Rider Profile: Travis Ohge

Photos copyright 2011 - Paul Bryant / Left Coast Digital

Remember how challenging high school could be at times? Trying to balance classes and homework with a social life and a myriad of school clubs could get exhausting.

Travis Ohge has an even bigger challenge: balancing high school with a professional roadracing career. The 17-year-old from Aurora, Oregon, debuted in the AMA Pro Road Racing SuperSport class last year, when he was just a junior in high school. This year he rides the No. 40 Yamaha YZF-R6 for Jake Holden Racing.

Ohge ought to be used to catching up on schoolwork by now: he started racing at the age of three. He says, "My dad raced his whole life and my brother raced, and I loved motorcycles when I was little. My parents told me if I could ride a bicycle without training wheels, they'd buy me a motorcycle. I learned that day!"

Before roadracing, Ohge cut his competitive teeth in flat track and motocross. He tried his hand at supermoto, which led to roadracing. "Flat track is huge for roadracing; getting comfortable with sliding. It's a perfect place to start out," he advises.

Speaking of starts, the season got off to a rough one for Ohge, who highsided out of the top five at Daytona. Undeterred, he bounced back to take third at Infineon. Third at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, followed. "At Utah it was a rain race, and because I'm from Oregon I race in the rain a lot. I went from 13th to third," Ohge says.

Ohge also has to find time for training, and he does a lot of bicycling and weight lifting. He also enjoys wrestling, saying, "It's one of my other favorite things to do. It keeps me in shape and is something I like to do in the wintertime."

With such an intense schedule, it's hard to say which will be more of a challenge for Ohge: working his way up to MotoGP, or making it through his senior year.

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