From America to Europe: Kristian Daniels Jr’s MotoGP Journey Begins

At just 16, Kristian Daniel Jr. is already racing on some of the most legendary tracks in the world — all as part of the elite Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. In this episode of Young Guns, we sit down with Kristian to explore his journey from local circuits in the U.S. to the world stage in Europe.

We talk about what it takes to earn a spot in the Rookies Cup, the intensity of international competition, and how he’s navigating life as one of America’s best hopes for future MotoGP success.

Kristian also opens up about his friendship with fellow U.S. racer Kensei Matsudaira, the mental side of racing, and the support system that keeps him grounded.

🚨 Follow Kristian Daniel Jr.:
Website: https://kdjrracing.com
Instagram: @kdjrracing

🏁 Support His Journey:
[Add team contact or Patreon link if available]

🎧 And check out past episodes featuring:

• Kayla Yakov
• Kensei Matsudaira
• Cormac Buchanan

Subscribe and leave a review if you’re following the next generation of MotoGP talent.

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.238)
Well, g'day everyone. So what does it take to race a motorcycle at the highest level before you even know how to drive a car? Well, that's a question that I asked recently of Christian Daniels Jr.

And today I'm joined by him. Christian is one of the most promising young road racers to come out of the United States, maybe in a generation. At just 15 years old, Christian is already racing on some of the most iconic tracks in the world.

Majadlo Jerez, the Red Bull ring. All of this is part of the Red Bull Junior MotoGP Rookies Cup. Now the Rookies Cup is the first step on the ladder towards MotoGP stardom.

It's an incredible competition. Tens of thousands of kids applied for this competition every year and they only accept 11 kids. Think about that for a moment. This has been the same proving ground that many of Christians heroes such as Jorge Martin, Pedro Costa, Juan Mir and of course Marc Marquez have proved themselves on their way to MotoGP level racing.

But Kristen's journey didn't just start on those tracks. It began much closer to home on go-kart tracks and mini-moto circuits in Southern California.

Speaker 1 (01:43.596)
His father, Christian Sr., a racer himself, introduced him to bikes at a young age. And it was immediately clear that this wasn't just a hobby. It was an obsession, precision, talent at full throttle.

Speaker 1 (02:02.798)
From the early days in the Avale scene, Christian rose fast. But what stands out isn't just his speed. Like a lot of these young racers, it's the maturity on and off the bike that always impresses me when I meet these kids. His understanding of racecraft, his physical discipline, and his mindset. He trains already like a pro, thinks like a pro, and competes.

like a future world champion.

Now he's part of the elite Dawna talent pipeline and Christian spends most of his year in Europe chasing milliseconds and gaining experience in this fiercely competitive field. Often thousands of miles away from home. So in our conversation, we're gonna get into all of it. How he manages life on the road as a teenager.

What it's like racing under pressure with the eyes of MotoGP World on him. How he prepares physically and mentally for back to back weekends of racing. And what he's learning from being part of a global paddock at such a young age.

This is more than just a racing story. It's about what happens when talent, discipline and sacrifice come together early in life. And it's a rear window into the making of a professional athlete long before the lights go out on a MotoGP grid. So let's get into it. Let's go meet Christian. Christian Daniel Jr. Welcome to the podcast, man.

Speaker 2 (03:51.278)
Thank you. Yeah, super nice to have me here. Honestly, it's, I love doing podcasts because I like talking to a lot of the fans and obviously people who love the sport a lot. I mean, obviously you've been following me for a little bit for a pretty long time. You've been following Kormak for a long time. You've been following a lot of a few people in my circle for quite a long time. So it's really nice to finally talk to you.

Yeah, well, it's an honor. It's an honor to talk to you, honestly. You helped me regain my youth when I meet young writers like you. And, you know, I've been thinking a lot about this and, you know, you're one of a small group of American writers that has a real shot. And we haven't had that for a long time from the U.S. It's been since not since maybe some of the old guys that are even older than me, Ben Spees, I think, was the last MotoGP writer.

that come out of the US. Although we obviously have Joe and Moto2. So yeah, it's great to meet you and hear about your journey. And I know you and your dad have been grinding hard. So where are you right now, Christian?

Well right now I'm actually in sunny Barcelona, enjoying a little bit of the weather before we go out to Mugello for the next race. And basically just doing some preps riding the 600 and karting tracks because there's like a million here in Barcelona. But yeah, enjoying the sun.

That's awesome. so, so remind me, you're writing in the Red Bull Rookies Cup right now in Europe, right?

Speaker 2 (05:22.242)
Yeah, I'm riding in the Red Bull, well, they like to put it as the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. That's like the full name, but yeah, that's the championship I'm racing in right now. Which basically, we race in almost all of the European rounds, side by side with MotoGP. And we kind of just get a lot of exposure and we try to win a championship.

That's fantastic. So you've got role models running around the paddock everywhere. Well, I suppose like before we sort of wind forward, it'd be cool just kind of to wind back a little bit because I know that you've been racing for, riding for a long time. And I'm really curious, like what was your sort of first memory on a motorcycle? Was there something that really hooked you?

Well, I wouldn't say it was necessarily me being on a motorcycle, but I'd say it was the first time I went to a MotoGP race. So I went to a MotoGP race when I was four, Austin, Texas, and I was with my dad and my dad is, he's a super fan. Still is, but he was more back then, you know, cause he didn't have to pay an incredible amount for all the racing I've been doing so far. But basically that was the same year that Marquez had won his first race in Austin, Texas in MotoGP.

