Brad Lovell...

Name:Brad Lovell
Age: 19
Years riding: 5 1/2
Hometown: livermore CA
Favorite local spot: Livermore BMX Track and Pleasanton dirt jumps
Favorite track: FBX
Favorite riders: Randy Stumphauser, Joey B, Austin Hyatt, Kyle Bennett, Bubba Harris, NICK VALENCIA!!! haha


How the year starting off for ya? Schedule is stacked what races sanctions
events are you planning on attending?

2009 is Definitely the year for BMX, local tracks are cleaning up, more races to attend, and after the Olympics more and more companies are starting to recognize BMX as a sport therefore more sponsorship opportunities await.

Your probably the fastest guy in your area hows it feel representing Livermore
so to speak. Youve gotta be the local hero to the NBL groms in the area, does
that play a role in your riding life much?

Heh I guess I am the best rider in my area, it cool having all the little guys look up to me. but then in a way it kinda sucks because there's nobody close by to push me to get much faster, I have to go all the way to santa clara for that.

To train... or not to train?

Last year for me was not to train, I wanted to have more fun with it and not push myself too hard, lately I've been getting sick of being 4th or 5th in semis if I even make the semis at nationals. well to say the least that stage is over and done with, I just got back into the gym and doing a whole lot of BMX specific Training, so all you PRO-AM fans and riders better watch out.

You have always ran the NBL 16-29 money class and with the Nor*Cal Pro-Am series kicking off how do you see that working out for you?

Totally stoked! Henry Sarria set a similar series up a few years back which was a ton of fun, I love racing all the pro-am guys because everything is up in the air, you never know what will happen so it's always exciting.

Any up and comers you would like to see jump into the Pro-Am and see how they do? Anybody you gunning to battle with or guys you suspect might be looking to make a run at the series title?

A few of the guys out of Prunedale are coming of age to get in the 16-29 money class, Justin Meyenberg just got his drivers license so we'll be seeing him alot more, also Ryan Agan is old enough to get in it. Both of these guys have been making appearances at PAL...

I consider you a SC PAL local just as much as a Livermore Local so the obvious
question is do you preffer ABA or NBL? Does it matter?

It just depends on what your goals are, I think the overall opinion is that ABA riders are faster than NBL riders, and there are alot more fast riders at pal than there are at Livermore, I like and dislike both for different reasons, in NBL its more about having fun, everyone acts like they already know you and grudges dont last longer than the next race, all the rules in the NBL are more consistent, when they went to randoms, everyone went to randoms not just pros. In ABA the comp is stiffer, but not always as fun, usually theres only one or two guys that stick around after a moto to say good race and do the signature BMX handshake. but its where I get most of my drive from, my goal is to consistently make ABA national mains, so not doing well at them doesnt phase me as much anymore it just lets me know what I need to work on. I don't preffer either one BMX is BMX.

You've been on Bandit for as long as I could remember, how is it working with
Steve and the team in general?

I have been on Bandit for about 4 years now, Steve is an awesome team Manager and is always there to help me out. we have gotten a few recent additions to the team including Andrew Benoit, and the Anderson Family. you'll be seeing a lot more Bandit jerseys up front and in the albums on www.customracingphotos.smugmug.com(haha had to stick the site in there).

Pictures! You seem to be the go to guy as of late for anyone interested in pictures- want to drop us a little info on how you got into shooting and what you offer in the way of photography for BMX and action sports in general?

I got into photography in my senior year in high school when I took a photo class as a GPA booster. I didn't really try that hard in the class but I always seemed to take good photos so I started to take a little more interest in it, I eventually
got my own camera and started taking it to the races. I first shot for BMX today when Hank (Sarria) came up to me panicking because he didn't have a photographer for the race we was writing for, so I said hey ill shoot for ya! Last year my mom and I started Custom Racing Photos because we noticed that there was no photographer for the NBL state series anymore. I have since taken over the business and just recently got the website up with the help of my girlfriend Halsey. I am currentlygoing to the Academy of Art in San Francisco, majoring in photography, I have used many of my BMX photos for homework in class to be reviewed by my anal retentive instructors. so what do I offer that most other photographers don't? How many photographers do you know of who can actually ride a bike? They say it takes on to know one and I know exactly what the riders are looking for in an image. I hate taking "stock" photos, you know the ones at nationals where you look through 80 pages of the exact same picture, just different riders. I like to move around, I like to get real close or get far away and zoom way in, you'll sometimes see me with my camera laying in the middle of a big jump waiting to snap a shot of a rider jumping over me. I'm also real picky about composition and focus, I usually delete about 30% of the shots I take before they get out of the camera because they are out of focus or I cut someones leg off. I offer the view of BMX and action sports from a rider/artistic perspective and with my mobil studio set up I am usually able to get you your prints before your next moto.

Plans for 2009- Shout outs and Sponsor thanks- like I said 2009 is a big year
for BMX.

Im setting my sights on the 2010 worlds in south africa so now is the
time to start, you'll be seeing me hopefully not getting moto'd at all the NBL
and ABA west coast nationals. I'd like to shout out to my parents for supporting me with BMX and school, Steve and the entire Bandit Racing crew, all the riders at pal, and my amazing girlfriend for kicking my ass every time I get on my bike. Don't forget to check out www.CustomRacingPhotos.smugmug.com and look for your face at all the upcoming NBL and ABA races!