Kayla Yaakov: One of America's Fastest Young Racers

Kayla Yaakov is one of the top young motorcycle racers coming out of the United States. She is fast, focused, and building a career in a sport that demands both.

In this episode, Kayla talks about her racing journey so far, the challenges of competing as a young rider, and what she's working toward. We cover her results, her training, and the support system that keeps her moving forward.

This is part of our coverage of the next generation of American racing talent, alongside episodes with Kensei Matsudaira, Kristian Daniel Jr, and Cormac Buchanan.

Transcript

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Angus Norton (00:18.126)
Good day everyone and welcome back. Today we have a special treat for you. We're diving into the world of speed, grit and absolute passion with the rising star here in the US who's already starting to take the racing world by storm. Now over the last few interviews I've done you might have noticed that I profile professional motorcycle racers and coaches and this is a passion of mine because I'm really trying to unlock what drives racers to become professional.

and coaches to become professional. I'm also super interested in diversity, whether that be on the track or in life in general. And I've always believed that track writing is honestly one of the great equalizers. And I think we're on a pretty exciting path with a lot of the young female talent already competing and scoring points at the highest level all over the globe and across all genders. So today I'm going to be introducing Kayla Yakov, and she's someone who I've been following for a long time.

And she's already starting to set the racetrack on fire at the tender age of 16. Now, I know that the term rising star is often used. It can be overused to exaggerate a person's quick pathway to success or stardom. But in the case of Kayla, she's a 16 year old Moto America rider. And honestly, it accurately describes her rapidly ascending career. It's incredible to think that only a few years ago, in fact, four years ago, Kayla was competing in the Mission Mini Cup.

by Motul Championship. I actually watched her and that was when I first became absolutely impressed by where she was going. And in fact, in the summer of 2021, she made an immediate jump to the Moto America Junior Cup Championship midway through the season when she turned 14 and became age eligible. Since then, in less than three years, achieved four wins and four podium finishes in Moto America's entry level class. Now,

During the 2022 season, things changed a little bit. She actually advanced to the Twins Cup class. She achieved top five finishes, including a second place result and a third place finish at the round three of the season at Barber Motorsports Park. And this was actually her debut in the class after sustaining an injury while training just before preseason opening in Daytona round. So.

Angus Norton (02:40.738)
She turned 16 in June of 2023 and that made her age eligible for the supersport class. And she became a fill-in rider initially for the tight-lifts cycle racing's Stefano Mesa, who moved up the superbike as a fill-in rider for the injured Cameron Barbier. Now, Kayla raced Mesa's Kawasaki ZX-6R in the final two rounds of the championship at the Circuit of Americas or COTA.

and also at New Jersey Motorsports Park, two very demanding tracks. And in the final season of a SuperSport race of the season, Kayla made Moto America history by finishing on the podium. And she became the first female ever to reach the SuperSport podium during a Moto America era AMA sanctioned professional road racing. First female ever.

Now it's important to note that Kayla wants to win regardless of who she's racing. The fact that she's 16 years old and a woman is awesome, but that's not her focus. She wants to compete and win with the best. So talking about the best, they're starting to notice her. Ben Spears, a three time AMA Superbike Championship winner and a 2009 World Superbike Champion and also MotoGP race winner has noticed her. Also, Iraldo Ferracchi, a legendary figure in the world of Ducati and

Paolo Ciabatti, the sporting director of Ducati Corsa, amongst others are already noticing her. Now, when Speeds was asked to become the team principal of Bobby and Graham Rahal's newly formed Rahal Ducati Moto Team, that actually started competing this year, 2024. He quickly proceeded to sign Kayla as a teammate with PJ Jacobson. The pair are racing bright yellow Ducati Panigale V2 motorcycles. I have a red one.

Love it. And, you know, they're really defending Ducati's two consecutive class titles, which were won by Josh Herron in 2022 and Xavi Flores in 2023. The thing for me about Kayla that really stands out is her mental toughness, her competitiveness and a belief in herself. This is what really distinguished pro racers from average track day riders, in my opinion. You find a lot of great riders out there that are fast.

Angus Norton (04:59.758)
but don't have that medical, that sort of mental toughness. And Kayla has it in spades. So if you want to understand an amazing writer who's early in their career and want to understand how someone so young can be so mature and so competitive, I encourage you to watch this interview. Well, hey, everyone. It's awesome to be back here and to have another amazing guest who has given me the honor of interviewing her.

And Hailey Yakov is someone that I've been following since she was in Junior Cup. And she competed in the Moto America Junior Cup, which is a class known for showcasing young, talented riders on lightweight motorcycles. And it's something they do in Europe. And it's one of the reasons why there's such an amazing group of Europeans coming out of that part of the world and competing on the world stage. She's a formidable presence in Moto America circuit already.

She's sort of rapidly emerged as one of the sports really promising talents coming out of the US. And clearly there's a backstory there. It's not something that happens overnight. Moto America is the best of the best. You know, I ride in a group and I think I'm pretty good, but I'm not the best of the best. So those of us who ride in a group, when folks like Kayla are passing us, realize that, yeah, we're not really that good. To Judy.

in Motor America began with a passion for racing and from what I've read about Kayla, from a very young age, smaller track bikes and those bikes laid a foundation. But I'm sure there's a lot more to it. You don't get to Junior Cup on its own. I'm sure there's something inside her that not everyone has. And so with that, I wanna welcome you, Kayla. Welcome to the interview and it's awesome to have you here.