It was super special because I had got to see him. I wouldn't want say I met him, but I saw him in person and took a photo with him. And I think that kind of just sparked, it sparked what started this journey because I don't know, meeting someone that energetic and that young, it really like inspired me to do what he's doing, you know? And I guess I just love speed. I gotta say that every time I hop on a new bike, feels, it feels amazing, you know? So yeah, I think that was the...

That was the first initial spark for me that started this career.

Speaker 1 (07:06.446)
Yeah, that's great. Well, what that's a great memory to be there for his first race I was in Austin actually this year for motor GP and we were gonna hook up but we didn't get around to it You're pretty busy. Yeah So it's great. It's great to make it now. And so you said your dad's a super fan. Is it your dad ride ride track race? What what's what's his gig?

Well basically what happened was, he, let's say he just got, I don't know, he ran out of skill, basically. No, but, so he used to, and that's also kind of what got me into riding bikes and more club racing back in the States. he, he used to ride at karting tracks and I used to come with him, watch him when I was younger. And it got to a point where I started riding so much, I actually started beating him. He actually had to start trying.

He started crashing and then he was like, well, my body's too old to be doing all, well, not too old, but it just stopped. My body's not built to be like injured like this. And I think the last time he's been on a, like on a racetrack with me, like riding, I think it was an apex when I was eight or nine and he high sided and he broke his collarbone. And that was like, that was the last string for him. He was like, okay, I can't, you know, I gotta be a mechanic now.

mechanic and just work, focus on that and don't ride anymore. So yeah, he used to ride. I hope he does get back on it once I kind of make it to world championship. has a bit more free time or whatever. I do hope he gets back on the bike, but for now he's like you said, he's on the grind. So yeah.

know it's really interesting hearing both sides of the journey and the story. you know, as you know, we interviewed Kenzay a few months ago and very similar. Now you mentioned Apex, that's the local track that you sort of grew up racing at in LA, is that right?

Speaker 2 (08:55.746)
Yeah, that's basically it's a track where I've probably met Ken say the most at and many other writers that I was riding with a lot in club racing, etc. in the States. And yeah, I think I think Apex and a few other tracks, but Apex was probably the main one.

Yeah, well shout out to those guys because they're developing some they're bringing some talent forward. Are they are set like a mini track or a carving track? It's not a full size racetrack, right?

Yeah, I'd say it's a carding track, that's for sure. But honestly, it's a really good developing track because there's kind of every type of corner there. There's a lot of hard breaking corners, a lot of switchbacks, a lot of fast corners. So it of has a bit, a little bit of everything. But I think it's like you said, Apex Center and also shout out to John Hopkins. They're really, really trying to make the championship out their work. The Ovales and the, you know, import of Ovales.

So John Hopkins is really getting it set up with Apex Center and honestly what I saw, went there in the winter time. What I saw over there was honestly it could be a start of something that's super special. So I'm really happy that they're trying to build something so good.

And on that topic, I'm curious because you and I talked offline a little bit about US talent and we're to get into that as we go through the podcast. the apex, and I'll put some pictures up here of the center, do you see a lot of tracks like that in Europe, like a lot of the kids growing up on tracks like that in Europe? Or is it quite rare in the US to see that type of development center essentially?

Speaker 2 (10:24.206)
Honestly, so in Europe you can see it everywhere. Like I gotta say there's millions of carding tracks and there's millions of let's say coaches, people who want to just teach younger riders or just make schools to group people. In the States it's honestly not, there's not many people. I think there's one in Florida that might be out there, F, SF, mean SLO, Mini GP. I know for a fact that John Hopkins is making the Apex Center work, which I'm super happy about.

And there's not many things and there's less kids like that. I think that's the biggest problem right now is the fact that just there's not difference in between how many kids that are training out here like that in Europe is like it's a it's worlds different to like the states. So it's not the same. That's for sure.

Yeah, well, I'm looking forward to unpacking that as we sort of get through the path because obviously, you know, you talked about Austin and your, your sort of eyes came wide open to the sport. What sort of sports, you know, were you doing before then? Would you say you were competitive? You're a competitive person. Do you do other sports still today? Like are you the sort of person that's just always been into competing and winning or did it just kind of happen by mistake?

No, think honestly my personality has always been about competing, to be honest. I've always wanted to be like the best at everything I do. I think that's why I get quite frustrated quite a lot, like a lot, like let's say playing video games. I get really frustrated because I want to be the best and it's frustrating when I lose. But no, basically before racing, I tried BMX. I did that for about a year or two. I tried basketball. I tried piano. I tried a lot of things. So I was like,

into music for a little bit and I mean my dad basically what he was trying to do he was just trying to like get me off of the path of racing like to see if there's anything else because I was very set at a young age but that was the only thing I had my eyes on and the moment I had the age and also the time was kind of right after I learned how to ride a bicycle obviously racing BMX my dad was like okay I give up we can race we can start racing now so now I'm 16

Speaker 1 (12:30.798)
So how old are you now? Okay, right. Cause you're talking about, you know, at a young age, okay, that's great. So it's interesting. So you're, you're competitive. Um, it's a tradition, which in bicycles, because I, you know, I always talk about bicycles. Um, at the end of the day, it's a gyroscope, just like a motorcycle. And if it wants to stay upright, it's the only thing that makes it fall over is what's the force on top. And I'm curious for you. Um, so a lot of races that I meet, regardless of age or level, um,

I interviewed Matt Oxley a few months ago. Matt's one of the greatest MotoGP journalists ever, a man winner and things. And he said to me, like, hey man, races at the heart are killers. They just want to kill everything on the track. But you get them off the track and they can be completely different. And I meet a lot of races like you or Kenzay and I'm trying to imagine you guys as killers, but you know what I mean. But when you're on the track, when you put that helmet on, the part's on your mind, huh? You just want to win.

