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GETTING TO KNOW…TALLON LAFONTAINE

GETTING TO KNOW…TALLON LAFONTAINE

  • Colby Young

 

Hey Tallon.  Thanks for sitting down to answer a few questions for us.  We’ve got to work with you for a few years now as an amateur, but this year you decided to take the next step in your career and turn pro so you could line up at A1.  How’s that going so far?

To be honest it hasn’t been very good result wise, I struggled with some nerves and stuff the first two rounds and I wasn’t really in the game mentally because of that. I separated my shoulder before A2 so I sat out, Phoenix was my best round I’d say, I had the speed to be in the main, now it’s just about starts.

 

Do you feel like you’ve got your starts dialed in pretty well now?  You’re riding a KTM, so I know those things are good out of the gate.

I usually have pretty good reaction time and get good jumps out of the gate, i just need a little bit more control and I’ll be good. I got quite a few starts in this week so I think it will pay off! I just need to hold her on.

 

So I know you train with Randy Lawrence, does he work as a riding coach for you as well or who helps you out with that?

Yeah I have worked with RL for around 4 years and it’s been awesome, we are really good friends and he has so much experience in this industry it’s crazy. He’s worked with many champions not only as trainer but a mechanic, so I think he has some of the most knowledge of all the trainers out there.

 

What’s cool is that Randy and his son Ryder have been with ODI for awhile now but on our bmx side. Then of course Randy and Phil and Emig all used to hang out back in the day. Now we are working with you. Small world we live in right? 

Yeah! It’s sick! I was actually at Randy’s house when Ryder got his first box from ODI haha! It’s cool to be associated with people who have such deep roots in the industry.

 

For the people who don’t know, you are a Rookie this year, but your family has been involved in the sport for a long time too, right? Tell me about how you got to this point. 

I’ve basically been around the sport since I was born. My brothers raced all the amateurs nationals and I would tag along but not really to race. I raced peewees a few times but that’s basically where it stopped! While my brothers raced, I was kinda living a normal childhood, going to school and hanging out with buds everyday.  I got super into other things like skateboarding and golf. We lived out in palm desert so golf is huge and so is skateboarding, and I got really good at both haha! We moved away from palm desert and into a house that my dad built on some property in Beaumont. When we moved, my skater life stayed in palm desert and my new hobby was riding 110’s around the property. We had a 210 LE with a Gannon box and I would clear out the weeds and build 110 tracks all over. I was addicted to riding, literally everyday after school until the sun went down I was ripping. About a year after my older brother Jeagher had passed away, I hopped on one of his practice bikes and started to ride on the 110 tracks I built haha. I entered my first race in the novice class at an rem in November of 2011 and got lapped, but I was hooked and wanted to win.

 

And so R.E.M. Was your first race? And I think we met at mammoth Moto in your  second year, right? Riding the B class 250s for BTO? You progressed pretty quickly after getting a late start compared to most these days. 

I think Donn Maeda linked us together one day at milestone or something and we’ve been working with each other ever since, but it was around that time because I remember hanging out at your tent in between motos. I’d definitely say I got a late start compared to every kid I’m racing against right now, but I think it will help because a lot of kids get burnt out. I always have looked up to Timmy Weigand and got to know him a little bit and he didn’t start racing until he was a late teenager so it’s kind of a similar story.

 

Awesome, well good luck this week and the rest of the series.

Thanks, and thanks to you and ODI for all the support.

 

In Oakland Talon finished 12th in his qualifier forcing him to the LCQ where he finished 11th.  Look for better days ahead for this promising rookie as he gets up to speed during the West Coast Supercross series.

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