VOL. 51 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 11, 2014 P77
the season," says Hahn. "I'm not
thinking as much, and just going
out there and riding my dirt bike.
It's more of a comfort thing, I'm
getting more accustomed to the
situation and where I'm at."
Hahn says he feels at home
on a Supercross track, so he
expects the transition to the 450
class will eventually get easier.
"I grew up riding outdoors,
but I think Supercross comes
more naturally for me, and that
shouldn't be the case, but I think
it works in my favor," says Hahn.
"For some reason Supercross
has always been something that
came to me naturally, and I've al-
ways had to work my butt off to
do well at motocross."
Hahn grew up in the Midwest,
and started racing at an early
age. At five year's old, Hahn took
to the local tracks in Kansas and
started winning right away.
"I won a lot back then, but then
there's not as many people living
in Kansas than there is in Califor-
nia, so there probably wasn't as
much competition," says Hahn.
"But for us it was awesome. It
was very special to me and my
brother and there are a group of
riders who still live and ride there
and those times will always be a
good memory for me. Whenever
I can, I try to go back there and
visit old friends and tear up some
old tracks we used to ride back
when I was young. I look forward
to that every year."
After spending his first 14 years
growing up in Kansas, Hahn and
his brother Tommy moved to Tex-
as where there was a much big-
ger racing scene.
"Texas was a good place to live
for a motocross racer; there are
a lot of good racers in that region
and some pretty good tracks, and
it's centrally located," says Hahn.
"But a few years ago I moved to
California, because I needed to
be closer to the team. I'm living
full time in California now, so I
can drop my bike off at the shop
after I practice and then go home
and work out. I don't have to do
any work on the bike that way.
When the series goes back east
I'll go to Kevin Windham's house
and stay there."
As is usually the case with
brothers, the younger sibling
usually has the advantage of
learning from the older one's suc-
cesses and failures. According to
Hahn, that was the case with he
and Tommy, and it benefitted his
racing.
"Tommy's been there for guid-
ance my whole life, showing me
right from wrong and I just tried to
apply what he learned along the
way," says Hahn. "You learn a
lot of things when you're the first
one in line and I've been able to
learn from him and benefit from
that."
In addition to his work ethic,
Hahn feels like his conditioning is
another one of his strong points.
"I've been working with Ryan
Federow since the end of 2007,"
says Hahn. "We believe in our
program and I think my condition-
ing is one of my strong points. I
think I've always had that going
for me. Maybe, at times my speed
hasn't always been awesome, but
I've always been fit." CN
Hahn is confident that he'll be a
top contender in the 450 class
sooner than later.