I mean, to a certain extent, now my goals are kind of changing a bit. It's not all about winning, I'd say. It's more about just learning because the end goal stays the same. I want to make it to MotoGP and win multiple championships. That's my end goal. So honestly, everything that comes before that is just learning process. And if you get a win along the way, then perfect. But there's many people that haven't won everything, but they've shown

great prospects and arrive to MotoGP and they're really fast. yeah, mean, I am a killer, that's for sure. I know I can beat everyone on the track when I have everything right at mind and my feeling, the bike, when everything's correct, I know I'm a killer. So yeah.

When was the first time you felt like, this is what I want to do, like not just a hobby. Like, do you remember the first time what it felt like when you were like, hey, I think I want to make this my career.

Speaker 2 (14:24.27)
I think honestly the first time when I was really like I want to make this my career was back in 2019 when me and my dad we flew over to basically test with or not a test but it was like a wild card kind of in a metric kit 50 championship in a cat in a catalan championship and basically I rode a bike that I've never ridden before because it was like a it was a race bike it was race built and the only bikes I've ridden before

were 50cc hondas and a modified version of that 50cc. obviously getting onto this bike and I did pretty well. I remember correctly I did like P10 in the first race and in the second one I was second and then I crashed out in the last lap. But I remember that like that really made me like say I want to race again. And that was the first moment I think that I was like I was really like okay I really want to race.

So that sounds like that was like one of your first sort of aha milestones and I'm sure these on the path so far has been even more. Do you as you think about like some of your biggest milestones after that, like what would be sort of a two or three that really stand out for you over the last few years?

I'd say one, a bit of a contrast to the wild card I just talked about. It was the first race of the Spanish Mini GP Championship, which basically was all around Spain and all the best people, all the best kids kind of went there. Like, so some of the people I'm competing in now in the Red Borokese Cup race in that Spanish Mini GP back then. And basically what happened was I didn't, so you had to qualify for the race since there were so many people.

And I remember I didn't call it. Well, I think I did qualify but I was like almost last Maybe I was like second to last third to last and I remember that day I got so mad and and I was like just so many emotions that I wanted to win but I like I still wanted to win, know, and I just remember being like I need to work super hard so I can beat everyone here I said that's that's that was another crucial moment and probably the closest one to now

Speaker 2 (16:34.83)
had to be in 2021 when I won the race. It was in the category one step up. This kind of like the same people, few people left, but there's still a lot of the same people. So I won the race and basically it was like a, it was like a, I don't know, was something that I was holding for so like, not for so long, but like, let's say for two years of being last in that Spanish championship to beating those same guys that were winning the races. Like it felt really good for me.

That feeling of winning, I wanted to repeat that. So I think that was the closest one to now. And then since then, I've just been searching for that feeling over and over again.

Yeah, that's great. I mean, obviously you're getting, you obviously in some ways you're kind of on that first step towards achieving your ultimate goal. many of you have, whether it be motor GP stardom or world super bike. And that's a whole nother discussion because it's, you know, there's a lot of great paths for you in the U S before Europe, did you compete here as well?

So I actually I did compete but it wasn't in road racing. I did flat tracking for probably all of the years. Road racing I was just like I said I was riding a 50 and it was really just club racing so at karting tracks nothing too special and yeah I was racing a lot of flat tracks so I have kind of a dirt round background I'd say because that was just what was more popular and still is more popular but yeah that's that's the only racing I was doing in the States.

Yeah, that's great. That's a pretty common thing too for a lot of great writers that come from flat track or dirt, Cormac Buchanan also raced Speedway and flat track in New Zealand and Kenzay. I suppose it also speaks to, I suppose, the state of preparation and competitive opportunities for kids your age and younger here in the US. And it's something I've been trying to unpack with folks is, you know,

Speaker 1 (18:32.854)
something happened between sort of the late eighties and now where you went from US writers winning world super bike and motor GP titles and also Aussies and and even a Kiwi that won one, Mr. Kreyfah who I've interviewed, Simon Kreyfah, I have interviewed as well. And all of a sudden now the Spanish just dominating like it's just dominated by Spanish and Italians.

Now, you're and that's a whole nother discussion, I suppose. did you have any any point of view on the state of youth development for the sport in the US? And, you know, obviously, you've had to go to Europe to find you find yourself.

Do you mean like your question is how do you think do you think if I was still I mean do I think if I was still in the States and at this time like would I be at the same level or improving the same?

like access to opportunities to compete and get experience in the US. It seems kind of limited. I know there's things like the Junior Cup they're trying to work on, what's your point of view on that?