I appreciate it. Thank you for making the time to just put me in today. I know we were actually supposed to schedule it for the Brainerd weekend, but I didn't want a session to be delayed like our last race to where I wasn't able to talk to you. So I'm glad you were able to put me in today. Well, no worries. And I know that this track preparation and race prep is so important as much as the work you do on the track. So I'm sure you want to be mentally right.

Angus Norton (07:22.286)
So I'm a fan. You know that I've been a fan since the first time I got my photo taken with you, I think last year. And, it's just a great honor to meet you. so I've just sort of get to know each other a little bit. Now you, you started racing at a very young age, right? And can you tell me a little bit about that first experience and sort of what you were racing was there? I heard that your dad was pretty fast. Someone told me that.

Yeah, yeah, my dad raced cars and bikes, know, bikes for 15 years and did did motocross and road racing. obviously, you know, road racing was his kind of specialty. And, you know, when I was younger, I actually wanted to start with with cars and go karting. And that was actually something, you know, more more so that my dad wanted me to do. And it kind of showed like I.

I enjoyed it, but it wasn't something that I was, I was kind of like, okay, you know, let's go play, let's go play at home. I don't want to, you know, be in the car all the time. but then I kind of was like looking through magazines and I saw my dad in this road race world magazine and I was like, okay, like, this is kind of cool. You know, road racing is, it's for sure. Another thing that I can look at. And so I kind of, was, I'm like three or four at the time. So.

I'm not going to be like, well, won't go to my dad. you know, I was just, I told him I wanted to go out and race and I wanted to race just like he did. And, you know, at that age, it's kind of hard to jump onto a, you know, a road race bike. So we started out in flat track when I was about four years old. you know, did a bunch of that stuff came into a motor cross then at around five or six, and then got into road racing.

which is obviously what I do now at seven. Wow. So you, I mean, you knew even before you were five that there was something about it that you really wanted to do. That's amazing. My son is, I have a, I have a six year old as well. And I've told him until he masters his bicycle, we're not getting him a Honda 50, which would be the next bike we'll give him a dirt bike. He's got to master the bike, the bicycle first. Right. And, and you, were you riding a bicycle?

Angus Norton (09:42.136)
the best at all or did you go straight to like a motorbike? Yeah, so I, you know, those little strider bikes or the bikes without the pedals and you're basically just learning balance. I did that for quite a while. Even before I started racing the go-karts and stuff, I was actually doing the strider stuff and from there we got a JR 50 and then, you know, PWs.

the regular Cobra 50s, stuff like that, and kept climbing that ladder. That's great. Were you raised in a rural area or an urban area? Did you have access to dirt or how did that work? I was pretty much raised in where I live now, which is Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

It's pretty royal. There's not a lot of stuff going on here aside from the tourism and all that stuff for the Civil War things around us. But as for bikes, it's actually pretty decently sized for flat tracks. So that was something that was really accessible for us. Road racing is not. have our closest track even now.

you know, if we're talking about like a Moto America track would be a New Jersey Motorsport Park, which is still about four hours away. So, you know, we got, we still have a little bit of length to go to something like that. But yeah, we did a bunch of flat track down, down here. And, you know, I, I grew up with a lot of the guys I'm actually racing with now. So it's still pretty cool. Well, that's cool. And it's interesting. So I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to visit, Valentino Rossi's ranch.

in Pessaro in Italy, and Pessaro is a really famous area. It's kind of the area where a lot of these great Italian motorcycle brands came from before the Japanese took over in like the 80s. And a lot of these companies went down like Multiband Alley and others. And anyway, I got a chance to visit his flat check. I spoke to a bunch of riders and they were like, yeah, this is how great champions start. And is that normal in the US? Because I'm from New Zealand.

Angus Norton (11:58.038)
Is it normal with us for kids to start on flat track or was that kind of unique to you? No, I mean, if you even look at Hayden, right, Nikki Hayden, that was all the Hayden's did. And obviously all of them were really accomplished motorcycle road racers. even sorry, excuse me, even now, you you look at JD Beach, Hayden Gillum, all those guys that actually grew up in that family, almost the Hayden family.

I mean, they ride flat track pretty much every day. mean, JD Beach was a professional AMA flat track racer up until this year, you know? And they're still insanely fast on bikes. But even, you know, my teammates, PJ and Corey, they had their fair share of flat track experience, especially, you know, AMA and stuff like that too. So I think it's a pretty, pretty common thing for a lot of, especially American road racers.

but road racers in general, I think it's a pretty, common thing. but especially for America, I mean, that's, I think it is the most accessible way aside from motocross to get into bikes. For sure. That's helpful. That's interesting. and so what I've learned when I talk to people like you who are very competitive, you know, I was talking to Mallory last weekend at the track and she just wants to beat everyone. Like she like, we love each other off the track, but we just want to kill each other on the track. And I think that's the difference between someone like.

me who are not super competitive with anyone but myself, right? I'll go to a group and I think I'm probably like the pack in the group thinking I'm okay. You're going to be coaching me in a couple of weeks. So you can tell me if I suck or not. But like, I'm not competitive enough to get on a track and want to beat everyone. So for you, like, clearly you're competitive. was there, was there an age or a time when you realized like, holy shit, I don't like losing. Like I want to win. I want to beat people. Was there a moment where you always liked that?

It was always like that from that first race, you know, even now, like in a class where it's pretty credible to even get into the top 10, you know, I still want to go out there and be everyone. And it's always going to be the same way. you know, even at a track day, you know, you see a guy on a 1000, especially for me, if I see another Moto-Miac guy out there on a 1000, I'll be like, OK, I want to see what times is doing because I want to go out and try to, you know, try to hang with that.

