Swapmoto Race Series Profile | Chandler Gunderson

Swapmoto Race Series Profile | Chandler Gunderson

Age: 13

Hometown: Chandler, Arizona

Classes Raced: Schoolboy 1

Sponsors: 2x Motorsports, 518 Designs, Pro Circuit, Fly Racing, my mom and dad

Chandler Gunderson is a 13-year-old racer from Arizona, and he and his family often make the long drive to SoCal to race with the Swapmoto Race Series. Like the King of Supercross Jeremy McGrath, Chandler honed his skills on a BMX bike before making the switch to motorcycles. Will he enjoy the same success as the King? Only time will tell!

We are here in Palmdale, at LACR and you’re a long way from Arizona. What brings you this far out to the Swapmoto Race Series?

We’re just trying to get training it, laps, and it just helps us with everything.

What’s racing like in your hometown? Is it not that big? Why do you come out here?

Well, we don’t really race in our hometown, it’s kind of dry and there’s not a lot of competition out there. So we just come out here and there is a lot of competition.

Have you been to quite a few of our races?

Yeah, we used to do the TransWorld series one and then we’re coming to these Swapmoto ones now.

You’re on a two-stroke 125; why did you choose that instead of a 250F?

It’s just more time on a two-stroke gets you better for the four-strokes. It develops better bike skills.

Do you do anything besides riding motocross?

I did BMX for eight years, which helped a lot. I was national #1 and then after that year, I quit and came to motocross.

Was motocross always the ultimate goal past BMX?

Well I was kind of thinking about it and I just went the BMX route, then I got tired of that and came to motocross. So this was my second plan. This is a lot more fun.

BMX is kind of gnarly huh? Cause it’s one lap in an all-out sprint? How do you train for BMX versus moto?

Yeah, 45 seconds average. So, moto is more conditioning and you do longer stuff. Where BMX is just sprints, where you go as fast as you can go for 45 seconds.

Jeremy McGrath obviously started in BMX and he says that helped him with his moto where he brought a lot of techniques over. Do you feel that there is a crossover for you?

Oh yeah, a lot. It helped me because I’ve only been riding for two years and I’m already a lot faster than what the normal person would be.

How seriously do you take your moto? Do you ride during the week and race on the weekends? Do you train or get lessons?

Yeah, I ride during the week and train. I have a trainer during the weekend, I just put a lot of laps in and stuff like that.

Do all your friends at school know that you’re into motocross? And what do they think?

Yeah, a lot of them do. They think it’s sick!

Why did you choose moto instead of football or something?

I just like two wheels, competition, and hard training.

You obviously said you went to the TransWorld series and now to us, do you like the way we run our program?

Yeah, it’s really cool. It’s smooth and really nice!