There's probably two biggest factors in here that I'd say play a huge role It has to be the first fact that you have to be a certain age to go on a big track Also that obviously applies in Europe also like you can't be let's say seven years old going on a big track That's quite obvious, but the problem in the states I don't know what the age limit is now, but you had to be at least I think it was 14 or 15 or maybe even 16 to go on any sort of big track so let's say you wanted to go to Laguna Seca or

Speaker 2 (20:04.718)
Willow Springs, for example, you had to be a certain age, whereas in Spain, they're racing on big tracks, MotoGP tracks when they're like 11, 11, 12. So I think it's the fact that they can just start off so much younger, like they have that immediate advantage of age. Cause no matter how skilled you are, like if you put in the work from a young age, it's really hard to catch back up in the future. I'd say second, it's the amount of the amount of people in Europe that love racing that like

It's just much more, you know, the youth is there's let's say if there is a camp of Europeans in a camp of Americans, right? There'd be like maybe 10 % of the Americans. mean, 100 % of the Americans is like only 10 % in Europe, know? So it's a super small amount.

And for sure, if there was more Americans that were trained together in the States, it'd be perfectly fine, but there's just not enough numbers. And then also the next thing is a lot of the, let's say like Italians, for example, go over to Spain to ride with Spanish people. But like, let's say there's a lot of people in the States that they just stay to their training. If you get like, they don't go to, let's say, I don't know if there's training in Nevada, then no one will go to Nevada. They'll just stay in their state and do their own training there.

And I feel like if everyone came together in the States, it'd be much better and the adaption would be much faster. But yeah, that's my main take. Yeah, no, that's- Just the differences and-

Yeah, that's really helpful. know, obviously Wayne Rainey and a bunch of other very prominent American writers and ex-racers have been trying to address that for things like the Moto America Junior Cup and the Talent Cup and all these various development programs. But really what you're saying, I think, is you've got to be in it to win it. So you move to Europe. That's a big journey in itself. Who is sort of like, as you've been growing, like who are the people behind the scenes for you?

Speaker 1 (22:01.078)
Obviously, your dad, I've met with or spoken to and who are the people helping you succeed? Because obviously it's a big team effort. Yeah.

Honestly, it's not an extremely big team, to be honest. Obviously, my sponsors do a lot of work and they help so much. They made everything possible. And I give all my thanks to all the sponsors that have been following me from the beginning. Let's say when they sponsor me from the States. I'll put it right there. one of big people that have honestly...

kind of carried my path has to be N.Scarion Nadal, my manager. He was the one who basically got that wild card back in 2019. So without him, it was kind of, I wouldn't have been in this situation. So he's really been following my path from a really young age and he's still my manager. So through like, let's say seven or eight years that we've been in contact and I think he's probably the biggest,

let's say helper on my back, you know? And aside from him, my dad, I'd say equally or even more because he's believed in me and he's took the actual risk and spent the actual money, like the money's coming out of his bank. Yeah, I think those are the two main guys that probably have that good support that I am now for the person that I am now, so.

So those guys are, they're hustling for you. And I suppose I know that your brother, so who else is with you in Spain? your little brother's there, right, too?

Speaker 2 (23:37.55)
Actually, my whole family is we all made the commitment. So my mom's here my brother's here and my grandparents We all kind of I mean it was not a matter of time but I mean it's good for a change of you know scenery and and you know experience a new country my Mom's side of the family. They're actually from Bulgaria, which is Europe originally and I guess you can say they feel more at home To a certain extent because they've lived there for a very long time. Yeah, I'd say

It's really nice to have all my family here.

Yeah, that's great. You know, I think a lot of people don't quite realize that I wouldn't call it sacrifice. I think it's commitment, but also an opportunity for the whole family to learn. And I see that with all of you guys. so, so great talk about your path so far. now you're in Spain, you're in the Red Bull Rookies Cup. Tell me about that competition. For those that don't know about it, my understanding is that it's pretty hard to get into, right? Like one in 500 or something, something ridiculous like that, get accepted. How did that all happen?

I think it's kind of a crazy story. So basically, yes, it's it's exactly like you said I'll kind of explain the Tryout process and what what kind of happens throughout the whole? Tryout for the red bull keys cup and basically what happens was is they select about 5,000 people I've thousand six thousand people or Maybe more sorry if I'm wrong correct me if I'm But basically they have three days in total for tryouts the first two days are for

all the new people so they separate them in groups. Basically, let's say there's 20,000 people that applied, that they send a letter to Red Bull saying, hey, I want to test. 5,000 get accepted, so it already narrows down there a little bit. Well, not a little bit, quite a lot. Then from there, from those two days, they select 100. Immediately narrows down to like, let's say, okay, these are the actual choices. And then from there, this year, the year I was selected, I think they selected 11 people.

Speaker 2 (25:37.28)
It's really, it's like when I got selected, I was honestly really amazed. I didn't expect myself to get selected, but like looking at it now, it's actually super difficult to get in there. So I would not that I was lucky, but I mean, I obviously I shoot, I was showing what I what I'm proving now to Red Berkeys Cup. And I think they chose something that's it's going to help them in the future. But yeah.

Yeah, no, I've been watching you man. It's been cool.