Angus Norton (14:23.63)
But no, I've always been a really competitive person inside and outside of racing. Well, you passed me at the Ridge a couple of weeks ago and like I'm doing like a 205 at the Ridge, so I'm slow, right? But you passed me and so did Mallory on her R7. I was on my 660. I think maybe you guys were having it out a bit together. I'm not sure, but I know you race in different classes, but that's cool. So, okay, so you're competitive. You started at a young age and on...

Definitely been some milestones, but as you think about now that you're racing in the super bike class, right? Super sport, super sport in North America. That's right. Cause you're riding a V2. That's right. And what would you say was your like proudest moment to date? Like, you know, if, you know, for someone so young, not that it means anything, like for you, what's the thing that makes you the proudest?

You know, I think of a couple things, right? Like, obviously last year I was able to get on the SuperSport podium, which was super awesome for me. mean, one of the youngest to ever do it in SuperSport, but also the first female in the Moto America era of racing here to do that. And then, you know, the year before that I was able to win four, really five, but four races in a Junior Cup, which is a pretty...

Pretty cool accomplishment. you know, I was able to go to Europe again that year and get on the podium with this world super bike paddock, which was really awesome. So those are probably the three that really stand out. you know, I've been really fortunate and lucky to have such a good career so far, even though it's just kind of ramping up. Yeah, I've got I always see that picture of you on the podium in Europe like number one. And I'm just like,

It's just so cool. It's just great to see and your parents must be so proud. You must be proud of yourself. so now you also landed like the Ryle family, a pretty famous family in automotive racing. And I noticed that you landed a sponsorship with those guys. And I didn't even know that they're involved in two-wheeled motorsports. so that must have, how did it feel to join that team? was a pretty cool step up, yeah.

Angus Norton (16:47.168)
Yeah, yeah, this is their first year, you know, the the Ray Hall Dupati Moto team with it's myself PJ Jacobson and Corey Alexander, the three riders. And this is the first year trying out bike racing. mean, Graham Ray Hall and even Bobby, they've always been huge fans of motorcycles and motorcycle racing. So this is something that they've kind of had in the works for years. But it's all kind of come together this year and bringing in Ben Spees, who

Obviously that's a huge name in motorsport and obviously a world champion himself. It was huge, know, just to have all of these guys come together and to form just an amazing team and an amazing group of people. It's been really awesome. And, you know, of course, like I said, it's a huge learning curve, but I have a really good group of people behind me. Yeah. Well, you know, and I'm going to, I have to put on

link up here to all your people as well, by the way. And I've been following Rail Motorsports as well, because they actually have a shop as well. They sell Ducatis, right? They're a dealer as well, I think, maybe. Yeah, they have two dealerships and also a paint protection firm as well. Okay, yeah, yeah, I've been following them. And so you touched on learning. And I think this is important point that you just touched on. When I was younger, pretty good at sports, but I wasn't competitive.

with my, I just didn't care about that stuff. but I also didn't like to learn. didn't like anyone telling me what to do. I knew everything. And, honestly, I feel like if I had started writing track any younger than 40, I wouldn't have been progressed as fast as I am. Cause I was not open to learning. I was just like, I'm rewriting on the street for 30 years. I know what I'm doing, but starting older, when you get older, you kind of learn that it's okay to listen. And I've learned so much from listening and learning for you. Like,

But learning, there must be something about you. I don't want you to give away your trade secrets, but there must be something about you that is willing to learn that a lot of people at your age just don't have the patience for. Do you see that or am I on the wrong track? No, no, I completely agree. Right. I think especially kids that grow up in motor sports and even in just highly disciplined sports, they have a certain level of maturity because they know, you know, I have to

Angus Norton (19:12.238)
be able to progress to make it to that next level. So in order to do that, you have to keep learning and you have to take in all the knowledge and all the feedback that you get. So even for me, I have a little bit of extra motivation because the guy telling me what to fix is a world champion. So, okay, I'm going to listen to him. But even so, it's just something you have to keep.

keep an open mind because you know do kind of get into those ruts where you're like okay I'm doing everything I possibly can but then you have to kind of sit yourself down and say okay what what else could I be doing that I really need to you know work on or fix whatever it may be something that I'm struggling with you have to you have to take the the criticism and you have to take the information because it's all super important.

Yeah, that's that's really insightful. And I know that Ben Spears is a huge fan. I've seen him tweet and talk about you and how he found out about you. And I think he there's some story where he found out about you and then called your dad or called someone like I need to meet her or something like what's the backstory with you to like how did you had any I read stuff but I wanted to hear from you. Yeah, so like I didn't really know about their relationship. You know, he had a relationship with my dad because obviously when I'm

11 12 years old, my dad still is managing all my stuff. I'm not really seeing my social media side of things. So he ended up reaching out to my dad and wanting to get me to go to Europe and all the stuff because my dad was trying to get me to that next level and he was trying to, you know, get me to raising professionally and he wanted advice and Ben started kind of following through that. Helped us out a little bit trying to

to get out to Europe and all that kind of stuff. again, I wasn't really sure about, I knew obviously I knew Ben's bees because when I was growing up watching MotoGP, he was still in MotoGP. So he was a guy that I for sure looked up to. So kind of when I learned that I was probably 13, maybe 14 kind of learning, okay, Ben's talking to my dad. That's a really cool thing. He's kind of watching my progress and

Angus Norton (21:33.388)
You know, funny story that I tell a lot of people now is I didn't actually meet them until late 2021 at the Kodo MotoGP round. And, you know, I I'm outside talking to these guys from from the team that I was there with. And this guy comes up to me, he has like this hat on and glasses and like super incognito. And he's like, I really love what you do and you're doing a great job. Blah, blah. Stuff like that. And I was like.

you know, you get a lot of people that are really nice and say things like that. So I was like, oh, thank you so much, blah, blah. And, you know, he kind of like hung out for a second, which I was like, okay, you know, maybe he wants to talk more about, I don't know. But I ended up just talking to the person I was talking to before that again. And he walks away and the lady I was talking to, she's like, it's really awesome that Vince Bees knows you like that. That was Vince Bees? That's what you're talking about? I was like, I'm sorry. And I just ran.

