Taylor Kiser is a pro GNCC ATV racer from Florida. That's a good place to live during this time of year, because Taylor can train during the winter and get ready for the opening round in the sand of River Ranch. But he's also working on his game in other terrain, and thanks to friends like Johnny Gallagher and Brandon Sommers, he's improving steadily. After a year with KTM, Kiser has switched back to a familiar mount with Yamaha. How does he expect to do? Read on.

I bet it's nice in Florida right now. It's currently snowing in Morgantown.
It's a big advantage for me to be here right now. Everyone is stuck up there in the cold and I can train year round. It's 75 degrees and sunny here. It's kind of hard to beat that.

You raced for the factory KTM team last year but you decided to go back to Yahama this year?
The economy is bad. It's slow for other companies. They had to make some budget cuts.  I kind of decided to do my own program this year. I had good luck with Yamaha in '07 so I went back to that machine.

How does it feel back with Yamaha?
It's been really good.  I mean, they are giving me some support. They're helping me out with some stuff. I'm getting my suspension dialed in right now.

Why did you decide to stay on the '08 YFZ450 bike instead of upgrading to the '09?
I've got the old bike figured out. I don't have enough time to get the new one to fit to where I'm comfortable with it. What I have now, it's the same style of bike I raced in '07. Pretty much the only thing we changed on our program is I have Ohlins Suspensions and Houser Chassis Components.

Do you think you'll stick with Yamaha for awhile?
I plan on staying here for awhile. They've always been really good for me. Hopefully it's a long-term relationship. I plan on staying on this bike at least through the summer break. When things get a little more ready I'll see about switching to the '09.

I know the terrain in Florida isn't normal for most GNCC's. You get to train year-round, but how do you work with different terrain?
I had really good luck my first year, and I got really better acquainted with the tracks. I feel confident about the other tracks. Snowshoe will give me especially hard problems, though. Snowshoe is kind of the one that gets to me the most. It's terrain I don't have a lot of experience with. I'd rather focus on being consistent there. Anything can happen there. It's just a big challenge. I usually have some issues there, so hopefully this year we will be able to get past that.

Do you think you'll have an advantage in the opening round in Florida since you spend so much time down there?
Florida is usually my favorite race of the year. I wouldn't say I have an advantage. I'm most comfortable on this terrain. I really enjoy riding down there. There's some extra pressure because everyone expects me to do better down there. It's closer to my house so I put a lot of pressure on myself this year. A lot of my friends are coming. I really want to come out this year swinging.

So what do you do to get ready for the rest of the GNCC tracks?
I pretty much stay down here all during the winter and focus on the sand for the first round. After that I migrate north. I stay with Johnny Gallagher a few months out of the year and hit local races. I try to get reacquainted with the tracks. Between him and Brandon Sommers we kind of spread it out.

You guys are pretty good buddies right?
I met them a few years ago when I was riding A class. We all just became really good friends. We were all riding Yamahas. I ran Brandon's dad's stuff for awhile and we became really good friends. We've kind of just stuck together ever since. We spend a lot of time at each other's houses. Brandon and Johnny's been down here and Traci's been down here. We're all competitors but we do stuff together.

What kinds of things do you guys get into together? Beside competing? Or is that off the record!
Yeaaaah. We probably won't get into that! We all like to go out and hang out together. We like to do interesting things in our off time. I'm 22, so interesting things will happen! I'm riding a couple of days a week. Staying in the gym. This time of the year we always stay out of trouble! For training, I usually just go out and put an hour at a time. Come in take a break. Luckily, it didn't take me long to get reacquainted with the YFZ. I've had it since November.

You're pretty close with Bill Ballance too, right?
Bill helps me a lot. He would do anything for anyone. He's a good guy to be around. He's focused and helped us with our bikes. I met him through Johnny. He's just another one of the guys, now.

So you're friends off the track, what happens when you have to compete against each other? 
When it comes to race time, it's race time. We look for each other on the track. When it comes down to it we're all competitors. We're all still friends at the end of the day. We all help each other out. It's one of those deals.

What kind of goals have you set for yourself this year?
I have one goal this year. Actually we'll call it two. I want to finish on the podium and of course the ultimate goal is to win the championship. Everyone wants to win the championship. So I'm going to pretty much just focus on my training and riding a bike that's been proven. Hopefully I can capitalize on other people having problems with their new bikes