Yeah, and basically, so me and my dad, went in there because I would, at that time I was 14 for the test, but my birthday was before, my birthday is February 19th, so that's before the season starts, and you have to be minimum 15. So we were already kind of like, okay, maybe we might not get accepted, right? And that's completely fine, because we have the next year and I'm, you know, super young, so there's no rush. I can get in there whenever I want, and it's all in the process. It'll come when it comes, and if it doesn't come, then...

perfectly fine because there's writers that have made it there without red brookies cover. Basically, I mean obviously even though we weren't expecting to get in, we tried our best to get in and to kind of just learn the process. I just remember the first day because obviously that's the most stressful one because that's the moment if you're even getting if you even like acknowledge to get selected in and when I got selected there I was like a lot of luck a lot of nerves left my body and a lot of nerves enter my body because obviously we had the test the next day.

But yeah, then when I got selected, I was super happy. I didn't celebrate because I had a race weekend literally the next day. So like, I finished the test, which was on Wednesday. It was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And then I drove to Aragon and rode on Thursday. So it was kind of like no celebration straight into it, but the celebration was being able to ride. So it was all worth it. And yeah, I was super happy, super stoked. I could not be.

Speaker 2 (27:31.758)
and the path's been pretty clear and I've made it pretty far so far so that's kind of the selection process.

It's, you know, well, the thing that amazes me watching, listening to you is that a lot of other folks I've met, you know, like Cormac, example, current Buchanan, you know, he got into Red Bull rookies cup, but like he had won like, like three New Zealand champ road racing championships and like podium, the Australian championships and was like a contender in that part of the world. And so he had this like racing background and, you're, you're, have a background, but not that type of background. And so the fact that can go to Spain and be competitive straight away.

That's pretty cool. I think audience should understand that. And because that's pretty rare. You're competing of kids who have been racing since they were like four or five years old, right? Wow. And so what exactly do you get when you turn up? What does Red Bull rookies cut provide you? What are they? What, are the benefits other than being a select group of kids?

a Red Bull rider and whatnot. Honestly, there's a lot more than what meets the eye. I don't know if many people know about this, but they actually pay for it. They pay for and that's basically the main thing. Like they pay for your writing and then also they pay for basically the food when you have to track. You do have to pay for like the flights and the hotels. But aside from that, they cover everything.

So it's honestly a super huge benefit and I'm super grateful that Red Bull is able to do this. But yeah, it's all a supporting championship. I mean, there's nothing that can be like, let's say malicious about it. Like there's no, we'll have you selected here, but you have to do X, Y, Like this is just show your talent to the world championship. And if you do good, like I think they did a statistic where there's 76 riders in every single class in MotoGP.

Speaker 2 (29:19.95)
in World Championship that have came through Red Rookies Cup. So that's like a super interesting stat because that just shows like that's at least 60 % of the writers in all of World Championship. So it's a lot, you know?

That's a really interesting stat. I think a lot of folks who maybe are new to road racing who listen to the podcast, I think a lot of folks maybe don't always understand that, hey, this is not like being born with a silver spoon in your mouth and everything's laid out for you. This is private tier stuff. You're putting real money into it and we're going to talk about your sponsors later and put links to them. But one of the things I love about motorcycle racing is maybe unlike the four wheel competitions is that

You know, there's some great stories of sort of rags to riches. You know, I always think of, I always think of Jorge Martin in that way. I really respect him because he's come up the hard way, man. And, know, a lot of, a lot of other sports, know, there's, there's money, there's this, there's that. But there is still an opportunity for folks that maybe don't have all the fame and all the fortune to make a go of it. And I've seen that across, across the board, which is great.

I'm wondering for you though, you are still in school, right? Are you balancing school and training and racing? Are you online schooling? What's all that? How does that work?

Well, so now school is actually over. And I guess you can say it took it all the way to the extreme to being able to adapt to the European style and more so the Spanish style. I attend public Spanish school. This year I started online public Spanish school. that was a bit of a big change, but I mean it helped me a lot. So I have more time to practice and train. But yeah, for the past six years I've gone to

Speaker 2 (31:05.518)
Spanish public schools. that's well, it's a hard balance. Obviously, if I don't want to say it like this, but if I could, I would want to make school a bit easier, at least for myself, because it's having to study and then also having to train and then having free time. Like I'm not saying that I don't spend, sometimes I don't spend time in my day like just on free time. But at the same time, I do want to enjoy my days outside of training, you know.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's a hard balance. It's a hard balance. I won't lie to anyone. It's a pretty hard balance, but it is what it is. If you want to be a racer, these are the things you've to sacrifice.

So, know, yeah, that's a good topic. like, it sounds like, you know, there are things that you miss out on that maybe your friends don't, right? Yeah, you're and so typical week for you between sort of training and mental prep, nutrition, all of that. What does it look like for you?

Well guess I'll give you the busiest week. Let's say, so Monday morning we'd probably start off with a cycle probably with Cormac. So we go cycling probably about an hour and a half, two hours. Yeah, a lot. Cause he also lives in Barcelona. He lives up the road. Yeah. So go cycling with Cormac, get back home, stretch, post stretch, shower. And that in this sort of like block of time usually what I do is

Speaker 1 (32:16.334)
Will you go writing a comment?

Speaker 1 (32:20.403)
yeah, cool.

Speaker 2 (32:32.654)
A. Study a bit or B. of have a bit of free time or C. Visualize depending if I have a race the next week and then we have I have lunch then maybe about an hour later after doing all that all the stuff I have gym then I also go with Cormac then after that I arrive home about at 8 30 I'm home 8 30 to 8 40 I'm home then I do like a mobility that my trainer preps for me

So I do mobility, then I brush my teeth, go to bed around 10, 30 to 11, 30 depending on what I'm doing, et cetera. Next day, Tuesdays there's not really many plans, but I usually go to carting tracks with my 600. 600 from about 10, 30 in the morning to more or less two to three in the afternoon. Obviously it's not non-stop, but we don't stop for lunch like we lunch after. So we have about like 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off.

