Tuesday Conversation: Miles Thornton

Just 15, Miles Thornton has been a very busy person recently. As a racer, he’s been battling some very strong competition in the USGPRU 250GP class, as well as nailing down seat time with Melissa Paris in WERA endurance racing. At the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, Miles competed in the 125cc race with the Veloce Aprilia team. Two weeks later, he won the prestigious Horizon Award at the AMA Road Race Grand Championships. We interrupted Thornton’s honors chemistry homework to get a rundown of his recent racing work.

RRX: So you don’t like the math in Honors Chemistry?
Miles Thornton: No, I’m a sophomore and I’m supposed to be in Biology but I took that my freshman year. I’m a step ahead, so the math I need now is calculus and I haven’t taken that yet. These last two months have been crazy because I’ve had a lot of schoolwork on top of all the racing. I really don’t want to be home-schooled; I like the school environment. I won’t be missing any more school until the season starts back up in March, so the principal agreed that if I kept my grades up I could race and stay in school.

A lot has been going on in your racing life. Can you talk about some of that?
Well, my bike had been breaking a lot in USGPRU—my 250—and Melissa Paris saw that was happening a lot so she asked if I wanted to ride the 600 with her at VIR, so I said, “Sure, of course.” We went out there and I had a fifteen-minute practice session and we started the endurance event. It was all right—I think we got fifth or sixth overall and third or fourth in our class. I thought we did pretty good; I did the same times as she did in the race, which was pretty good for my first time on a 600. The bike handled great, and it was awesome—I really wanted a 600 after that. After that I went to Miller to try out the 125 for MotoGP. That bike is fast and handles well, and we were just trying to get everything sorted out because I’ve only ridden it twice.

How did the MotoGP deal happen?
I’ve known the guys from Veloce Aprilia for two years because they do the USGPRU with Nobi Iso in the 125 class. They asked me and Ben Young if we wanted to ride in the 125 GP race at Indy and we both said, “Sure.” It’s just all happened really quickly. I did the World Superbike round in the GTU class, riding my 250 in the 600 race. I was just hoping to get some money, and unfortunately I chose the wrong tires. It was kind of raining, and I went out on rains and it ended up drying out after the seventh or eighth lap. I was out in front of guys like Taylor Knapp, and when it started drying out I had to pull in. That same weekend they asked if I wanted to ride MotoGP, so a lot has been going on lately.

Can you go through that race?
The grid was pretty cool—pulling up, everybody was on their stands and has tire warmers on with umbrella girls; it was pretty cool to see all that. Then we get to go out for the warm-up lap, and that’s pretty neat how you get two laps to see the track. At the start, the lights went out and I got a pretty good start—I made my way up to nineteenth because a bunch of people were bumping and running off everywhere—I came into the first corner on the first flying lap and went in a little too hot and tucked the front end, and my race was done [laughs]. When I fell over, the bike bounced and shot straight up and kept riding on its own. It was really far away and they wouldn’t let me run to it.

Are there plans to do this again next year?
I have no idea. I hope so; it would be great because now I know the track and how the competition is, so it will hopefully be easier.

What were you looking for from the Red Bull Indy GP?
Just to get the experience at the world level, and to see the riders and how they ride and to see how everything operates. I was really surprised with my results; I out-qualified the team next to me, and they run the whole MotoGP series. This has been the chance of a lifetime for me, riding in the world championship. I hope this opens the doors for more opportunities like this, and I hope every opportunity does that. I think this is more of an experience kind of thing to see how MotoGP runs, and if I do well maybe somebody will see me and try to pick me up. Right now it’s just for fun and to see how everybody operates.

Can you go through the Grand Championship weekend?
The whole weekend was really cold and they had just put down new sealer, so there wasn’t any rubber on the track. It was freezing-cold, and the track was really slippery, so I only got three sessions in the morning on Friday—one on the 600 and two on the 250. The 250 needed to be completely reset because my suspension was all out of whack. I was getting a lot of chatter and stuff like that. In the afternoon I went out on the 600 one time and the 250 one time. Saturday was all qualifying and I felt okay on the 600 because I didn’t get a lot of track time, but I ended up feeling pretty comfortable on it. At the end of qualifying I was second, and I was so stoked because I thought it was going to be top-five but I didn’t expect second. In 250 qualifying I got third, and I was disappointed because I had been leading every session until then. I guess everybody had just turned it on. Sunday came and the race was so early and I was nervous because the track was really sketchy. It was damp, and the fog was really bad. In the early practice, three or four people went down. In the race I was fifth into Turn 1 and everybody was flying around me, but since I was used to sliding around on dirt tracks I had moved up to second by the end of the first lap. I caught Adam Roberts and finally made a pass in the last corner and when I got away from him I didn’t see him again. I finally got my first win in the USGPRU 250 class [laughs]. It has been a rough year.

In the first 600 race I was right behind Brian Stokes in third place—who is a pro racer—which I didn’t expect because I was just out there to have fun. The next race I got a bad start but I made my way up and was in third by the end of the first flying lap. I made the pass for second into Turn 1 and chased down Stokes again. I caught him and I was with him side-by-side at the line. Since he was a professional, it showed me as the winner.

Did you ever think you’d land the Horizon Award?
No I didn’t. I had just signed up the same day that they were giving it out. It was a great weekend.

Thornton’s family would like to thank Mark Rozema for letting Miles ride his Markbilt 600 Yamaha, and Melissa for letting him ride her 250.