Keefer Podiums at Vet Nationals!
Dirt Rider Magazine Associate Editor, PulpMX host and well established industry test rider Kris Keefer fought valiantly for the 3rd place spot in the 31st Annual Dubya World Vet Motocross Championships at Glen Helen on November the 8th. This wildly popular event attracted over 1200 riders from 20 countries and everyday hero Kris Keefer carded a podium spot in the ultra competittive 30+ Pro Category aboard a stock Yamaha YZ 450.
Kris is keyboard warrior for Dirt Rider Magazine, a full time position, and also is front man for Keefer, Inc., a long running and well respected R&D and bike/parts evaluation service for OEM manufactuers and aftermarket companies. Kris also hosts the PulpMX show on a regular basis, which attracts almost a cult following within the moto industry. Kris is also a family man, raising his son Aden with his wife Heather in the high desert of southern California. I have known Kris for a long time and can attest to him being a straight up, stand up, super nice guy. I feel special kinship to him in that we both stuck it out in sports that we love. We may have not been “factory pro” in ability but we had the drive to figure out how to earn a living in those sports. I have to guess that he also got plenty of “advice” to pursue “more successul” means of supporting our families, so Kris, here’s to us!
Kris does get to ride a lot for work but in a way, that makes training more difficult as we have to carefully manage motivation and recovery to ensure quality training time, both on the bike and off. The Vet World Championhips was high on his priority list and he juggled a full work and family schedule nearing the event, but prevailed. As his long time online coach, I couldn’t be more proud and excited for him to acheive a goal admist his hectic schedule and full life. Way to go my friend!
In his own words:
“I knew coming into this year’s Dubya USA World Vet Nationals that I could get on the podium. I have been sticking to my plan that Seiji had laid out for me and I had a great bike underneath me. First moto I came back from a mid pack start and worked my way up to 4th, by the time the checkers fell. Actually, I worked my way up to the rear of third place and almost up to Ryan Morais who was second. So I knew my fitness would be good for the second moto. The second moto I had a much better start and tried to freight train with Sleeter and Morias (which were right in front of me). They gapped me a couple seconds, but I held in there and managed to score third for the moto and third overall on the day. I tied for second place on the day, but on a tiebreaker from the second moto, it put me in third place.