After a start to the Arenacross series he'd rather forget, I sat down and had a little chat with Foremost Insurance / Jim Neese Racing's Tyler Bright.  After a difficult start to the season, Bright is currently leading the East Lites points in the Arenacross series. He is getting some great support this year and is working with one of Arenacross' biggest names, Jim Neese. This weekend they head into San Antonio, TX, where he hopes to land his first 450 podium of the season.  

Tyler, what are you up to today?
Ah man, nothing much. Just got home from a good three day's of training with Taylor Futrell and Tevin Tapia. I can only train Monday through Wednesday on weeks like this with such a long drive to the race this weekend. Now it's a nice Facebook session and Madhouse episodes from the History Channel.

So, how's your season going so far? You have had some pretty good results this year.
The season thus far is finally starting to pick up and I'm getting more and more confident week in and week out. The season started off awesome with a 1st place in the 450 Heat race and a 6th in the 450 main. Then I decided to start riding like a nervous rider and was bringing up the rear. But since after the Hampton round where I put in a solid slow 11th and 12th place, Taylor Futrell and myself have been putting in loads of hard work at the gym and moto's at Lonnie Taylor's supercross track. The results are getting better and better. I've won four lites main races this year. My best 450 result thus far has been a 6th at Grand Rapids, on night one; a 7th at Baltimore on night one and a 7th at Youngstown on night two.

In Arenacross your riding in the Lites class, however you're also riding the 450 class too.  Is it hard to swap back and forth every weekend?
Well man, for right now with me being outside the top ten in the 450 class, I'm allowed to race the Lites and I'm really enjoying the extra track time and also the extra money. Track wise, the bikes are sometimes a little hard swapping back because the rhythm sections are pretty simple on a 450. But when I hop on my Lites bike and the turns start getting rutty the rhythm sections on a Lites bike can be tough out of the turns. I know people might think that it hurts me and I'm using a lot of extra energy, and it's just motivation to work harder and show people that even if I'm racing both classes I can still put in solid results in the 450 class.

You're leading the points right now in the Lites class. Your confidence has to be pretty good coming into San Antonio?
I'm leading the Lites East region points and this weekend in San Antonio is a West region round, so no points go towards me, but I'm feeling confident and prepared. So hopefully I'll be back visiting the monster girl's on the podium after the Lites main.

Being on Jim Neese' team, a veteran of the arenacross series, and having him as a mentor, how has that helped you this year?
Absolutely! Being on the team with Jim brings in tons of experience and tips about each round. He's really good with the bike setup. After the first session of practice each week he's telling my mechanic and me to try this and try that and it usually ends up for the better and only makes me more comfortable. Plus Jim can rail a set of whoops. He's helped me before the season on getting comfortable skimming because before I hated it and every round this year you have to skim to be up front. So all around he's a great mentor.

             Bright, seen here atop the podium, currently leads the East Coast Lites Arenacross series.

What Supercross races will we see you at this year?
I'm planning on Houston and St. Louis for right now and if I achieve my goals then I'll take it out west and finish the series. But for now it's all Ax and that's all I"m looking forward to. When will we see you riding Supercross full time?
Maybe next year or the year after that. It just depends on what sponsors want to do and what I want to do. I feel I have some unfinished business left in Arenacross and I want to go out knowing that I did the best I could and there are no excuses. I'm still young and have plenty of years left, so we will be prepared when the time comes.

So on another note, what do you do when you aren't riding?
Well, when this new website called Facebook overtook the Internet world wide, the boring days of not doing anything have been occupied by that. When it's not that I love going out running, road cycling and kicking with my buddy's.

So you want to give any shout outs to some locals back home?
Ah man, huge shout out to the locals back home.. Mainly we got Weezy and the Tega Cay Lug crew, Aaron Whitfield , Matt Catlin, Taylor Futrell - sorry buddy had to - (laughing} and just all the proud loyal citizens of all their towns in the Carolina's. Don't leave the town and always get 5 dollars on the gas pump. (Laughing)

Is there any one you would like to thank?
First off my whole family for being with me since this all started in 1996, and Foremost Insurance, David Eller at Makson Construction, Jim Neese Racing, Chad Newton and David Lyons at Total Control Suspension, Kenda tires, Dave at Axo, Scott Goggles, Brett at ICW, and Scorpion Helmets. My good friends Aaron Whitfield, Mitchell Key, Tom Cumby, Dustin Tharp, Tate Miller, Travis Poole, the Futrell's for putting up with me and just all my supporters back here in the Carolina's.  Thank you so much.

Anything else you would like to add?
For all my sponsors who have stuck with me.  My results last year were horrible and through this tough economy they have put forth the effort to stick with me and give me another shot.  So here's to them, A Huge Thank You!