104 http://www.racerxonline.com
A
fter qualifying
finishes at High
Point, the paddock
floods with pit-pass
spectators. A few fans walk
by Team Rocky Mountain
and offer well-wishes and
congratulations, but no
line forms. At the trucks of
Tomac and Marvin Musquin,
however, autograph and
selfie seekers suffer in the
sun for hours in hopes of
scoring some Sharpie scrib-
blings on a piece of paper or
a body part.
Tucked into the back
corner of the pits, Blake’s
area is serene. There’s no
crowd, nor is there an official
autograph session. There
doesn’t need to be, because
Blake and his teammate Da-
kota Alix sit available under
the awning all morning. Blake
dislikes sitting inside the
truck. During lunch—grilled
chicken breasts, sweet
potato, steamed asparagus,
and half an avocado—a man
stops at the rail and says
hello. Blake looks up, plastic
utensils in hand, and before
he can respond, the man
asks if he can take a photo.
Not with Blake. Just of him,
eating. “Or would that be
awkward?” he asks. It’s al-
ready awkward, and he takes
the photo and walks on.
Blake doesn’t say anything
and goes back to picking at
his plate, where he eats ex-
actly half of every item before
getting up to get dressed for
moto one.
Interacting with his fans
hasn’t always been easy
for Baggett. “Blake doesn’tidentify with being famous,”
Keleigh says. “He just thinks
he’s a farmer.” She spe-
cifically remembers when he
was a 250 rider at Monster
Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki,
a fan came to the tent and
said hello. Blake stared at
him and, after a long, silent
pause, turned around and
walked away without saying
a word. He wasn’t trying to
be rude; he genuinely didn’t
know what he was supposed
to do. Nonalee Davis, FeldEntertainment’s commu-
nications training director,
met with Blake at the 2017
Atlanta SX. She praised
his humbleness and good
reputation but, according
to Keleigh, told him he was
terrible at interacting with his
fans, in interviews, and being
a “famous” person. That
night, he finished third overall
and was a comedian behind
the mic, cracking jokes and
keeping the mood in the
press conference light andfun while offering the media
worthwhile sound bites.
Fast-forward to summer
2017, and some are confused
about where the sauciness is
coming from in his interviews.
It originates with what was
asked of him last winter:
be original and show some
personality. After his Thunder
Valley win, he got fired up in
an interview on the PulpMX
Show. The comments he
made—“It’s not like I’ve never
won a race before, it’s not