Like I ran to go to go get him because I was like, totally didn't even recognize him. No, but that was the first time actually meeting and we ended up talking a lot more after that because that's when I started actually going to Europe and yeah, at the end of last year, everything just started coming together. We talked a lot more about how to keep progressing and finding those new limits, new goals. And yeah, he put, he put in a good word and we ended up.

working together this year and yeah, I wouldn't want anything else. Yeah, that's so it sounds as though you, you know, you're eager to learn surround yourself with people you trust. And, and you also mentioned sometimes you get in a rut, which as you break through different levels. And I suppose the only way that I can identify with that is, you know, I did like the Yamaha Champs school, I California suit bike schools, did lots of track days, I did coaching of different people. And

And then one day my knee hit the curb and it gave me a big fright. It's like, my God, what's going wrong? And I, shit, I'm dragging my knee, which I know sounds like nothing to you, but for me was like a big breakthrough because I wasn't trying to do it. Just, it just started happening because my lead angle was right. I was, and, and I tried for a long time to get to that point. And I, for me, that was a little breakthrough for me. And then I got to like under two minutes, 10 seconds at the ridge, which you're like, that's so slow. But for me it was a big breakthrough. And so I suppose for you at your level,

Angus Norton (23:58.03)
You're learning, you hit a drive period and when you break through a hump, it like a breakthrough, like whole nother level for you? Or is it just like, how does it feel? Like, it, do you feel like you're unlocking things? Like really unlocking things? Yeah, yeah. Like for me, you know, at this point time, like the times between myself and the, and the leaders are so close. Like we were at a barber just a few weeks ago and I was only point.

I was only about 0.3 off of the front row and I was in like 13th place. Like that's crazy. And that was a qualifying session, right? So, you know, at this point it's not really times. It's more so like position, final position. So for me, you know, breaking into the top five, okay, now I'm on the podium. Okay, now I want to be consistently on the podium. I want to be consistently in the top five. Okay, now I want to win a race. I want to win multiple races. So you kind of, I,

look at it that way. And then end goal, you know, I want to be top 10 in the championship or whatever it may be. But just like minor goals each weekend too, right? Like even even setting something like a top 10 every weekend is really important because you know, it gives you those little boosts every time. Yeah, that's a really interesting way. I've never thought of it that way because the difference of chain your orders literally like fractions of a second or a minute.

Right. Not even that. I mean, a minute's a long time, but like just fractions. And so I suppose at every level, I mean, you look at Formula One, look at Moto GP, Moto Two, by the way, last weekend's Moto Two race. was so good to watch with DJ Roberts. Yeah. I was like, oh, so exciting to watch. Okay, great. So I want to talk a little bit more about your career and what you've learned, but then I want to, I'm going to get into some stuff just to understand a bit more what makes you tick out off the bike because

is clearly I did some stalking of you and like the first question I'd ask here is I heard you play a Pearl Jam riff. Did I hear you play a Pearl Jam riff? you looking at the Pressure Derives? Yeah, yeah. So that was a Nirvana riff. And then the other one I did a Metallica riff which

Angus Norton (26:22.37)
Okay, honestly, I'm gonna be straight up. They kind of did me dirty with that first riff. That is not a good acoustic guitar riff, but the Nothing Else Matters one, that was fine. They put that in, that was a good one. no, yeah. play guitar? I listened to, yeah, I I play guitar, I play bass, I play saxophone. I dabble in other things as well, but those are the three that I'm pretty good at.

That's cool. I'm a big, if you could see to my left, I have about 200 jazz albums on vinyl, literally Blue Note Jazz. That's called Blue Note Jazz. now you spend time at the Ridge, which I think is the least famous, but one of the most underrated tracks in the US. And you're very close to where, of course, where Kirk Calhoun was raised, which is in about an hour and a half.

from there. Aberdeen, Washington is where he was from. you know that? I did, yeah. We actually, was able to go out there last year. I did another track time event and it was, I think the weekend after the actual Ridge Race. So I had some downtime and my dad and I went out, went up to Aberdeen and actually went to the ocean because we can actually drive on the beaches out in Washington. So we drove on the beach in our rental

car, which is probably not the best thing for the rental car, but it was a lot of fun. But yeah, no, we went, we went into the Kirkland Memorial and that was pretty cool because, obviously like when I listened to music and I think about music, that obviously Nirvana is one of the best bands to come out, especially at the nineties, but in general in kind of changing the sound. But no, it was, I was able to see that and that was a, that was a really cool moment.

And when did you discover your love for music? Was that later, like after you discovered motorcycling or were you sort of riffing away as a two year old? Well, so like playing music, I was a little bit older, I was probably seven or eight when I started actually like trying to play, play guitar at that point. But I grew up with music, you my mom and both my mom and dad, they were huge into

Angus Norton (28:42.646)
into music, especially like rock and metal. was always something that I loved. And even like pop music, not as much now, but kind of the early 2000s, 2010s pop music. That's cool. And so you've got that outlet off the bike. And are you the sort of person that likes to listen to music before you race? Like, do you have a ritual? know, I'm not sure how much to know about the Yamaha Champion School. You probably know about them.

