By Jason Weigandt and Steve Matthes
Eli Tomac | Monster Energy Kawasaki | 3rd in 450SX
Racer X: Let’s do a list of things that happened right tonight.
Eli Tomac: The first thing is I just had a smooth day. The past two weeks I’ve been scrambling out of my mind during practice and just not being comfortable, and somehow pulling out a decent heat race, and then going back to floundering in the mains. Today it was just a more consistent day. I kind of rode the same the whole time other than the last eight laps in the main event. But big improvement during the week and we brought it here and it was way better. I’m happy for sure. The podium was nice.
Coming into the season, did you think it was going to be this long before you hit the podium?
I really didn’t have any idea. You want to go out there and win but you’ve got to be realistic. Whole new bike, whole new team. I’ve got two new shoulders. So I don’t know. I should have had Anaheim 2 on the podium but I totally blew it the last lap. But this week I at least was fighting for some win speed. I just need to finish it now.
Looked like you were catching Kenny [Roczen] there for a bit.
I was, up until whatever it was, nine or ten, eleven, and then I just went off the back. He just rode a solid pace the whole time. He got away and then obviously [Ryan] Dungey ate me up. But if I can get it together the last nine or ten laps then I’ll be fine. That’s a lot of laps but I think I can get there sooner than later.
This looked like a lot of different stuff. The length of that start straight, the rocks, the dirt too.
Yeah. The dirt kind of felt pretty typical Phoenix dirt. It had a hard base and it had some traction in some areas and then it was really slick in others. That start was something I’ve never seen before. It was literally the length of the stadium. It was pretty gnarly and wide open. In the main event I was able to sneak around the inside and make it work. But I still need to be better with my jump and getting across the pad.
Those last couple laps there, is that a byproduct of just starting late and maybe not being where you would have been physically if you hadn’t got hurt last year?
Yeah, it was factor. It was getting tight. Every guy has felt it. You can’t really do anything about it. You can only hold onto your handlebars so hard. Otherwise you’ll take that risk and end up wadding it up, especially in the whoops or something. That’s where it’s going to get you. I kind of had to back it down and just settle in.
Do you look at it like, “Hey, I finally made the podium, I’m happy,” or are you like, “Ugh, I still got stuff to work on?” How do you take it overall this weekend?
Overall I’m really excited because I was catching the leader at one point. I just didn’t finish it. Dungey’s riding pretty unbelievable and Kenny’s riding awesome too. Shoot, those guys are really on their game right now. But I can’t expect too much. This is my fifth race back now from a big break, so it’s a start.
How big a setback were the two shoulders? Fitness-wise, confidence, everything else. Plus that time off, too.
Cardio-wise, it wasn’t a setback at all. I was able to do my bicycle work and whatever you’re going to do, go hiking, running. But the thing that really gets you on your shoulders is just the strength itself. It’s definitely not 100 percent on the one side, but it’s good enough to make it happen and get it done. I don’t think it really held me back that much but it’s not the same as it was.
When Ryan came up on you, did you put up much of a fight?
I knew he was catching me. He made a clean pass in the whoops. Of course I tried to stay there with him for a half a lap or a lap but at that point I was a little bit in cruise control. I was just doing what I could. I never really gave up. I was just doing what I could and whatever it was, it was.
It still went well.
The first half was totally fine, just needed to finish it. – Jason Weigandt
Jason Anderson | Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna | 4th in 450SX
Racer X: Talk us through your races.
Jason Anderson: My weekend was pretty good in practice. Had a good practice and then the heat race I was up there in third and just pushed the front end and had to go to the semi which is the third one. [Laughs] I got a little win streak going in the semi, three wins, which is not a streak you want to get going! In the main I was right next to the [starter] box and ended up coming out all right, not great but not twelfth like I had last weekend. I was still like eighth or something or ninth. Just tried to work my way through the pack and got up to fourth. I feel like I was coming on Tomac a little bit but it was kind of game over by that point. I had kind of got stuck behind a few guys and didn’t make the passes quick enough to be able to make that charge sooner in the race.
How much do those gate picks matter? Looking back now at these semis, is that looking like it’s a factor for the main event starts?
