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MARC GAGNE: A lot of people ask why is he so
good at what he does?
Or why is anybody so good at what they do?
If I could answer that question, I'd train a bunch of
riders and retire.
JAKE GAGNE: My dad used to race motocross.
And I used to go to the track and watch him when I was
really young.
And so he got me into it and he got me started.
Yeah, I pretty much live and breathe and eat and sleep
motorcycles.
It's what I love doing.
So every kind of motorcycles.
I love motocross and I love road racing and everything.
I just love riding and racing.
MARC GAGNE: There's Jake [INAUDIBLE] when he was young.
There's me and the wif--
[INAUDIBLE] marriage.
Here's Jake when he first started out, a little 50.
He's probably about eight years old right there.
Then he got a lot of plaques over on the wall over there.
Back in the old days we used to put all that stuff up.
Now in case it gets cold in the winter we've
got a lot of firewood.
JAKE GAGNE: Yeah, all these trophies, pretty much every
single one I think is from motocross racing
just since I was seven.
So can't keep a lot of them in the house because they just
get all over the place.
MARC GAGNE: Come on in.
MAUREEN GAGNE: Want chicken salad?
MARC GAGNE: This is Jake's humble abode.
MAUREEN GAGNE: He comes home from Europe every time he
wants mom's cooking, that's for sure.
Well, his favorites are my chili, spaghetti, my carne
asada, my barbecues--
I cook every night for my baby.
And he doesn't like tomatoes.
He likes lemon pepper.
JAKE GAGNE: She takes care of me, she makes me food--
all the stuff a mom should do, so she's good.
MAUREEN GAGNE: Actually, this is low-fat bacon, also, and
all-wheat toast.
MARC GAGNE: This is the living room.
There's Jake's bicycle.
He watches TV, that's his--
what do they call those, Jake?
JAKE GAGNE: Bicycle.
MARC GAGNE: What kind?
JAKE GAGNE: Spin.
MARC GAGNE: Spin bike, yeah.
Thanks, pal.
So that's his spin bike.
He tells me he puts in an hour, hour and a half a day.
MAUREEN GAGNE: I think he's a normal teenager with a little
bit of a 'tude.
But he's a good kid and he's very smart.
And he's always had a 4.0 average in school.
MARC GAGNE: The toughest change for me is the fact that
he's a teenager.
And he's no different than the teenager down the street, to
the extent that he thinks he knows everything and he thinks
he doesn't need his dad or his mom anymore to
tell him what to do.
Dad's just the one that keeps everything in check.
So I'm the bad guy.
JAKE GAGNE: He just yells and gets mad at everything.
MAUREEN GAGNE: He doesn't really yell.
He just--
JAKE GAGNE: No, he yells.
MAUREEN GAGNE: Jacob!
That's when we know.
MARC GAGNE: Maureen's never been one to go to the
racetrack and watch tons of races.
She always likes to wait to hear and see what happens.
And you can't blame her, it's her kid running around out
there so it's a little different.
Us dads, we love to get out there and get
it and make it happen.
MAUREEN GAGNE: I get nervous when my son races.
So it's better for me to be home, and he's in Europe.
And then I can watch him with my girlfriend or my family
watching him live, and when I'm in
another room, screaming.
MARC GAGNE: This is some stuff from Toriano Wilson, he's the
one youngster that died last year in Virginia.
We always like to keep him in our thoughts.
I think Jake's still wearing stickers on
his helmet for Toriano.
JAKE GAGNE: Toriano Wilson, he was a great rider, and he was
my friend and stuff.
But you've got to try not to think about it when you're out
on the track.
And just try not to think about it.
Keep it in the back of your head.
MAUREEN GAGNE: I'm going to start crying.
JAKE GAGNE: I know mom, she gets worried and stuff.
But I know that she still trusts me and thinks
that I'll be OK.
MAUREEN GAGNE: I just want him to be happy, and this is what
makes him happy.
And I'm not going to damage his dreams, no matter what.
If I told him he couldn't ride again-- if I was his only
parent and I said you can't ride anymore, you would hate
me for the rest of your life, right?
JAKE GAGNE: Yeah.
MARC GAGNE: The only thing I've ever asked of my son
since we've been racing is just never to give up.
So that's a thing you learn in life, that you never give up
no matter what.
You get knocked down, you get back up.
So that's all I've really ever asked from him.
But I think he's got an incredible amount of pressure.
One, to do very well at school.
Two, to stay away from any bad elements that a 15-year-old
might get into.
I mean, there are still kids out there, kids
like to have fun.
There's girls--
I mean, hormones are raging at 15-16 years old.
BECKY: I grew up in Ramona near Jake, and we went to
middle school together and that's how I know him.
MARC GAGNE: Girls Jake stays away from.
His term is they're kind of dream killers right now.
BECKY: Everybody at the high school talks about who he is
and what he does and how great he is.
And he's always in the "Sentinel." I'm
really jealous of him.
He look like he has fun out there street racing and he
does really good.
And he's really fast, and the bikes look like
it's so much fun.
MARC GAGNE: His interest lies mainly in doing well in the
sport he's chosen.
And he knows that four or five years from now he can go back
and have all the young girlfriends
he'd like, I'm sure.
So it's just a matter of staying focused.
JAKE GAGNE: So it's 11 o'clock here and I just woke up and
went to bed at like 1 o'clock earlier today.
And I'm just staying on European time.
They all go to sleep when I'm getting up, and then I'm up
all morning in the dark, so that kind of sucks
[INAUDIBLE].
MARC GAGNE: Basically what Jake does, usually two weeks
prior to an event unless they're back to back like they
are now, he'll start going to bed at 4 o'clock in the
afternoon, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 2
o'clock in the afternoon.
Works his way up to about noon, 11:00 AM and then turns
around and gets back up about when I go to bed at night
about 10:30-11:00 PM.
And then he'll stay up and do his homework in the wee hours
of the morning when it's all dark.
JAKE GAGNE: There's nothing really to do this
early in the morning.
A.J.: When he first started racing he did motorcycles, and
it didn't really mean a lot to me until he started doing
really good in Rookie's Cup and stuff.
DILLAN: We saw some videos of him, and we were like oh,
damn, he actually is good.
A.J.: He doesn't come to school anymore so everyone's
always wondering how he does.
And people see it on TV sometimes.
DILLAN: It kind of sucks, because it's taking away from
our hanging out and stuff.
But he's going somewhere in life, he's doing something
cool and I'm stuck in Ramona.
I've never really asked Jake to go to a party.
I know he'll say no.
A.J.: His dad would freak out.
DILLAN: I think he's scared that his dad will find out.
A.J.: Yeah.
MARC GAGNE: If his friends say that they miss him, they
probably do.
But that was a choice that Jake and I and his mom made.
He knows going in that it's going to
require some sacrifice.