They tell you, got to have a ritual. Everyone has a ritual before they get on the bike. Do you have a ritual where you listen to music or not? Yeah, so I do have a ritual, but honestly, this year it hasn't consisted of music. In years prior, it has. But I don't know. I think it's more so our hot pit has always been so far from our actual pit. I have been too lazy to bring my

AirPods with me and carry them in a separate thing. no, I usually it would consist of music, but honestly this year it hasn't. But you know, honestly, when we're on the grid, my dad always plays a specific song every single race. And it's always the same song, which is a God's Max song called I Stand Alone. And it's more so a running joke now because

I've probably heard that song a million times and I'm kind of sick of it, but we've done it for so long. It's like, okay, you know, this is the thing and okay, now we're going to go race. Well, I also know that you've been very public about this and I see it on your helmets and I see it on your gear that another big motivation for you, someone who's always with you is your brother, right? And my son's name is Dylan, by the way. So we share that and

To the extent you want to talk about that, it looks to me as though that is the most powerful force you had behind you every day. And it's so great to see your pride for him and love for him. And we don't have to talk about it you don't want to, but I know it's on your helmet and so clearly you want people to know who he was and what he's meant to you. Yeah, of course. mean, even on my helmet and I made it super important that on the back of my leathers I have on the underarms,

Angus Norton (31:02.146)
the logos for Dylan as well because you know that's something I look at every day. You know that's he was a huge role model for me obviously being my brother and an older brother you know you always look up to them and obviously that was just that was a huge loss for obviously my entire family but for sure for me because you know we didn't get a lot of chances to see him since he was out in Philadelphia he went to Temple University got his degree but

It was all during COVID, so we didn't get to visit him very much. in the last few months of him staying with us here at the house, obviously before he passed, it was great because I finally got to reconnect with him again as I was older. Because I'm a 10-year-old kid before he goes off to college, you don't really want to hang out with your 10-year-old sister all the time. So that was something that was awesome.

You know, he was one of the first people to text me after I got my first podium in Moto America. yeah, it always holds a special place in my heart. So I make sure that this is not just something for me, but I want to do it for him as well, because I know this is, he would be so, so if he saw where I'm at now and the stuff I've been able to do. Well, I think it's really special, but you're able to talk about him and have him so public, you know, because you're becoming more and more of a

public figure, you know, I've been getting this magazine for years and it just so happened you're on the front cover. And of the latest issue here in June. And so that's cool that you're doing that. And I think it's wonderful. Clearly your family, you talk about you talk about Ben Spears and you talk about coaches and mentors on the track, but clearly, I mean, I can tell when I very briefly met your father that I think you guys had a trailer together at the park last year. And

that he's super proud of you too. tell me a little bit about, to the extent you want to share, tell me a little bit about, you've obviously got a mom and a dad, and I'm assuming they had a big influence on you as well, and how they shaped you and the person you are, Yeah, when it comes to kind of being almost like a figure now, my mom's pretty afraid of public speaking.

Angus Norton (33:26.828)
I don't necessarily get that one from her, I tried to, you know, hold a lot of the morals that she has. She's a really kind person when it comes to that. And same with my dad, you know, I tried to, outside of the public speaking thing, I tried to carry a lot of the same traits and just be smart about, you know, the decisions that I'm making because, you know, as I'm getting older now, I'm making decisions for myself. So, you know, he has a lot of business experience, especially since he owns his own businesses that I, I actually, you know,

They used to be on my suits, now it's more team oriented stuff, but his businesses and stuff like that. So I try to carry both of their traits along with me. But yeah, being almost a figure now in, you know, especially the side of American racing is pretty cool. And I tried to do my best to put out the best example possible.

So tell me who your sponsors are and how they found you or did you find them or like, cause you know, lot of races I meet, you know, they spend so much time just trying to get sponsorship. It's a big part of, and you know, I know it doesn't come easy, but being a performer and a winner helps. So tell me about who your sponsors are and how they found you. like, did you, when the sponsor comes to you, do you just take anyone or are you quite, there a, is there, there some principles for you around who you want to be associated with?

Yeah, I mean, of course there's always some things here and there, like you can't take every sponsorship because it might not fit my persona, but also it might not fit my team. And that's something specifically this year that we've had to figure out quite a bit because with the Royal Decati Moto team, they've brought in a lot of people, lot of sponsors that have helped make this program as great as it is. And with

with certain sponsors, say like an exhaust sponsor, I can't take any other sponsor than Termignoli, which is what we use. So, you know, obviously now we kind of have to filter out a couple of sponsors here and there, but you know, any support is good support. you know, my sponsors, the long time sponsors for sure, I've been Mission, you know, they've done so much for me over the past three years and it's been amazing just working with them.

Angus Norton (35:50.882)
And just seeing the cardboard cutouts every weekend is always something that's pretty funny. well, there's cereal or something like a breakfast cereal that I saw you on. There's something. They have like chips that are shaped like motorcycles and stuff like that. Yeah. I saw those mission. So help. Yeah. So they, do like tortillas and like wraps, tortillas, salsa, chips, all that kind of stuff. So

It's pretty cool and they have a lot of options too because they're low carb, low calorie options. They're always like, it's super accessible. anyways, yeah, that's probably one of the main sponsors that really helps me out. HGC, I've been with them for again, another three years. HGC helmets, I wouldn't be in anything else, honestly. It was such a game changer, like going into a season I actually had, I was...

basically forced to wear the helmet because I was with the team that was wearing the helmet. And that was the best thing that could have happened because that helmet fit me so perfectly that I haven't had any major incidents with that helmet so far. So I'm really fortunate. Alpine Stars this year helped out a lot. I've been wearing their boots since I was little. So that was a huge thing for me as well. I have a lot of

I sponsors that help out. But, you know, especially the ones on my helmet that are there every weekend, Taylor Home Comfort, popped on this year and they've been huge. You know, huge thanks to Anthony. But all of our team sponsors are super important. And those are the people that obviously make that team as great as it is. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it must be such a balance. You know, as a professional trying to balance all those things. Maybe one day.

you'll be able to sell something like this. So this is Lash Vespagaro's knee puck. Assigned knee puck. A knee slider that he used when he won his first GP race. Yeah. Okay, so I love this stuff. So maybe one day, like, I'll have like one of yours, you know.