I don't know how much time it be on the bike. It's a good amount. good training. After that, get back home around 4 to 5 depending on how far the track is. Luckily, most of the tracks around here, they're about 1 hour 2 hours away. Get back home and depending on how I feel, depending on what my trainer puts, I usually go for a run or I go for a walk. And then after the runner walk, which probably takes about, if I run it probably takes about in between 30 minutes to an hour. And then when I walk it's probably an hour and a half. So I'll just take the running.

the running one. So after running, get back home, shower, then I'll go on A on homework, B free time, C visualizing. Uh, kind of just do that. Um, until the end of the day, go to brush my teeth, go to bed, uh, wake up again. Wednesday. Usually I go for cycles on Wednesday with Cormac. Uh, if I were to see the face of my trainer, he'd tell me go on a super long cycle. Oh, we usually go out.

around 11 to let's say like three, 11 to three we stop places so I'd say like four. And that's kind of what my, what my schedule looks like in a busy week.

Speaker 1 (34:42.198)
Thanks for making the time for us. That's that's cool. And obviously, you know, there's a few things that pop for me there a hanging out Cormac I suppose he's like, you know, he's a big coffee snob, right? So he loves coffee. So he's probably pouring lots of coffee down your throat and then the The Spanish like to have dinner really late to write which is different for the US that they tend to like eat at like eight or nine or ten at night and stuff and you kind of keep to your American culture of eating or you kind of fully

100 % 100 % I mean on top of that like I so I do have a nutritionist also so I have a trainer and I have a nutritionist and the nutrition is recommended that kind of the earlier I eat the better it's scientifically proven that it's better so I eat around let's say like seven to eight it's still late but it's I can get through it you know but yeah

That's cool. That's cool. Well, you know I want to do next though? Because you mentioned a couple of things that really I'm interested in personally too. I want to get inside your helmet a bit now. I want to get inside the helmet because you mentioned visualization and you mentioned it's interesting talking to you because if I had interviewed, for example, if I had interviewed you, one of the greats, know, one of the greats of the past,

know, the eighties or nineties, I won't mention any names. But if I'd interviewed any of those guys who were at the top of the game, they were partying at night, out drinking, having fun. Like it was a completely different thing. And you guys now at your level, you're like Ironman fitness and not just fitness, but also mental fitness. And I'm a big fan of coaching. So I've done like the California Superbike school like 60 times now. And I've done Yamaha Champs school, which is a big school here.

The champs will talk about rituals. You know, got to have a ritual. It's really important, but you also got to work on them, the mental toughness. And so let me get inside your helmet. Like you mentioned visualization, like tell me about what are your, do you have rituals or super sessions that you have pre-race? How do you prepare mentally outside of just being a physical freak?

Speaker 2 (36:41.322)
well, I gotta say one thing for sure that's super important mentally to make me strong is it's something I've kind of learned through the process, but I've done mostly this year is so I mean, I wouldn't say I'm a foodie, but since I have to be super kind of restrictive on what I eat when I do eat, I choose exactly what I want to eat, you know, like depending on the day or like what I'm doing. so it's important to have like those kind of cheat days to kind of relax your brain. So you're not always on focus mode.

but I'd say aside from that, one of my superstitions is probably probably training. in all honesty, like the harder and better I trained, I feel like the more confident I am in myself, and the more belief I have in myself. but on top of that, I think one of the superstitions I have is, or let's say rituals I've visualized because that's basically like getting, for me, it's basically like getting extra track time. because I've, I think I've gotten, I've gotten to a point where

almost realistic with my visualization to where I even time. So basically I have a timer and I time each lap and usually it ends around maybe the exact time I won or the exact time I hit in a race weekend. Maybe one second ahead or one second behind, two seconds, but it's always like super close because I'm really, really conscious about my mindset and especially the visualization part.

Yeah, I've, I've, I've that's, that's, oh man, this is so much unpacking. Cause I, as a, as an amateur, um, old fat man in his fifties and writing in the a group and my local track here, the ridge, I have a ritual. Like, I decide, what corners will I pass on? What corners won't, won't I, uh, what's my plan? One thing I'm going to focus on for each session. And I find even as a fat old man, like, um, like the fitter I am for sure, the lighter I am, the faster I am. Like it's just so cool. Even at my age. Um,

and the stretching and all the stuff you're talking about. I watched Jorge Martin last season. It was really cool watching him, you know, closing his eyes, doing the visualization of the track. And so what's your thoughts on that? Is that the sort of thing you do as well or is that just a Jorge thing?

Speaker 2 (38:50.936)
Honestly, it was funny because we had so basically I've I do the same thing I visualize and race weekends obviously to kind of get my mind right and before I go out in sessions sometimes justify I don't do it all the time, but just if I would need to clarify something in my brain like okay Let's say I want to fix a writing style or something. I'm incorrectly. I visualized it a thousand times when I go out on track I've visualized all the scenarios. So it's like okay if anything happens I kind of know how to counter that or at least I can

try to do as much as I can to improve as much as possible. So was funny because there's a lot of people that like they would look at me and they I don't want to say laugh but they just look at it and be like what do you like other writers they'd be like what are you doing and it was like I'm visualizing you know this is what gets my mind right and it's my ritual and we like at the end of the season after everything like after all the visualizing everything we saw like I probably just saw the same video it was Jorge Martin visualizing before he was going out.

