Tyler Faoro, after a year of Junior Men's racing is looking to make an impact in Super-X for the 2008 season.  After making both mains at Christmas, we decided to catch up with Tyler to learn a little about him.  Read on to get the info.

Alright Tyler, let's start this interview by getting the basics out of the way.  Tell us a little about yourself.  Give us the bio.

Name: Tyler Faoro

Age: 18

Class: A Pro

Sponsors: Von Zipper, Billabong, Staats, Ciari parts, Dingo Racing, B.C Surf & Sport,.

Hometown: Coral Springs, Florida

Home track: Coral Springs and West Palm.

Just to give everyone an idea of where you are coming from….

What got you into racing? When I was younger a lot of the older kids in the neighborhood were always riding bikes jumping ramps and stuff and I always wondered where they would always go riding at, So one day my brother, my dad and me were at the park and there was people riding on the track so my brother was like we should go over there and check it out. We went over there and it looked like fun. We have been racing ever since.

What was your amateur racing career like?  Early on it was really good.  I started at age 5 by the time I was 9 I had won 2 Florida state championships, A National Championship and the US Open. It got tough for me from like age 12 to 14 I was having a hard time winning. I started to grow at about 15 and my confidence started to come back. I finished my Amateur career pretty strong winning the Florida state Championship in 16X and 16-17 cruiser.

What gave the drive to make the jump to pro? Well, after winning the Florida state championship when I was 16 I made up my mind even though I didn’t win the National Title. What happened was while at a national in East Moline IL, I fell in the first turn and broke my Scapula three weeks before the NBL Grand’s. After the Grand’s, I healed up and decided to race the JR Elite class which at that time you could not hop back and forth between Am and Pro So I turned up into that class and raced Elite open in Florida and JR Elite at Nationals.

Somebody gives you $1000 right now, what do you do?  Nobody gives you money for nothing so I assume I earned it . I would put it in the bank with the rest of my money and budget it out.

What’s your take on the random gate?  Its fine, slingers never bothered me so I don’t see what the big deal is. I never was a slinger but I had to learn how to sling after having my spleen pulled out because I had no abs for a while. The good thing is now I can sling or snap.

Somebody parks you first moto – are you looking for them next round or just taking a mental note for the future?  I always take mental notes for the future, sometimes the future comes up quick, sometimes it takes time but I have a really good memory.  

How long have you been racing? 13 years

What do you do outside of racing?  Do you have a day job, school?  What's going on there? Just hanging out having a good time when I can, I take classes online , No day job needed BMX training takes up a lot of time in the day and night. I always say when everyone else is sleeping I am training and getting faster.

Biggest win or best personal performance in a race? I have had some pretty good races where the points where real tight and I needed the main for the title, I have  come out with titles more than not, but I have to say to date , my biggest win was probably my first Elite Pro win last month at the Thanksgiving National in Tennessee. 

ABA or NBL? Both have pros and cons. The NBL tracks especially with pro sets are better. I race more NBL but I love the 3 pro main format of the ABA because it kind of takes away the luck of the lane fairy.

Favorite Race? Christmas Classic

How did Christmas go for you this year? Went pretty good, Ended up winning the Presidents Cup for Florida, The Presidents cup has more energy, noise and just great fun than any race period.  To win the cup for the first time was really a great feeling. I had a pretty good weekend getting 3rd in Super on day 1, and 5th on day two.  The race had a lot of good riders, so guess I ended up pretty good.

If you weren't racing BMX right now, what would your life consist of? Ha-ha I don't have any idea, I would probably be slaving away at a construction site some where.

What has your worst injury from BMX been? Having to get my Spleen removed 6 or 7 months ago was by far the worst injury from racing BMX.

What did you do to have that go down? It w as practice on Friday in Cape Coral FL for a state qualifier last year. I came down the hill and went a little side ways over the first roller/tabletop looking thing, I took my foot off to try to save it but the next jump was to close and I fell right into the top of the lip of the double that was there.

What is your favorite thing about racing? The Pressure in the main events, the Pro sections are always pretty sweet, Everything about racing is pretty awesome; going to all the different states/cities/country's racing is always a good time.

What is your least favorite thing about racing? Crashing because of someone else’s error.

So, I am sure that since you are looking to take a legitimate shot at a Single A pro title, your training schedule must be pretty serious.  Give us a look at what you do on a day to day basis.  Well I go to the Gym, Go to gate practice, and do sprints 3-5 times a week.

So you made the trip up North to Canada for the Worlds this summer. How did the race go for you? Had a couple good motto’s but I was only about 50 percent back from my Spleen removal in late April but I still had an awesome time up there.

What did you think of how everything was run? Everything was run pretty well there, Only thing that wasn't so good was that we were racing like back to back, We would come back from a motto and have to get right back in line to go again, this might have affected me more because I was still recovering. The gate cadence was a big surprise.
However, hanging at the USA tent with all the USA riders, coaches and team managers was great.

What was the best part of the weekend? Racing with all those guys was an awesome experience, The crowd on hand was huge with amazing weather all week, everything about that weekend was awesome, had a lot of fun, people up there were super nice as well.

Planning on making the trip to Beijing this coming summer for the worlds?
Probably going to be sitting that one out because I am putting my main focus into Single A/ Super this season.

Alright, the 2008 season is well under way and you are looking to make an impact I'm sure.  Tell us your goals for the 2008 season? Hopefully keep improving, stay healthy and consistent and go for the Super title in NBL and single A in ABA.

What races will you be attending? I will be attending as many races as possible this season, I have already hit a couple pretty good races, The Christmas classic is always a must,. It’s tough to balance everything because the FL state series is really good  we have really good riders down here in Elite Open I will be racing a bunch of  the big  NBL  Nationals, and mixing in some ABA but it is really hard because of conflicts and distance so I have an outline of my schedule but it has to be flexible.

What impact do you think the Olympics will have on BMX?
I think the Olympics is going to have an awesome impact on BMX, it will definitely bring  new sponsors, rider count will build, allot more Spectators for sure, more publicity but most importantly I think it will bring credibility to BMX.

And, of course, the final and possibly the most important question: Who is the hottest girl in BMX? Ha-ha I don’t even know probably this really hot lady that comes to the track in West Palm. Rider wise I would probably have to say Alise Post.