Angus Norton (38:16.11)
Yeah, I've got like, I've got stuff all over the place. So that's awesome. So, you know, I want to make sure that I'm really respectful of your time. And I've got some questions around. We've talked about your support system. We've talked about your career and your personal life and all the influences you've had. Do you ride on the street? No, I don't. I've we've had this conversation a lot recently, you know, myself and

some of my sponsors, but I just was able to get my driver's license. So I'm just into this realm of being able to kind of get these things. But, you know, for me, if I were to ride on the street, it would be in like a group setting. Like if the Ray Hall guys wanted to do like a group ride, I would do something like that. But I can't see myself really riding on the street alone just because of how dangerous it is, especially now.

And my commitments to you you kind of think I can't really skydive like I can't do that stuff. So it's like risk versus reward on a lot of things. but yeah. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's, that's, that's, hearing this. There are, are some like pro writers that I see on Instagram, like writing on the street a lot and doing crazy stuff. And I always wonder like, man, like that's an expensive accident if something happens to you.

Interesting. Yeah, of course I forgot that you're at that age where you're just getting a driver's license, is crazy. Now, do you have a favorite track? I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but I won't be heard if you say it's not The Ridge, by the way. It's okay. No, that's honestly one of probably in my top five is The Ridge. It's just because of how technical it is. And that's really what I like, the technical flowing stuff.

My favorite is Porto Mão in Portugal and also Barbara Motorsports Park, which is in Alabama. You know, just both of those tracks are super fast flowing. You know, you have to have perfect laps, each lap to be consistent, you know, to win a race there. And that's something that I really, really like. You know, as much as I love Road America, which is the track we just were at, it's one of those tracks where

Angus Norton (40:42.338)
you just have to play the draft and you have to have a fast bike, you have to be there, that kind of stuff, where it's not as much rider input. Not to say that you can't lose a lot of time because you're not going fast enough, but if you're not necessarily the best rider at a track like Barber or even the Ridge, it'll show on your lap time. And I think that's something that I really like. I'm looking forward to teaching me.

So I'm going to turn up with my V2, which I've purely for track. And I'm really curious what you think of it, because I'm moving from, you know, 400s to 660s to V2. And I think if I had started riding on the track as a younger person, I would have turned up on a leader bike and would have been the wrong thing. So I'm really glad that I did that way, but I'm super excited for you to coach me. It's going to be so much fun. okay, so you turn up in Europe, right? And I don't know how many people know you.

And I try not to bring up the gender thing at all because it doesn't matter. Like it's just not important. And I'm like, I don't care. But you turn up in Europe. I'm curious that the tracks feel really, really, really, really, really different. And then when you took your helmet off, were people like, wait a minute, like, tell me about that. Like, was it your first trip overseas in your life, by the way, or was it? No, I've

I did a full season of this cup called the Blue Crew R3 Cup, European R3 Cup. And so I did a full season of that aside from the last race. So I got this experience Europe and then obviously last year I went to Spain, did a Spanish championship in between Moto America rounds. But no, mean, you know, some tracks, most tracks, like when you look at the GP grade tracks, they're a little bit different.

You know, it's almost as if you had a track like the Ridge where it's so smooth and or Barber where it's so smooth and amazing, but that was on like steroids and it was like, you know, double the width. know, you have gravel traps instead of just grass and just the paddocks are a lot bigger. But honestly, you know, the layouts, I think you can only go so far with that.

Angus Norton (43:06.54)
You know, I've been to Mugello last year. I got the chance to go to Mugello and I was actually pretty surprised because it was a lot smaller and narrow than I thought it would be. you know, the biggest thing as a rider that I think of is the paint, you know, the paint and the curbing. when I go to Europe, you know, a lot of the paint and curbing you can just be fully free on. It has just as much grip as the track, maybe even more at some places. Wow.

But here, that's not always the case. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, I I suppose I've ridden Laguna, Thunderhill, Sonoma, The Ridge, not as many tracks as you, but if I go to Thunderhill, I'm sure you'd Have you been to Thunderhill before? No, but I know the layout. So one of the layouts. Well, they had that backtrack, which is really small and technical, then the front track, which is bigger. I suppose it's kind of almost kind of comparative, I suppose. I you talk about the...

different types of tracks and, and I didn't know about your R3 experience in Europe, by the way, that's cool. I clearly wasn't stalking you enough on social media. But so to the extent you want to talk about it, like you take your helmet off and people that don't know who you are, like, is there a competitive part of you that's like, hell yeah, girls rock or you just like, no, I'm just like everyone else, like, help me understand.

