On The Pegs January 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 1 | Page 43

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 1 - JANUARY 2020
43
Jason Hooper has been on virtually every side of the world of dirt bike
racing, starting out as a racer (and a good one), to working in the media
(with RacerX magazine and then his own website), to his latest venture as a
promotor.
His series, the Kenda Full Gas Sprint Enduro Series, is recognized as one
of the top series in America and enjoys support from the top riders and the
factory teams.
We sat down with “Hoop” to find out just what goings into starting and
building a series.
You are starting your sixth year with the series. How do you feel about
where it’s at at this point?
I think we’ve finally come into our own here. When we started out, it was sort
of something people did for fun. It was pretty laid back. No one was really tak-
ing it too seriously. Now you see where basically all the factories have somebody
competing at the highest level. It’s become a legitimate thing that the pro riders
especially want to compete in. They’re competing for a championship, a legit
thing. I think especially this past weekend shows it’s probably the best pro field
in off-road of the whole year, having guys from the west coast, having both rid-
ers, Americans, that have ever won the ISDE here competing at the same time.
Then in the women’s class having two-thirds of their women’s trophy team com-
peting against our whole women’s trophy team. Before Strang got hurt he’s been
a trophy guy for Australia. So I think we’re no long just a niche thing or a “just for
fun” thing. Even in the amateur ranks our entries are up 30% this year from last
year. It’s our biggest year we’ve ever had. So I think we’re legit now.
You’ve worked in every aspect of this business. You’ve been a racer and
you’ve worked in the media for RacerX and with your own website. What
made you want to promote a series?
It sort of happened by accident, really. I didn’t have the intent of becoming a
full-on, full-time race promoter. You were with me when we went to the first Six
Days that we went to in Germany. I know my mind was blown to see it in real life.
Seeing photos of it and video of it didn’t really translate, and then you go over
there and see what’s really happening. I just fell in love with the format. I thought
it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It excited me. It made me want to ride my
dirt bike, which a lot of times in off-road it’s so grueling or it doesn’t look like any
fun. I was like, man, this is rad. So it just took a year of convincing my wife to let