For sure. The way the gates are there’s very few good ones now. A lot of the other ones have holes or something weird in them. So I definitely feel like putting yourself in the right position from practice to the race to get the gate picks, I feel like that’s something Dungey’s been doing. But Dungey’s just been riding good too as well. Tonight, I was right behind him at the beginning and he ended up second. So I feel like I should have latched onto him a little bit sooner, but whenever he had that little gap I was trying to catch him and I kind of overrode a little bit. All in all I haven’t been outside of the top five. I have one podium, and one red flag deal [where he was pushed from third to fifth in San Diego]. So I feel like it’s been going pretty good. I need and want to get up there so I can kind of do what Kenny did. Capitalize on maybe Ryan’s mistake, but I didn’t really quite pull it off.
This track was a little different than some of the other ones…
I felt like I was better on the tackier dirt. Tonight I felt like I was trying to gas it super hard to catch up and I was losing the rear end and fighting traction. I feel like maybe a little bit of setup that I could have done better to maybe tame my bike down, even in the whoops too. I feel like my bike was set up really good for that tacky dirt last weekend. And then this weekend obviously you feel like you had a good setup last week, but it’s two completely different tracks. So you’re playing that game to try and find a good setup from week to week, but also trying to feel like you’re riding a bike that is somewhat similar to what you practice on during the week. You’re just changing stuff all the time.
You get a little scared to make too big a change during the day?
Yeah, you don’t want to make a change and it be in the completely wrong direction and then you’re back to square one. Then you’re like, dang it, where do I go now? But it’s amazing all the utilities and all the tools we have to make changes nowadays, from mapping to motors to shifting to suspension, it’s insane. It’s a little overwhelming at some point. For me, it’s my second year so I feel like learning how to set up your bike…obviously I want to be in the championship hunt but for me it’s just about progressing. I feel like this year I’m way better than last year. So I’m just going to try and keep doing that. This is my second year but I want to be a winner in the future. - Weigandt
Davi Millsaps | BTOSports.com KTM | 5th in 450SX
Racer X: You got the holeshot, some of those guys got away but you can’t be too bummed, can you?
Davi Millsaps: Obviously you can’t be that bummed, those guys are ready to do that pace for 20 laps and I’m not. I’m not scared to say that. I came into the season unprepared, or, not as prepared as I wanted to be, so, not running that pace since 2013 makes it hard to know where I need to be. I try to go home and do that pace the best as I can. I feel like I’m getting stronger. Hopefully I’ll eventually be able to be up there for 20 laps.
Second holeshot of the year, second heat race win, that’s a positive. And that was a long start so you know your bike is fast.
Bike is definitely fast! Ian over at the factory KTM rig helped me with my starts with a little adjustments here and there, I told him I’d get him a holeshot the first time he did it, and that was Anaheim 2, and I did it!
Did you see the Seely/Reed battle? Where you marking them?
I didn’t see Seely that much after he stalled it, but I did see Chad. Sometimes it looked like he was gaining and sometimes I was gaining. I tried to keep it in that ballpark the best I could. Everyone is riding their hearts out and we’re just trying to make it to the top. Hopefully someday we’ll be there.
It’s better than last year! It was by far the worst season of my career. I had some healthy issues. Like I said, I didn’t race at all in ‘14 and I only raced supercross in 2013. It’s been a long time since I’ve run that pace. There are some weekends where you have that in your head, when you’re like “What the hell are you doing?” Then you have these spurts where you’re going fast, and then I just need to get stronger. – Steve Matthes
Justin Brayton | BTOSports.com KTM | 7th in 450SX
Racer X: Before the night show you said, “Hey, I feel pretty good tonight.” Maybe the result wasn’t there but really the start, I was surprised. You weren’t up front and it was kind of a fight from there.