I know it's kind of a weird question, but I'm just curious. Like, obviously people are going to react because not everyone understands. And so you, whether you like it or not, then whether you like it or not, you're like kicking ass in a sport traditionally dominated by men. So people are going to wonder, like, so how do you deal with that? does it, you know, tell me about that. Yeah. You know, for the most part, I don't really care. You know, I'm there with everyone else and I want to be, I want to be better than everyone else, obviously, but

You know, I'm there just like everyone. But there are some instances, especially like when I go to Europe, because kind of here now I've been able to know most of the people I'm racing with and they kind of know what to expect. But, you know, when I go to Europe and people don't really know me, you can kind of tell they're not really taking me seriously at first. So it does make it a little bit better when I take my helmet off, you know, at the end of a good day and they're kind of like, OK, now I get it.

Angus Norton (45:33.614)
For the most part, just I understand as everyone else just taking the helmet off and trying to chill out, hang out with some of the other guys that race and, you know, be just be like everyone else. Yeah. And that's gonna be hard as you as you grow and mature and you're an incredibly mature person. You know, you're you're going to be successful. I know you are. People are going to continue to just love watching you ride.

And it's and that can all be a lot of pressure to write. And and so my observation is, you know, you're doing fantastic. And and the reason I really went to this question of like you're blazing a trail regardless of gender, like you're watching you in Europe is amazing. Watching here is amazing. So you're an inspiration for everyone, regardless of how they identify. And I'm curious for you, like, you know, what advice is kind of weird asking a young person this, but what advice would you give young racists?

who are just starting out and dream of sort of racing at the professional level. there, or is this all secret sauce that you don't want to give away, Kayla? No, it's just, you kind of have to remember it takes time, right? It's not something that's going to happen overnight. You're not going to magically be Mark Marquez in the morning. There's nothing you'll do that'll get you there. You just have to consistently just keep improving and...

That's even something that I have to keep telling myself because I get caught up in it a lot. I want to be the fastest. I want to always be the fastest. But sometimes you have to say, I have to take this slow. I have to work my way up to this. So yeah, I would for sure just say, take your time. Really enjoy it. Because now thinking back of how

easy it was when I was growing up and how serious I took it. I wouldn't have taken it as seriously as I did. You know, obviously it was good that I did take it serious and was really focused and I would keep that. the fact that I put a lot of pressure on myself for stuff that not necessarily didn't really make an impact, but something that that wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was. Right. Yeah, that's, that's really insightful. And

Angus Norton (47:51.786)
It's interesting because I interviewed Misty and she was racing, she was one of the only women racing in AMA 30 years ago, And she has been a coach for the California Super Bowl at school for 20 years and she's really fast and awesome. And then interviewing Mallory who's a different generation and she's great and just sort of meeting you all at different stages. then it's just for me, it's really cool to watch. And so I think people really appreciate that advice.

And so I've got to get a couple more questions, but you're still in school, right? So how do you manage that? How are you growing up? ask you her grades, but you're still in school. So that's important to you as well, right? Yeah. Yeah. Education is something that's always been important, especially for my mom. My mom's always valued my education a lot. so if I...

I don't get good grades, I'm not racing. And that's always something that we've talked about. But no, I do online now. I used to actually go into school and I guess participate there. But since we've traveled so much and it's just constantly traveling, I would miss too much school to actually, I guess, learn anything if I would be there. But no, mean, now I'm doing online school in the fall. I'll be a senior.

And I should be graduating early, which is always a good thing. But I'll probably be taking some dual enrollment classes to maybe even do some college stuff at the, at the end of the year. And, yeah, that's cool. Well, it's, it's a lot to manage. and now you're also teaching, which I think is cool. I'm really, really curious about how you, or why you decided to, to teach, especially like teach slow old men like me.

which you'll be doing in a couple of weeks. So, by the way, I'm really scared. I'm a big Ducati person. I have a lot of many motorcycles and realizing that they're not bikes that you ride to Starbucks and hang out on. They're actually made for the track. It's really important if you want to listen. But I'm kind of scared to get on a track. And so like, I'm really looking forward to your help. And I'm not...

Angus Norton (50:14.13)
And I want to learn and say, how did you decide to construct? Was that something you purposely decided to do? Or did someone reach out to you? You know, it kind of just started with, you know, doing some local races at the end of last year and even some track days. And, you know, I would see some people struggling and I just I kind of wanted to help out. Like I had a little bit of knowledge of maybe this or that. And I just wanted to kind of give them, you know, not only my feedback, but just

try to help them move in the right direction. And, you know, I think for me, what kind of pushed me to do it, because obviously there are a lot of coaches out there. There are a lot of people that, maybe even some racers that do coaching, but you know, there's a lot of track day coaches and stuff like that as well. But for me, I think it was something that was unique because I'm still learning and I'm still figuring things out on my own.

which gives me a really fresh perspective on a lot of things. So I think that's really useful as someone who's continuing to learn to kind of articulate a little bit better to the people I'm trying to help out. So yeah, going into this year, that was something that I thought was a really good idea. Outside of racing, you're probably only gonna race for 25 years, 30 years at most, right? You kind of have to look to that after side. What am I gonna do after racing?

And we're starting to think about that. So this coaching gives me another outlet to go to when I'm done professionally racing and also just something for me to focus on. I enjoy helping people. yeah, it was a good choice for me. Well, I'm looking forward to it. have a whole day together, so it's going to be fun. And it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Keith Code. And he literally wrote the book on how to ride a motorcycle in the 80s.

