Over the last two years, Kenny Bartram has been on fire on the freestyle motocross circuit. He has dominated the International Freestyle Motocross Association (IFMA) tour, at one time or another beating most of the top contenders at the X Games. But while he has proven he can win against guys like Brian Deegan, Mike Metzger, Mike Jones, Carey Hart, Tommy Clowers, and Clifford Adoptante, to name a few, he has been skunked in World Freeride Association (WFA) events, never finishing higher than fourth. It's the WFA that qualifies riders for the X Games, which means Bartram had to earn his spot the hard way by showing up at the WFA event in Worcester, MA. and being the highest finisher of anyone without a spot in the X Games already secured.

The 21 year-old Oklahoma native erased any doubt that he belongs in San Francisco by winning the contest with a high-paced, energetic run featuring a collection of the hardest tricks in freestyle. He threw an exclamation point on it by landing a Sterilizer on his last jump, riding that into a nose wheelie, and dumping the bike and whipping the Worcester Centrum crowd into a frenzy. After collecting his trophy, and his spot at the 2000 X Games, Bartram showed just whom he had to thank by borrowing a pen, postponing any further interviews, and scurrying over to a corner of the arena to sign t-shirts for the next half-hour.

EXPN caught up with the kid they call Cowboy for quick chat about qualifying for San Francisco, Garth Brooks, what it's like to ride with Travis Pastrana, and why freestyle is the future.

EXPN: So, are you stoked?

KB: I'm so happy! One, I've never finished higher than fourth in an LXD competition. Two, I broke [WFA points leader] Tommy Clowers' streak, and I made the X Games. I'm super, super happy.

EXPN: When did you start racing, and how far did you get as a pro?

KB: I started racing when I was 12 years old. I turned pro when I was 16. I've ridden probably 25 or 30 Supercrosses. I made I think five main events.

EXPN: Are you going back on the Supercross circuit next year?

KB: It depends on how freestyle goes, but I really doubt it. There's so much freestyle going on right now. In '99 I raced every single weekend, all year long, and I did two freestyle events. Out of the two freestyle events, I made more money than I did all year racing. I went, "hmm, I should do freestyle more." I'm not in it for the money, but it's hard to keep doing it for the sake of doing it when you're not making money. On off weekends I race local stuff. The Oklahoma State Series, I won that twice, in '97 and '99, both classes.

EXPN: You're one of only a few freestyle guys riding a 125. Why do you like that size?

KB: I just like the 125. It's a lot lighter weight. It's easier to throw the bike around. I like the sound a 125 makes, real pipey. Even whenever I raced, I hated 250's. I think they have too much power. They're kind of hard to hang onto, because they have so much power. I'm not a little lightweight kid, but I'm not real big, so I just like the little bikes.

EXPN: The Freestyle thing's been blowin' up for you, yet this is the first time you've ever finished higher than fourth at a WFA competition. Why do you think that is?

KB: I don't know. There weren't a lot of the top guys -- Metz, Deegan, Carey Hart. Clifford Adoptante -- wasn't there. But Clowers won the last event. The top guy was there, so it's kind of hard to say. Maybe just like a race track, you can't win 'em all.

EXPN: Do you think you had a little more motivation than some of the other riders there, seeing how this was for the last spot in the X Games?

KB: That's quite possible. Trevor Vines, I don't think he's ever been in the top three. He was third both nights, I think. He was also motivated by the same things -- that chance for a spot in the X Games.

EXPN: How do you like the indoor courses, like the Worcester Centrum. Do you like the tight courses like that, or would you prefer to be outside where there're bigger jumps?

KB: I like the indoor courses way better. I'd like the jumps to be about five feet bigger, but when you go to the outdoor ones, they make them like 20 feet bigger.

EXPN: How about the crowd factor? Even though the crowd wasn't that big, it seemed like it was a loud setting.

KB: The crowd was super loud, and it does really effect you whenever the crowd gets into it. You'll notice most of the riders throw out a really big trick right at first to get the crowd into it, because it does help you out to know the crowd's behind you and they want you to do good.

EXPN: What was your opening trick for the weekend?

KB: I open with an Indian Air most times. I think I opened with a Double Seat Grab the second time.

EXPN: You're down at Travis Pastrana's house right now. How often do you guys ride together?

KB: We've known each other for about eight years, and for a long time we just rode once a year. But this last year we've ridden quite a bit together. We were Gravity Games partners last year, so we just started riding together a lot more.

EXPN: You won the doubles at Gravity together last year. How did you like that event?

KB: It's so much fun. Basically it's what freestyle is all about -- going out having fun with your buddies. Travis and I planned out a pretty good run. Everybody else kind of didn't plan anything, so their runs didn't look that good. I think that's why we won.

EXPN: Do you think having a partner who's so well known, and was doing so well in freestyle, at least before he started racing Supercross, has helped your riding any?

KB: Yeah, I think so. If you look at most of the top guys -- Clifford, Metz, Carey Hart, Deegan, Jones, Clowers -- they all come from the Supercross background. Supercross has so many jumps in it, it teaches you how to jump. And I guess maybe you just get bored doing laps and laps around a Supercross track, so you start doing tricks. The guys who come from Supercross, they've been doing tricks for the last 10 years because they've been bored. There are a lot of riders out there now who haven't raced in the past, that are just freestylers, but they're kind of few and far between.

EXPN: How does it feel seeing a young kid like Pastrana, who you've known since he was eight, come up and take over the spotlight in the whole sport of motocross?

KB: It's really cool. If he was a little punk kid, I probably wouldn't like it that much, but Travis is a really, really good kid. So I don't mind seeing him win at all. He still lives a normal life. Five minutes ago, he was out mowing the lawn. He's almost a national champion, and he still mows his own lawn. I would love to see him win every race out there. A lot of the punks, I don't really like to see them win. I kind of miss having Travis there in the Freestyle, but it's kind of nice not having him there, too, because somebody else is winning. When Travis was riding, there wasn't any competition. It was just "all right, we're going out and riding for second."

EXPN: How is he riding as far as the jumping stuff goes. Is he on his game?

KB: I don't know. We haven't ridden yet. We've been working on the track. He hasn't been doing jumps at all; he's just been doing moto's and moto's. I don't know how he'll be. But Travis has a reputation that he's not going to lose. He's definitely got a lot more at stake. If he gets hurt jumping, he's probably going to get fired. The rest of us, if we get hurt, well, . . . We get hurt.

EXPN: I overheard you say that if you have a bad song in your head, it's probably a rock song, that you're more of a country fan. It seems like the rest of freestyle has this punk image. Do you think your musical tastes are a little different that most of your peers?

KB: Definitely a little different. I don't know of any other freestyler that likes country music. I don't know if that helps or hurts anything, as far as riding. It's just growing up in Oklahoma versus growing up in California.

EXPN: Most freestyle competitions have heavy metal playing in the background. If you could pick any song to play during your run, what would it be?

KB: There's quite a few fast-paced country songs. Garth Brooks' "Against the Grain" is probably my favorite.

EXPN: Do your parents approve of you doing freestyle, or would they rather see you still racing?

KB: I don't know. When I first got into freestyle, my parents really hated it. But they've also realized that freestyle is eventually going to pass up racing as far as industry people and crowd. Pretty much everything. I think freestyle is going to take over the motorcycle industry. I'm very proud to be a part of it, and I think my parents are happy that I've started making money at this and I found something I really like to do.

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