And me and my dad were just laughing. We were like, I mean, I guess, I guess we're just ahead of the game because our processes are much better than everyone else.

There you go. love it. That's cool, man. And you don't want to tell anyone else either, boy. That's your thing. That's your secret. Keep that under wraps.

mean, it's what works for me. mean, if it works for anyone else, they can also use it. I still think I'm better than them, so even if they use the same thing that I'm using, I'll still beat them.

Speaker 1 (40:13.262)
Yeah, I like it. So awesome. There we go. We're getting it. We get this is great. And so, okay, so how do you handle fear crashes in particular, you know, high pressure moments, I suppose that the visualization is part of it, but how do you handle fear? Are you fearless? But what I mean is like, yeah, maybe there's like for me, there's one track like Laguna Seca in the US is a tracker I've had my biggest crash, right? As a fat old man at the track.

And like when I go to Laguna Seca now, it's really hard for me to get that out of my head. Like for you, do you have those same sort of challenges or not?

To a certain extent. So, I mean, I've had a lot of bad crashes kind of everywhere now. But for example, Aragon last week, I had a pretty nasty crash to be honest, in race one. And it did affect me mentally, to be honest. That was the first time in a long time that I've actually been affected by a crash. Because the race in the morning the next day, mean, also my body just wasn't feeling it because I landed on my back and I kind of injured like an inter rib.

and that just, it kinda put me out of, it put me out of like check, you know? I wasn't 100%, I couldn't warm up correctly. That's another one of my rituals. I love like warming up 100 % and doing everything correctly. When I wasn't able to warm up, I was like, aw, it's like, you know, something's wrong. And so I wouldn't say more than fear, it was just I wasn't in the right mindset. So yeah, I do think I'm pretty fearless, most of the time.

Yeah, that's, obviously at such a different level than like 0.1 % of the kids wanting to get into this. But you're also showing so much maturity around how you're approaching it, which I think is great. When you think about the challenge of like these smaller bikes, obviously even, know, Moto3, Junior Moto GP, Rookie's Cup, it seems like a lot of the riders, you know, obviously,

Speaker 1 (42:13.186)
getting the right slipstream, the aerodynamics of the bike, all of those things are like almost more important than outright power. It's just that they're all so close. But as you move up the classes, Moto2, MotoGP, you need to put on a bit of muscle, you gotta be a bit stronger, it's just a whole physically different. Do you have a view yet as to what that is gonna be, what that is like? Do you ride larger bikes at all? Are you allowed to ride larger bikes?

Yeah, so I actually I train on a 600. Okay, we are 600

Double R or probably a race bike, right? It's race perhaps or something, is it? Yeah. Okay.

No, it's actually so it's funny. It's a stock bike that we bought and we basically prepped it ourselves Yeah, so it's a CBR, but it's okay. That's me. Yeah. Yeah So I do ride bigger bikes and I honestly can't feel it I'm I wouldn't want to say I'm a weight freak but I do focus on my weight because I mean like you said I'm in a small I'm on a small bike and I'm one of I'm one of the biggest guys in the rookies cup right now like Paul

Yeah, cool. Tell me about that.

Speaker 2 (43:19.916)
wise and aside from that I feel like my body is just naturally built to be bigger like let's say I think my body is meant to be like maybe for football, American football or like maybe not rugby but like something physical you know and honestly like I always talk about this with my dad I feel like I'm kind of restraining myself a lot like my body because let's say if I were to eat like everything I was supposed to eat let's say if I were to be an American football

like super big bulky guy, could complete, could do that easily, but instead I'm like, I'm trying to be as lean as possible. So it does play a huge role, like how the energy and the weight you put into a bike. I would say that probably the biggest change is from Moto3 to Moto2 for sure. Because that's where all the small guys from Moto3 that they rely on themselves being small and going fast because the bike carries them kind of. In the Moto2, like you said, there's no slipstream, there's no

extra stuff so you gotta be strong. You know and it's basically just you and the bike, there's no one else that can affect you. You gotta be, you know, you gotta be at the top of the game. And I'd say it does help me a lot when I train on the 600 because it really just shows me like I'm able to ride a bigger bike, like much easier than a small bike, which is really funny. But it comes naturally, you like I said, I'm pretty big. I don't know, I think I'm five, seven feet tall, 176 centimeters tall.

So I'm pretty tall. I guess it's just all a matter of like how disciplined you are, like with your weight and what you wish to achieve kind of, know? what I'm trying to achieve, like I've realized because I've gone up in weight quite a lot since last year, I think went up like two kgs more or less on average. And basically what that does is yes, I do weigh more, but the thing is I have way more strength, you know? So it's easier to do a lot of things and it's easier to keep my mind clear when I'm stronger.

