Brad Frace - Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green

Let’s rewind back to last season. You really came on strong in 2009, especially towards Ponca and Loretta’s time. Go back to last summer and tell me about coming into your own.

Last year went really good! I just tried to focus on my starts like I always do and then I finally starting to get some good starts towards mid-season. I normally don’t do very good at the Texas nationals and then I get better as the year goes on. Usually by Ponca and Loretta’s I'm going pretty fast. I always just try to focus on starts though because I know my speed is there, so if I can get a good start I’ll be alright.

Let’s talk about Loretta’s.  You rode both Schoolboy classes and most people might not know this, but you’re the only Schoolboy rider to get top 3 in both of them.

Loretta’s felt pretty good. I would definitely have liked to win, but I think overall I wouldn’t change anything. I did pretty good, got two thirds and stayed consistent in all my motos. I would’ve liked it to go maybe a little bit better but I guess I can’t complain.

You didn’t do quite as well at Florida, but take us through that. That’s the last national anyone saw you ride at.

Florida didn’t go that good, but it was alright. I got a 3^rd in one class and the other class I don’t even remember what I got. A lot of people didn’t know but I got hurt and had to have surgery on my collarbone about 5 weeks before the Mini O’s. I really only had like a week to get ready for that race and I hadn’t rode in quite awhile. So I was pretty rusty for that national but I guess it went pretty good for not being able to ride at all.

Now you’re on Kawasaki’s. Tell us about how the Team Green deal came together for you.

I guess nobody really knew what Honda was up to for this year, and Kawi had made us an offer. We always just kinda had that in the back of our mind as a thing to do if Honda didn’t step up. Honda gave us an offer but it wasn’t as good at the Kawi offer so we decided to go with Team Green. So far everybody at Kawasaki has been really good and all of my other sponsors have been really cool about me switching too.  The bikes are good and I like them a lot, so I think everything should be good.

You’re coming off of Honda of Houston, which is another big team. Shaun and those guys obviously do a great job over there and you’ve been with them for a number of seasons now. Tell us a little bit about your experiences with those guys.

They’re great! I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them. Shaun and everybody there have all been great. I was sad to leave them and go somewhere else but I guess it’s just something you have to do sometimes.  I feel like being on Team Green is a really good thing for me in these next two years. It was sad to leave Honda of Houston but it’s kinda cool to be on something different too.

Let’s talk about the new bikes. You just got done riding so tell us a little more about your first impressions of the new bike.

Yeah, the 2010 Kawasaki’s are really good. It actually feels a lot like my Honda did. I guess my first impression would be that they’re awesome. I mean there’s nothing wrong with them and nothing that I didn’t like. I can’t really think of anything that I don’t like.

We’re only a couple weeks away from the warm up races and Lake Whitney is right around the corner too. How are you feeling? Are you going to be ready?

I should be ready for the Texas nationals, but I don’t know how ready I’ll be for the opener coming up here this weekend! I haven’t been riding much because the weather’s been pretty bad and we’ve been trying to get everything figured out with bikes. I think by Whitney I should be ready, and I think the warm up will be just a good warm up. Right now I'm just trying to get use to the bike and just try and slowly work my pace up so when I am going fast I'm also smooth and not all over the place.

Looking further down the line, what do you have for goals for the 2010 season?

My goal is to win a championship at every national. Other than that I would say that the goal is to be consistently upfront and always on the podium.

What classes will you be racing this year?

I'm racing both B’s, Four-Stroke Schoolboy, no two-strokes, and the Open classes like 250F Non-Pro.  I'm not racing 450’s this year. I’ll ride them this year but won’t race them yet.