Um, and, he coached, uh, know, Rocco Landers, Joe Roberts, he's coached some of the best and, um, and, I found, I asked this question of Misty and Mallory. said, Hey, like if you're starting out, you know, should you start with coaching? And Misty's like, absolutely start with coaching. And Mallory's like, no, just get on a bike and go ride. Like, do you feel like, like, do you feel like it's important to get coaching from day one, even if it's just understanding what a track looks like and turn points and, and how to think about, um,

Angus Norton (52:39.692)
where the apex is in your line and vision? Or do you think people should just jump on a bike and hit the track? Like, what's your view? Because I asked them this question. Well, I think, you know, it depends on where you're at also in your life, but also like in your riding. You know, I think it's always important, especially as like a kid, you don't want to be pushed and feel like you're pressured by a lot of people. So, you know, as a kid starting out, kind of, you know, you want your mom or dad to be there and maybe some coaching here and there by someone.

someone faster, even a professional racer, would say that's a good idea. But even then you're kind of in this developmental stage where you're not, you're not really understanding how, what that means. Like if I tell you to go on to turn one and release the brakes here, you might be like, I don't know, I don't know what you're saying, right. As a child. but I think, you know, as you get older and you're still trying to figure it out, there's, there's levels of coaching.

Right? If you're just starting to ride a bike, I think it's super, super good to go into one of those schools. Like it's, it's super helpful not only for the track, but also for being safer on the street. but you know, for me, I'm doing more specialized coaching for, for guys that want to get faster, you know, girls that want to get faster and, you know, just think about things a little bit differently when they approach a track. And, really the moral of this is.

Yeah, I think coaching is really important. But it all really just depends on where you're at in your life and in your writing. Yeah, that's that's great. Yeah, at the Ridge, I always argue with people about like, do you double apex seven and seven and seven a or do you just apex seven a like, these sort of I get into these questions that people because all the coach over scores like you got a double apex and then the race is like, no, I take the race line. And so I'm looking forward to working with you on that. I this can be fun. So

Look, we're on I want to make sure I'm respectful for you. Xana, you're getting ready for your race. And I want you to tell me about how people you know, if folks are interested in investing in your career, they want to follow you as a racer as a fan, they want to have like, obviously, you're building up a following. And so how would you how would you like people to contact you? Do you have the socials and all that stuff? Is there a website? I can put all that up here, by the way, but

Angus Norton (55:03.31)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All my all of my social media is pretty pretty decked out. got everything on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok threads, Twitter. I'm probably forgetting something else, but you know, those are all the social media platforms you can follow me on. Obviously through Moto America, watching Moto America Super Sport this year. I'm number 19, not 31 this year, but we're number 19.

It's an old hat. I have to a new hat. But yeah, we have our own website as well. I believe it's just kayleyyacob.com or kayleyyacobracing.com, one or the other. But I'll figure that one out. But no, all of my stuff is on there from accomplishments to other links to videos I've had before or other interviews. And then, yeah, where to donate or help out if you want to help sponsor us for a weekend.

Everything's up there. So people can sponsor you. So I have a company, for example, I could sponsor you for a weekend. And what does that look like? Like you get like, like a little logo somewhere or like, how does that work? Yeah. So for, for, sponsorships, right this year, what we've done is, each weekend we've been able to rent out a helmet spot. you know, obviously being on teams now, kind of the helmet is your own personal thing. so

Each weekend what we'll do with the sponsorship is someone will come in. They'll obviously ask for a sponsorship for the weekend, which is always really appreciated. And what we'll do is we'll do a video coming into the weekend about the sponsorship, showing off the logos, the helmets, and I'm wearing that all Moto America weekend and then any training up until the next Moto America weekend where we have a different sponsor. That's cool. And I have to say,

I was very jealous of your suit when I saw it the original couple of weeks ago, your suit looks like it's like made for you. Like I have a Dynastis suit off the shelf, you know, and I think it's pretty awesome. But I looked at your suit. like, man, that's been made for you. Like, what was that suit? Who made that for you? Yeah, they're they're all our star suits. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And then they make them they custom make them for you? Yeah. Yeah. And that was

Angus Norton (57:25.79)
actually a really cool process because I actually wore Alpine Stars a couple of years ago, another custom suit and obviously I've grown quite a bit over those few years. So it was pretty funny going back and trying to squeeze in my other leathers to see if it would fit again. no, it's custom tailored and all good to go. That is so cool. Cool. Well, look, it's been an absolute pleasure and what an inspirational person you are.

really honored to spend time with you. I know everyone that follows this channel will live as well. And I need to upgrade my hat, which I'll have to do before I see you next. And I found a website too, with new merch. Yeah, I remember your first website. It took a while. I think you were just kidding. running out of the stuff and it took like a few months, but I think you guys have got it rolling now. That's my final question actually is,

You and I, when I asked you at the Ridge, like what's next, I think you had talked about Worldwide Superbike. I'm like, what is your dream of next? Like in the last few minutes, like I want to leave people with like, you got this, sort of message. Yeah, that final goal for me would for sure be racing in World Superbike, in the Superbike category. I mean, you know,

A MotoGP offer is always something that you can't really pass up. But I think I have a lot of really good people behind me, especially with Ben, where when we make these decisions of where we should go and when we should do it, he's the guy to talk to and he's going to guide me in the right direction. So for sure, World Superbike is my end goal. That's awesome. Well, I'm keeping this hat because maybe one day it'll be in the Baba Museum.

There is something uniquely Kiwi at the Barbie Museum. Do you know what that is? The Britain motorcycle. Oh, yeah. I've seen that there. That's a country. Yeah. So we're pretty proud of that. And McLaren Motorsports, McLaren, F1 McLaren. So we're a little country, but I'm thinking this will be in the Barbie Museum one I'm going to keep this. Maybe I should like frame it or something.

Angus Norton (59:45.842)
I'm serious. I'll have you sign it when I see it. Kayla, thank you. Go back to your life. Get mentally ready for the race this weekend and we've all got your back. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. No worries, Kayla. See you. Bye. Yeah, we'll see you. Bye.