Justin Brayton: I actually had a pretty good jump but my buddy Seely, I thought we were pretty tight, he pushed me pretty wide in the first turn. [Laughs] Then I was just kind of boxed out from the first turn is a left, the second turn is a left, and I was on the right-hand side of both the lefts. It kind of pushed me back a little bit. I felt like I rode pretty good. I was in the fight. It was a really hard-fought seventh. I had to fight with Reed the whole time, [Marvin] Musquin, Seely. It was pretty intense. And then we were catching Anderson and Millsaps. So I think overall it was my best one as far as the full 20 laps, linking it all together. So on any given night that could be a fourth. Definitely some positives. But for some reason all my starts weren’t that great tonight.
Which is weird for you, a long start straight too.
Yeah. But I’m not going to look into it too much. I’ve had some really good starts all year. But I think I rode good. All day I was on the board. It was nice to see the 10 on the board in practice.
You were finding out that Chad Reed’s a veteran of 800 races out there, because you were kind of all over him. He’s smart. He knows where to go; he knows what you’re going to do. I felt like he was holding you up a bit but I guess tip of the visor to him for holding you off. He’s the veteran.
Yeah, me and Nate Dog [riding coach Nathan Ramsey] actually talked about that right afterwards. I thought for sure… I was clearly faster and I went inside of him one time before the finish and I’m like, I’m not going to bump into him because I’ve got him. And the last five laps all of a sudden he didn’t make any mistakes, he was good in the whoops, he hit all the rhythms! And before that I was a little better in the whoops, I would hit all the rhythms. So he just flipped the switch and I didn’t get him. – Matthes
Marvin Musquin | Red Bull KTM | 9th in 450SX
Racer X: How’d it go?
Marvin Musquin: Very bad start and then I tried to tuck inside and be really tight inside. But I was like, Here we go. It’s going to be a tough main event when you start like this! But I made some good passes and actually I was up to sixth. Jason Anderson was in front of me and I was like, Okay, he’s a good rider. I know him well so, I kept going [after him]. I passed Brayton and I passed Reed. Pretty happy about that. And then I start to do some mistakes in those whoops. Those whoops were nasty and really tough to go through them really fast. And then Reed got me back. That really slowed me down. From that Brayton got me back again. I did thirteen good laps and then it didn’t happen [anymore]. Then I made a mistake in the whoops and Seely got me also. Went down and then got up really quick. It was a tough track for me, to be honest. But let’s move on. We’re out of this race healthy. I passed those guys so I was pretty happy with what I’ve done. Just the end was tough.
Did you get tight because of the whoops or were you thinking about the whoops the whole time? Did you just stop charging the whoops? How did it mess you up?
It was just a little slow entering those whoops. You’ve got to be confident.
You’ve got to send it?
Yes, and send it too at the same time. You’ve got to be on the edge, too, but still keep it safe. So it’s tough. I kept it too safe. And it was too slow! But those guys are tough. Millsaps, and Brayton, and Reed, those guys are really strong in the whoops. I was faster than them on the rest of the track. That was a tough one today. To get in the top ten again, it’s good, yes and no. When you get a podium at Oakland you want to do it again. But I knew even after Oakland and I know every weekend it’s going to be tough. But a top six or five today would have been awesome. – Weigandt
Joey Savatgy | Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki | 3rd in 250SX
Overall a good day. Didn’t feel the best in the main event but we were able to put it together and get on the box. It’s funny how that works. You get something one time and then you always expect more. All in all it’s good, we’re tied now but we still have the red plate. Plan is to go to back to The Farm this week with Ricky [Carmichael] and try to work on some things and try to get my health in order.
I thought at Anaheim 2 the whoops were really good for you, so I was kind of surprised to see those mistakes from you in the whoops tonight.
Yeah. A2 we were good all day, the main event we kind of threw it away, and that was my fault. Even today, we kind of struggled through them in the first two practices, but in the third practice we had the fastest segment time in the whoops. I felt good in the whoops during the day, but we made another suspension change and I think it was just a little bit much, so, the heat race we struggled a lot. We toned it back for the main event and it helped. But confidence was down by then, and whoops are all about confidence. One of those deals where I knew I would struggle in the whoops, and when you feel like that you know you need to make up time everywhere else. I did what I could, we weren’t too far off, it was four tenths off of Cooper. And I think it was four tenths last week. Same thing. It’s just little things here and there. – Matthes