Carlen Gardner is ready for RED BUD!

Not being a dick, just generally curious because I have never heard of him. Why is it a rare opportunity to ride with him?

Carlen lives in Cali and the OP and his son live in Illinois. Sounds like Carlen does not get to come out and ride with the BWR team all year.

I know that every time I ride with someone who's name I've seen on TV, it makes that day just a little more special.

Pretty cool that the OPs son got to ride with a pro. I know I root for Vann Martin every weekend, a privateer sponsored by a local (to me) team.

I thought we were all pro's in here?!

That's awesome. Carlen and his family are the gold standard in my book for a moto family and the young man rips. (I can't even call him a kid because he's way more mature than 98% of the riders I get to work with.)

I don't say gold standard lightly at all.

If you don't know him, you will. He's been making main events in SX in both the 250 and 450 class and is right around the top 20 in nearly every national he's raced. Before that, he has some AX podiums and wins and a Loretta Lynn's championship. All doing it on a program they are gradually building by surrounding themselves with good people (like Brian at BWR who is also dang solid).

You picked a good person for your son to get to meet and share some time with.

Awesome! Carlen was ripping in SX. Has he been injured for the beginning of the outdoors? Or did I miss him at the west coast rounds? Just figuring that if he's from Cali that he would have been at Hangtown and Glen Helen.

Pretty cool OP. Don’t listen to the haters

Carlen has a very broad, long term perspective on racing and his career. In order to fully focus on getting the most out of his SX experience to make him better for years to come, he chose to put the outdoor program on hold until after SX was complete.

Once SX is complete, 2 weeks is not a lot of time for anyone, especially a privateer to completely transform and build a program for motocross to do it at your 100% best. Instead, he chose to take the time to get everything to 100% and head back to a few rounds later in the year with help from Brian at BWR who helps him with his program.

It's different, but thus far the progression and improvement from Carlen has been one of the most impressive I've seen, so I've become a believer.

I love rooting for the guys at the nationals that I have seen at the local tracks!

LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS
REDBUD - BUCHANAN, MI
ROUND 7 OF 12 - JULY 7, 2018
450MX
REDBUD NATIONAL
POS. # NAME BIKE BEST TIME SES #1 SES #2 SES #3 SES #4 SES #5 SES #6 SES #7 SES #8
F
1 4 Blake Baggett KTM 450 SX-F FE 2:02.411 --.--- 2:02.411 --.--- 2:05.487 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
2 1 Eli Tomac Kawasaki KX 450F 2:02.474 --.--- 2:02.474 --.--- 2:04.910 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
3 25 Marvin Musquin KTM 450 SX-F FE 2:03.446 --.--- 2:03.446 --.--- 2:04.731 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
4 51 Justin Barcia Yamaha YZ 450F 2:03.703 --.--- 2:03.703 --.--- 2:04.783 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
5 60 Benny Bloss KTM 450 SX-F FE 2:05.397 --.--- 2:05.397 --.--- 2:09.008 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
6 332 Jeremy Hand Honda CRF450R 2:05.529 2:05.529 --.--- 2:13.108 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---

7 805 Carlen Gardner Honda CRF450R 2:05.906 2:05.906 --.--- 2:10.962 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---

8 94 Ken Roczen Honda CRF450R 2:06.064 --.--- 2:06.276 --.--- 2:06.064 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
9 647 Matthew Hubert Husqvarna FC450 2:06.666 2:06.666 --.--- 2:15.588 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---
10 2 Cooper Webb Yamaha YZ 450F 2:06.727 --.--- 2:06.727 --.--- 2:07.465 --.--- --.--- --.--- --.---

Gotcha. That's awesome he got the opportunity

Yeah, based on his qualification times so far.....I would say he is READY!

Great kid from a great family. Pulling for the 805

Put him on both my Pulp and Motocross Fantasy lineups....looking good in practice!

Carlingardner, You're in!

Just got back from Redbuuuuud, and I finally have the internet connection to write on this thread! I an the OP's son, and he is an awesome Dad! Yes, Carlen is an awesome guy to be around, and he is one of the most humble pro riders I have ever met. When I was riding with him, I was coming on the track just as he was finishing up with testing with our good friend Brian White (Brian White Racing). I was just doing my warm up laps and having some fun with the jumps as I was going to try to set my fastest lap later. Anyways, I was riding and I heard an engine coming up on me pretty quick. It was Carlen, so as any C rider would do, I pulled off and watched him go by. He slowed down a little and yelled, "Come on!" and I thought, "He knows I'm not nearly as fast as him right?!" So I followed him. After a little bit of him putting around and me trying to keep up with him he pulled over and waved me to go ahead. When that happened I pushed myself more so he knew I wasn't just some Illinois kid with a dirtbike in the garage haha! Well needless to say he stayed on my rear wheel the entire time and didn't let me go anywhere. LOL. Fast Forward to Redbuuuuud where I was under the tent hanging out with Brian, Carlen, and the other riders after qualifying. I told Carlen I would get some cool pictures of him and send them to him, and that I wasn't impressed with the decent ones I got in qualifying. About ten minutes later we got the news the he had qualified 7th out of everyone. Everyone... I was completely shocked, and he was smiling and laughing like it was a normal day! End of story, it was awesome getting to know Carlen and getting to ride with him! Here are some photos I took of him and his bike at the race!