?
Overall I’m happy to be ‘moving on’ so to speak. I’ll still do a few amateur races that I like going to here and there but I’m glad to be moving up. I would have been in the Pro Sport classes at Lorettas this year and I think it would have been fun to give that one more go to see what I could do, but I’m also kind of ready to start getting gate drops at the pro level under my belt.
This move is kind of similar to the approach I had when I bumped up to the Pro Sport class. I’d rather make the jump a little bit early and just get started on the learning curve rather than stick around for another year in the amateur scene and then jump into a few pro nationals after Lorettas this summer. The amateurs are good but there’s a few things I’m not a huge fan of. Overall I’m glad to be moving up and shifting my focus to racing at the next level.
What's going to be the biggest adjustment for you with having the backing of a team in CCR Yamaha?
It might be not having my dad as my mechanic! We have done a lot of racing together and he's always been behind the gate with me and been a resource to help me improve my riding too since he races at a pro level back in the day.
It will be different but good to have multiple people with the team all there to help me succeed. A fresh set of eyes is always good and my dad will still be there to support me as well. Not being able to be my mechanic might even be a bigger adjustment for my dad than me!
Being at the races and watching you at the amateur nationals, your program at the race itself is a bit different than others. Can you tell me more about why that is and what the goal is behind it?
Absolutely! It’s not really a secret that an amateur national is a big party for a lot of families and racers. I think a lot of kids kind of lose focus and forget that they’re there to race and they end up having a little too much fun. Don’t get me wrong, my family and I have fun at the races, but the main reason we’re there is to race at a high level. We try to stay in hotels rather than at the track to help clear my head at the end of the day and I do a few other things here that some would say are a little unique on the amateur scene, but I mainly just try to focus on what I can do to perform at my best when I’m at a race.
Knowing you, I’m sure you carry over that same mindset with training too. Do you feel like that mindset you have toward racing and your training has paid off?
Oh for sure. And again, we like to have fun at the track, but we’re there to put in the work and get better. You race how you train and if you’re not focused during your motos it’s going to show up when the gate drops. There have been a lot of hard days pounding out motos where it was just a festival of pain but I know it’s paying off. My results have been getting better on a regular basis and this new deal for me has kind of further validated that my approach and program is working for me.
What’s next for you? Have you been up to Canada yet to meet the team and start testing?
Yeah I’ve been up here for a few weeks to get started and begin testing a few things here and there. It feels good to get the ball rolling with the new crew. I came from riding a Yamaha so it’s not that big of a change, but still just some new things with it being a team environment now. It’s been good and it’s a good group of people that I get to start this next chapter with.
Be on the lookout for Grant and the CCR Yamaha team this summer at select Canadian and AMA Pro Nationals!