But I have to play with that balance, you know, I can't be 20 kilos over the weight The weight minimum because there's guys out here that are super light They weigh the same as me what when I'm completely naked then and they're with their suits on, know, so yeah, I got that balance That's for sure. And yeah, that's

Speaker 1 (45:16.258)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:33.166)
You guys, you have an invitation. I also invited Cormac, but you guys are not allowed to ride on these tracks because of your contracts. think that you ever in Seattle, you got to come come to the ridge and I'll give you guys bikes to ride. I have two RS 660 Aprilia's in the garage. One of them is a Trofeo, which is the track only version. And I've got a V2 Panigale, which is a Moto America spec. So they're not street bikes. And so if you ever come here and you're allowed to, your sponsors let you, you're going to ride with me at the track and you can lap me as often as you want.

I was riding last weekend, a week before last and Kayla was there. Eka was there. She's on a V2 Panigale. I was on my 400, but still it was fun to watch her. So your path, MotoGP, World Superbike, what is it? I think I know the answer. MotoGP. And tell me why. Oh, here we go. Who are your idols?

Fast though.

Speaker 2 (46:23.054)
Because I want to beat my idol

Speaker 2 (46:28.462)
mean, the first one I'd say is Nikki Hayden. RIP Nikki Hayden, but he's won one. So I got to get one up. one also super interesting thing I didn't say throughout the whole podcast now that I actually brought up Nikki Hayden. So I actually met him when I was younger also. So that was one of the things that sparked me as well while he was on Honda. So I met him and that really sparked something in me also.

Basically when I first came to Spain my number that I was repping was 69 because that's Nikki Hayden and I was like, okay I want to be the next Nikki Hayden, know I want to be the next best American when there's you know when there's basically no one left around and basically people with 69 I don't know why but there's a million people with 69 so then I was like, okay Well, obviously have to choose another number. I had 11 for about a year or two

because Ben Spies then I thought you know Nick Yates is really big idol and I met him and stuff and this was around the time like where you he passed away and all that stuff basically so now I'm number 70 and it's because I kind of want to get one up on him that's kind of what it is like if 69 is that that was love he was out with 69 like 70s is one step further so that's my that that's kind of the backstory of my number just I think it's pretty cool so yeah

Of course, yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:54.526)
That's really cool. You can't see it here, but I have a behind me over here. actually have a Nikki Hayden replica bike with him on it and a rear American flag flying. You can't quite see it, yeah, I'm right with you. And so we're going to get into some lightning round questions so you can go out for your ride. so first one, favorite track. What's your favorite track? week. Yep. And good luck for that next week. You and Cormac because I think I told you I'm sponsoring Cormac next week.

So this is going to be on his bike. Favorite bike? Dream team to ride for? Let's just say dream team to ride for a MotoGP. Yamaha, they're on the way back. Best post race meal?

And what?

Speaker 2 (48:39.182)
Five guys with Cormac.

Five guys, awesome. That's great. And if you weren't racing, you would be...

checklist runner, basketball player, football player, or like track runner or like something athletic.

You mentioned rugby before, that's clearly the influence of Kiwi over there somewhere, I think he showed you some rugby maybe, yeah? That's a real game-wreck.

He actually he plays a rugby game. I didn't think there was gonna be a rugby game. But yeah, he has a rugby game It's super difficult to play. But

Speaker 1 (49:12.556)
Yeah, yeah, I it's I suppose before we go, I suppose also at your level, there's also things you're not allowed to do, right? Because you like, like I know, if Kayla, for example, when I saw her at the track a couple weeks ago, said, Hey, take my RS 660 out for a ride. She's not allowed to ride an Aprilia. I'm only allowed to ride because she's sponsored by Ducati. So she can't be seen on the track on an Aprilia, think.

Me? I am in the Red Borukis Cup Championship but I mean I don't have the money to buy a Ducati right? But I mean I'd say the only thing that's contradictory would be let's say if I was with a Monster logo. That's the biggest thing. The bikes for now I don't have any like people saying you can't ride this bike like I can ride every bike. Good.

and you're not allowed to, I assume you only drink Red Bull. it's, yeah, I'm with you. Hey, so we're to put a link to all your sponsors and stuff up, up, on the screen, but, where can folks go to learn more about you, contribute to your success? what, what are the, what are the Instagram, you know, Tik Tok websites, all that stuff? I'll put it all up here too, but do you want to call any out now?

Yeah. so I'll say that my Instagram is Katie Jr. Underscore racing. have Katie, Jr. Underscore racing, tick tock, Katie, Jr. Underscore racing YouTube channel. have a Katie Jr. I think it's called Katie Jr. Dot com, which is my, basically my website that explains a bit about myself and as onto the sponsor that you were talking about earlier. And also we have Facebook, which is also Katie Jr. Kind of all it's the same.

over all the platforms that's why it's a easier to just follow me everywhere but those are the main platforms that I will be posting on most of the time.

Speaker 1 (51:00.046)
Cool. So it's only the old people that are on Facebook, unlike me, but all the cool kids are on TikTok and other things. So we'll make sure we get all the links up here. Awesome. It was really awesome hanging out with you. Good luck in Mugello. hi to Cormac for me when you see him and Kanzay and his dad. I'm going to stop recording now. Okay. And then I'll say goodbye. All right. I hope you guys really enjoyed this discussion with Christian. He's an incredible young man. And if you like this content, do me a favor and

Write a review or two on your favorite podcasting platform. It's a pretty new podcast. We've been on YouTube for a while, but now we're on the broader platforms and we just want to hear from you. Feedback, good, bad, ugly, whatever it might be. I'd really appreciate it. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please like, subscribe, share all that fun stuff. Thanks a lot. Safe writing and I'll see you next time.