On The Pegs May 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 | Page 64

On The Pegs
64
“I feel like I kind of changed the standard for riders as far as at the time the
factories had one rider, or riders per series,” said Charlie. “They were contracted
for one series and when I came in and was able to ride dual series I think it kind
of changed the manufacturers mindset on the riders. I think it helped and hurt
in some ways, because the guys that had enduro deals kind of struggled with
GNCC. So I kind of think it helped and hurt some riders. Looking six years later, it’s
kind of mandatory now. Everybody has to ride two series. I was kind of the one
that started that.”
These days, Charlie is the trainer for the KTM riders.
“Basically my deal, I work for KTM, Aldon, and I get paid by KTM to train the
factory riders,” said Charlie. “So Ben Kelley, Josh Toth, and then I’m working with
Jesse Ansley. Then Kailub Russell is kind of a unique deal where I don’t train him.
Basically my deal with Kailub, I go down in the winter and we do a six to eight
week winter bootcamp. So from January to the first round of GNCC I’m down
there with the guys - Ben, Josh, Jesse. So I have all four of them down there in
the wintertime. Then they do their motos. We train, go to the gym. Just kind of
standard bootcamp stuff. Then once Kailub goes back after Georgia to his house
in North Carolina, I go back home to Pennsylvania. From there, I monitor the guys
through the phone and online. They’ve got their training data. I do their sched-