AMSOIL Swapmoto Race Series Profile | Jeff Loop

AMSOIL Swapmoto Race Series Profile | Jeff Loop

Age: 30

Hometown: San Bernardino, CA

Classes Raced: +30 Pro

Sponsors: HYR, Fly Racing, Maxxis Tires, Car Electric, Eks Brand Goggles, Factory Backing, Hinson Racing, EVS

At 6’8″, Jeff Loop is hard to miss at the motocross track, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s usually at the front of the pack, either. The 2019 TransAm Vet Classic Pro Champion came out to the fourth round of the West Coast Open last weekend at Glen Helen Raceway and dominated his motos aboard a new 2019 Yamaha YZ450F. We caught up with the personable family man to see what he was all about.

You raced Supercross for years and then you transitioned to off-road racing. Give us the rundown on your pro racing career…

I turned pro in 2008 and raced a couple of outdoor Nationals. Then I raced Supercross in 2009, 2010, 2011, took a break in 2012 and got married, raced again in 2013 and I just got hurt over and over. That’s when I kind of just called Supercross quits and got a job. I’m now a union electrician and with that, I started doing some off-road racing that Maxxis tires brought me on board to do. I did Worcs and Big 6 with my best finish being second at Elsinore where I lead for about an hour and a half. It’s just kind of to the point now where I only ride a couple of times a month and it just doesn’t matter how much I train off the bike, I just don’t have the hour and a half in me. I’d run up front and get tired and get like fifth or sixth and I just don’t enjoy riding around in a fifth or sixth spot. So, recently I decided to just come back to what I grew up doing: racing motocross, racing the Swapmoto Race Series, and I’m going to be doing Loretta’s this year in the +30 and +25, and I’ve just been having a lot of fun on the motorcycle again!

Racing as a vet, is it more fun…is it different? How does it compare to racing the regular pro classes?

It’s definitely a lot less stressful, you know I just come out to have fun. If certain guys I know shouldn’t be beating me, beat me, I still get upset and I gotta tell myself to calm down. People like Josh Grant will come out and beat me, but I’ll still have fun that day. I just don’t have that stretch anymore, but the best way to put it is: I show up every time now. When I’m here, I’m here, I’m going to ride well. Before it was kind of a headcase, like, “Oh, Mike Alessi is here, can I beat him?”  I feel like I am having more fun now. Toward the end of my career I was just working so hard and not getting the results and it really just started becoming a job.

At what point did you as a pro, think, “I’m not going to be a factory rider…I’ve got to get a real job?”

For me, I grew up with my dad teaching me a trade. He was an electrician and he taught me that from a young age, so I would have something to fall back on. The opportunity came in 2011 came up for me to get in as a union electrician for LA so it took a lot of deciding if I wanted to hang up the boots racing Supercross or not, and I am really glad I did. I am really happy where I am at now, I got my wife, two kids, a house, a career, and I’m having more fun on my dirtbike than I was the last couple years of my career.

How does being a dad affect the way you think aout things on a motorcycle now?

Definitely before, there was no fear of getting hurt. I didn’t care if I got hurt, I didn’t care what happened to me! Now, with a family, I’m definitely thinking about how I don’t want to get hurt, I don’t want to be out, I don’t want to not go to work, and worst case, I don’t want to die by breaking my back or something. So before, that was not in my mind. I think now I ride probably 90% and make sure I get through the day.

Are you going to get your kids dirtbikes or is it like golf clubs and tennis rackets?

My four-year-old has a PW50. He rides on it when he wants to, he started riding on it at three. If they want to do it, they want to do to it. I’m not going to tell them not to, I’m not going to force them into it. I have a feeling my younger one, he’s going to be ready to go.

How tall are you, and what do you have to do to your bike to make it work well for you?

I’m 6’8″ and I put a high bar on and I go to the farthest-forward bar mount setting. I’ve tried to do a lot. I’ve tried different linkages, I’ve tried fork setups that could try to make the bike taller or lower foot pegs. I’ve just found that the more I do to the bike, the worse it works. The bike comes from the factory these days working so well and I’m more comfortable sitting on this motorcycle, but my lap times struggle. So really, I don’t even have a tall seat foam on this bike yet, I just give myself the room I can. The lower footpegs, I’ve broken my ankle four times in one year because of them, so I don’t even run the lower footpegs. My riding style has been adapted to it for so long because even as a kid, I was tall. I was 5’10” when I was 10 years old riding an 80, so I’ve just adapted to being a tall rider from a young age.

Is height an advantage or disadvantage, and in which situations?

The advantages are like the whoops section here today, I was going fourth gear wide open through them. The disadvantage is I feel it is harder on my legs to get up and down, you got someone like Zach Osborne who sits down like two inches and he is on the seat. My legs need to be really strong because I need to be in a squat position for 20-30 minutes of a race, so that is hard on my legs. As well as the weight that comes along with it. When I’m at my best shape, I’m 200 pounds so I’m about 40 pounds heavier than the guys I race, so I think the weight is the biggest disadvantage as a pro. When you’re a vet, if I can’t beat somebody it’s because I’m not going fast enough. But when you’re out there lining up against Ryan Villopoto and James Stewart, I think the weight is a really big deal for me.

You’ve been to several of our race series and our newly converted Swapmoto Race Series, what do you think of our program?

I love it, I like the two track format so everyone can get in and get out. We are not stuck here until the sun is down like we used to be and I like just the whole atmosphere. Everyone is stoked to be here, everyone is happy to see me out here which is nice, so it’s a lot of fun. Also, it’s the biggest thing you can find now! I want to go line up against 30 guys, so let’s get some more guys out here!