She told me that I would have to suck it up and apologize if I ever wanted to race again so I did.”Īfter making amends with his father, the pair returned to their local track to prepare for the next race, and it was on that day that Taka’s future would take a radical change in direction. “But I told her I didn’t do anything wrong because I was training. “One day, my mom said to me, ‘Hey Taka, if you want to race, you have to apologize to your dad,’” he said. Taka refused to explain what he was up to and as a result, they didn’t go racing or even speak to each other for six months. Taka has motorcycles stored in Japan and Europe for use in shows with the Chimera Games, Crusty Tour, and Nitro Circus. This is his newest - a 2019 model that he has yet to even ride - but it is set up identically to the six other YZ250s that he uses for competitions around the globe. Taka chooses the Yamaha YZ250 because the bike has remained relatively unchanged for years, and that makes it easy for him to build up a fleet of machines that he can feel consistently comfortable on. “He thought I was out partying and messing around and we got in a big fight. “One night, I came home, and my dad hit me!” said Taka. “I wanted to train hard and surprise my father at the first race with my new fitness.” Taka’s dad, however, began to wonder what the late nights were about. In preparation for the 2003 season, Taka secretly joined a gym and hired a trainer. With his father at his side, the duo followed the tour across the island country Taka racing as best he could and his father maintaining the motorcycle and cheering him on. In Japan, Taka competed in the IA2 class, which is the same as the 250 Intermediate class here. With multiple X Games medals to his credit and one of the largest selections of tricks in the sport – including the double backflip, and multiple body varials – Higashino has come a long way since his early days as an aspiring motocross racer in Osaka, Japan.
Taka Higashino is one of the biggest names in freestyle motocross. Joining the ProX family this year, we sat down to get all the details on Taka's journey to FMX and the low-down on his trick YZ250. FMX veteran Taka Higashino has an incredible story many may not know.