It’s been since the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross season that Canada’s Cole Thompson has raced in the big stadiums. At the time he was riding the 250SX East Region for Rockstar KTM (now Rockstar Husqvarna). Thompson would end up tearing his MCL, ACL, LCL and meniscus in his knee, which forced him off the bike for eight months.
Thompson had to wait six weeks to have surgery, and then had to rebuild every muscle in his leg before he could return to racing, which cost him the entire 2015 supercross season. When he did return to racing he was aboard the Canadian KTM team for the Rockstar Nationals in his home country. He finished fourth in the MX1 series behind Matt Goerke, Colton Facciotti, and Brett Metcalfe.
Thompson recently signed a deal to stay on KTMs to race the 250SX West Region with Slaton Racing and then return to the Canadian Nationals this summer. We caught up with him Monday morning to get his thoughts on the upcoming season.
Racer X: It looks like you found a home for supercross for the 2016 season. Can you give us a little more insight on your deal with Slaton?
Cole Thompson: Yeah, this deal came up a little later because I was racing arenacross in Canada. I wanted to make a return to supercross this year. I have a deal with the Canadian KTM team already, so it was a little tough to find a ride down here that would let me keep my sponsors. Slaton approached me and I told them my situation. Both of the teams worked together to figure something out for me. I’ll be doing West Coast 250SX and then race the Canadian Nationals this summer. Hopefully supercross goes well for me this year and I’ll be able to make my way down again next season. Hopefully I’ll be able to do outdoors as well down here depending on how my summer goes.
It’s the best of both worlds for you. It’s great that you were able to get a deal like this put together, especially since not a lot of rides are available in the States.
It’s a good deal for me. I was just looking for a West Coast ride. It came up pretty late and I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to get it all done. Today will be my seventh day riding. I’ve been practicing at the private track here at Starwest as well as riding the main track. Staying on the same brand is also really nice. I know a lot of riders have to jump to other teams on different bikes and it’s tricky to get comfortable. I’ve been riding for KTM the past three years. I started with the Rockstar KTM team two years ago in supercross and I’m familiar with the bike. It’s definitely a good bike that we have this year, so I’m looking forward to it.
The press release about the change of brands and your deal was put out last week. How far along is the program right now? We’re less than a month away from Anaheim 1.
It took a long time to get everything approved. It took longer on my end of the deal. They were waiting to see if I was even eligible to ride because of my deal in Canada. Slaton racing on Yamahas wasn’t going to work for me. They had to switch some things around as far as other sponsors as well. I have to race for Fox Racing, so they had to switch that around for me. It made it tricky for them as well as myself. We’re a little bit behind now, but I also have the advantage of racing Canadian Arenacross for the past two months. I’ve also been riding supercross since the end of September. I’m comfortable riding-wise. It’s just the little details as far as testing goes before we go racing.
You mentioned the Canadian Arenacross Series that just ended. You had some epic battles with Jacob Hayes and almost won a couple of titles. What happened from your perspective?
It was definitely good to keep racing. Our season ends in Canada around the same time that the American season ends. From there it’s a long time before you race supercross again. It gave me two months of racing that I wouldn’t have had. Obviously with Jacob Hayes being up here it was really good to have someone on that level to race with. He’s been winning arenacross events for a couple years now. He’s really fast and I did my best to put on a good show. Some people said that I was too aggressive at times. There were things that some people didn’t see as far as the things that went on in practices as well. It ended well. We finished the last round and there wasn’t any hate between us really. I don’t think we’re best friends, though. It was a good series and we put on a good show. That’s what the people go for when racing is tight like that. They like seeing two people go for it every round. It made me a lot more aggressive and more alert of getting hit. It was good for my career to learn more about racing in the tighter stuff.
It’s arenacross racing, you know? You can’t have a best friend in that type of racing.
No, it’s hard to have a friend! Chris Blose was up there, who is also very good. When you have guys who are going fast the only way to get around them is bumping them. You have to take your position. I caught onto that after round one. It stayed like that through the end of the season. Racing can be tough in arenacross as well because sometimes you can be too protective. Hayes and I had sort of an unwritten agreement. He knew when I was going to run it in on him and I knew when he was going to run it in on me.
What are you expecting out of yourself as you make your return?
My expectations are to be consistent. I wouldn’t be upset with just a top ten because I did take a year off. The racing level in the past two years has really elevated, especially on both of the coasts. A lot of the teams just focus on the West Coast, so I think that may be a bit tougher. Just to get back into racing again is a big deal. A lot of people thought I was done with it, but it was always my goal. Last year I would have liked to race it. I was off of the bike for eight months and it was a bit tricky to get back up to speed. I wanted to be at the level to battle for top fives and podiums. Now that I’m healthy and back up to speed it’s going to be a lot easier to get to where I need to be. It’s definitely going to be a tough year though. I’ll shoot for top tens and anything better than that, great. The goal is that I improve all year.
How tough is it to race two different series in two countries in the same year? What don’t people get to see?
The biggest thing is that I live in Canada for most of the year. We own quite a bit of land and I have a supercross as well as an outdoor track. I don’t have a lot of people to ride with where I’m from. A lot of the riding and training that I do is alone. When I get the chance to come to California it’s very nice to have people to ride with. That goes for my training as well. It’s much better to have people to go cycling with. When I go home I get some peace away from the industry and I don’t have to be in it all the time. It makes me want to come back out and work harder. When I’m out in California it’s basically business everyday. On the days I have to ride I make sure I’m relaxed for the laps I put in.
With the Canadian Nationals you’re very much a contender. I’m sure you’re aiming for the championship this season aren’t you?
That’s definitely the goal. I went back to the rig at the last round and I told myself to get back to work. I want to be the number one guy, like everybody wants to be. I definitely want to because I’m the Canadian kid. It’d be really cool to win. It’d be awesome to make my way down here as well. We’ll see.
Good luck in 2016 Cole. Also, have a great holiday season.
Thank you, same to you!
