Troy Dog
It’s been a journey for Red Bull/Troy Lee Designs/GasGas’ Pierce Brown, but he finally did it! He accomplished his first career win at the SuperMotocross Playoff finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
The win comes during a bittersweet time for both Brown and the TLD GasGas team. See, Las Vegas marked the final race for Brown with the TLD team, as he allegedly prepares for 2025 with the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha Team. Yet, Brown has spent his entire pro career with the Troy Lee crew and even spent some time with the team as an amateur prospect.
It’s the end of an era for the TLD team, who is rumored to be coming back to run the Ducati program for the 2026 season, but that hasn’t been officially confirmed or announced yet.
Brown went 2-1 for first overall, ending Haiden Deegan’s five moto win streak in the process.
“The money is cool, but that win has been long over due,” Brown said in the post race press conference. “It just feels like a monkey off of my back. Obviously it’s been a goal for a while, but we made it happen. Now it’s expected.”
So, what was the difference this past weekend? Did Brown make a drastic bike change? Did he make some changes to his training program? Was it just the right track layout for him?
“I don’t think it was just the track, I think it has to do with the work I’ve been putting in on the starts,” Brown said. “It’s crazy what a start can do. Nothing has really changed speed wise. I’ve been putting in the work week in and week out, but it hasn’t been able to show because I’ve been starting seventh or tenth. These guys are so fast, so it’s hard to run through them like I want to. I’m just trying to let it sink in right now.”
As we mentioned earlier, Brown joined the TLD GasGas team while it was still called TLD KTM and he’s been riding the Austrian brand since 2014. They’ve stuck behind him through the ups and downs of injuries and have become like family in the process.
“It was kind of like a dream day for me,” Brown said. “This is TLD GasGas’ last race as a team. I’ve been with the team my whole career, haven’t been able to knock off a win for them, waited for the last race with them. It feels great. Just for myself, I needed that really bad. It’s been a mediocre year for me. We finally had two decent starts and I just felt really good all day.”
Yet, Brown has made progress in the 2024 season. He’s coming off of a career best eighth overall in th 250 Pro Motocross standings and he’s made every race. Being consistent and not getting hurt was a big deal for Brown who only raced 14 races in 2023 and 13 races in 2021.
“I think this is my first full season…I made every single round,” Brown said, who was actually really close to making all of the races in 2022. “For next year it just elevates my expectations for myself. This is definitely going to jumpstart some belief and I can’t wait for next year.”
If Brown does in fact ride for Star Racing next year, it will be the first time that he won’t be on an Austrian brand since 2013, when he was on…get this…a Yamaha.
Even though Brown turned pro full-time in 2020, he just turned 22 in June, so he’s actually quite young and it seems like he’s peaking at the right time. Brown had minimal time to reflect on what he just accomplished in Las Vegas, but he knows he’s had a rough couple of years with crashes and injuries. To get a huge win at arguably the biggest race of the season was a nice reward for himself and the crew over at Troy Lee Designs. They haven’t tasted victory champagne since Michael Mosiman at San Diego in 2022.
“It’s been a long road,” Brown said. “There’s times you get down on yourself, but it’s part of the sport. There’s ups and downs with everything in life, so you’ve kind of got to pick yourself up and make it happen and that’s what we did today. It’s big, it feels like a monkey off my back. I’m just through the moon right now, I’m stoked.”
Main Image: Octopi Media
