The first round of the FIM WSX Championship went down over the weekend, and while things didn’t go as well as they could have for Justin Brayton and Joey Savatgy, there were plenty of positives to take from the first night of this new series—both had podium potential but were kept off the box by the chaos of racing. Our own Steve Matthes caught up with both of them to get their feedback on their night of racing, as well as their general take on the very first WSX race.
Justin Brayton | 4-6-3 for Fourth Overall
Racer X: Fourth on the night, good last ride, but I’m guessing you’re not that stoked with your riding? It was weird because the corner before the whoops, it was giving you trouble, you were jumping them, you were skimming them. It was weird to see you trying to figure them out.
Brayton: Yeah, it was an advantage to skim most of the day. I feel like me, Eli, and Ken, we were leaps and bounds better skimming, right? But then honestly once the mains started, it was just so hardpacked and blue groove, and your turning is a 90 into a 90, so you’re going inside and you’re trying to skim with no traction. So yeah, the whole first main…really what screwed me was [Joey} Savatgy crashed, and his bike was laying on the up-ramp to the finish, so I had to roll, then everyone behind me jumped. I had a decent gap to third at the time. That kind of messed with my first race. Honestly, second race, I just got really bad arm pump, no excuses. Last one was okay. Super fun to get back racing, obviously it’s been since Salt Lake. I’m happy with how fun it was. Fourth, yeah, that wasn’t great, but it’s all good. I’ve got one more of these and then four Australian Supercross rounds, and that’s a big focus of mine, to try and go win five (Australian Supercross Titles). Yeah, overall a good night.
This event is a lot of racing in a short time. Do you mind racing like that, back to back to back?
I honestly don’t mind it, I just wish the track was more difficult. After the finish we went inside, inside, inside, inside. It’s like, come on. Before the whoops we went inside, after the whoops we went inside. To be honest I don’t like that, when everyone is so close and people are trying to divebomb each other. I like it when you can space out and may the best man win on overall speed and fitness. Hopefully they make the tracks more challenging and I think it will be good.
Second main you got arm pump. Was it better for the third race? Doing three starts and three first laps and all that.
Yeah first two weren’t very good, then I started to loosen up for the third one, but by the time you loosen up, the race is over. I need to…I don’t know! I haven’t raced in a while and I haven’t done a race with this intensity in some time. My bike was sweet, the MotoConcepts bikes looked awesome, and they were awesome on the track today. Vince got second, and this is his forte, dry and slick, jumping whoops, and short mains, it’s his forte. I’m stoked for him.
My only critique would be to make a tougher track and longer mains. But it was cool.
Yeah maybe two 12s [minutes] and a 15 or something like that. Yeah I agree, the first main was over before I even blinked, you know? And a tougher track. We’re the best guys, so make it tough.
Joey Savatgy | 19-5-2 for Seventh Overall
Racer X: Alright Joey Savatgy, you washed out on the face of a ramp, a metal ramp, and that was weird, I didn’t see it, I saw you pick your bike up, but other than that, a bummer because you could have been on the box tonight if it wasn’t for that.
Savatgy: I believe so, you know. I was just telling somebody, I have been texting someone, I can’t say who though it's top secret [whispers Zach Osborne),nthat basically at the end of the day I need to learn how to kind of mellow out a little bit. The crash was stupid, it was one of those things where I got up out of the rut in mid corner and instead of just taking it on the arm and losing that whatever, 0.4 of a second that I would have, I just kept the throttle hammered, it was stupid. So, I slid and it kind of stepped out on me this way, and then it caught the double, like I clipped the double, and then it spun me back this way. And then I slid onto the ramp. Like I didn’t actually crash on the ramp I crashed before and then slid onto the ramp. But yeah at the end of the day it's just annoying, such a stupid crash. I will say, and I have said it during interviews in the outdoor season, that is my downfall. I need to learn how to be a little bit more mellow. Especially early on. Slow is fast. No excuses. For me it was a little bit hectic because obviously I missed supercross last year, so being that close was a little stressful for me at first, I got better but yeah, I am frustrated. Just because it's two rounds [to go] and I have already given 20 points away, which is unfortunate. But I believe we had podium speed tonight. I think we get second in that first one and even if we get fourth in the second one and go 2-4-2, I think that’s good enough for being on the box. At the same time, I avoided death tonight a few times, I landed into the side of [Justin] Brayton, that was dangerous. [Josh] Hill and I almost collided in the same rhythm like first or second lap in the second one. It was chaos. But I enjoyed it. I’m just glad to be back racing, that’s one thing that over the years maybe I took for granted, going racing, doing what I love. But I enjoyed it.
What did you think of the back-to-back-to-back thing? Was that alright, because I guess there was only four minutes between the checkers and we’re dropping the gate.
It was only four? Because it felt like two! Especially, you come in right and you have enough time to roll up in and you’ve got to ask your neighbor for a pull on the holeshot device. You get the holeshot device down and guys are getting goggles out. It's hectic. But I liked it. Obviously, I like it when you get a good start like that, and you’ve got a 28-lap main or whatever. You can kind of settle in and hit your marks. This doesn’t really allow you to do that. But at the same time, it keeps the racing really close.
If it was me, I would like to see a little tougher track for you guys. Pretty basic for guys like yourself and Eli [Tomac] and those dudes.
I would say so. I do believe that they’re a little bit in between a rock and a hard spot because it they make some crazy track they don’t want to lose half the guys.
They did lose JG [Josh Grant], [Luke] Clout, we lost Chad [Reed]…
And honestly sometimes when the tracks are this basic they’ll bite you. It's really easy because you are just trying to go so fast that you’re not really thinking about timing anything. So the only thing that I will really say that maybe they could have done differently is that middle section. Because if you go outside you’re going to have three guys just drive up the inside of you so you go follow the leader, follow the leader. Maybe instead of three corners you make it just two bowls, you kind of just open it up a little more. But then again, it's easy to say now. I did enjoy the racing though.
How’s your bike over on Rick Ware Racing? Obviously you are on a Kawi, you were on factory Kawi this summer, so this is sort of a mismatch of guys you want to work with for suspension and motors, How is it?
No, Mitch [Peyton] has been over the top, he’s been awesome to me. He built me two bikes. Well, Rick Ware bought me two bikes and Mitch built them. But other than that, they built me suspension, Showa did, the PC [Pro Circuit] 250 guy. And that’s it, we made a spring change the first day we rode it but other than that, I haven’t tested because I was just trying to get the speed and then I flew back east. So, for a bike that we had no testing on, and didn’t get that much supercross time in, I know we had a lot of outdoor but the last time we rode supercross was on a KTM. So, bike-wise and everything, overall as a team, I felt like we did a really good job.
