Main image by Kellen Brauer
Jalek Swoll has had an up and down first three years of his career. From missing the main event in his first professional supercross race to winning his first ever AMA Motocross overall just over a year later, Swoll has learned a lot in a short time.
Last year, he was tasked with getting used to the all-new Husqvarna FC 250 which he and teammate RJ Hampshire ultimately were left scratching their heads with settings on more than one occasion. Now with three years of racing experience under his belt and a whole year of bike development as well, Swoll is hoping 2023 is his best year yet.
We caught up with him on Tuesday to ask him about pushing through the struggles.
Racer X: Heading into 2023. First of all, give me a little bit of an idea of how your off-season has been so far and how everything is going.
Jalek Swoll: Everything has been really good actually so far. I feel like we just had a lot more time on the bike and everything this year. We know a lot more about what to expect. A lot more parts have come in and everything, so we can find a lot more comfort than what we could have last year. This off-season has just been pretty good. We’ve been grinding away in Florida and been riding with the whole Husky and KTM group. We’re stacking up pretty well. Just pretty excited to get back going and kind of rebrand from last year.
Speaking of last year a little bit, obviously it was kind of a challenging year for you guys to kind of get used to the bike and everything like that. Is that something that you try to put everything in the past? Do you try to take some of the things that you learned last year and roll it into being better this year?
Last year was just its own challenge, really. With these new bikes, if we need to change things, it can’t just be changed on the spot, normally. Normally the parts and everything, that stuff kind of comes in through time. Last year we were just stuck where we were at and we kind of just had to get through the year, really. Not to say the bike was bad. We just needed some more comfort, really. Then also just limited time before we really went racing on the thing just didn’t help the cause. But this year, I think we’re in a much, much better spot. Riding has been going pretty good. Just looking forward to going again.
When you get into this third, fourth year of your career, it kind of gets to the point where you really have to find the podium more, find the wins more. How do you kind of view the expectations that you put on yourself this year?
Really, I don’t put too much pressure on myself on getting podiums or winning like that. Even in my second year when I did have a win and a podium in supercross, I wasn’t searching for it. I was really just having fun and letting these things come. I think that’s kind of where I’m at again. Not saying that I don’t want to go out and win or I don’t want to go podium, because I do, and I want to be there every night or every day in outdoors. I do want to be there, and I think just through having fun and being more comfortable on the bike this year it will happen. I think I’m well capable of it. I’ve been proving that to myself day in and day out at the practice track. I know RJ has the speed to win, and most days back home I can stand my ground. So, I think we’re in a good spot.
Expectations-wise again, if you leave the night with a great result but maybe you didn’t feel like you rode well, would you be happy or is it more about the riding that you want to focus on and make sure that you’re satisfied with how you ride?
Riding, because every night brings different challenges. So, I definitely want to just go into it with the right head space and really just feel like I’m improving all year. Also just having fun. It’s cliche to say and I’m sure a lot of people do say it as riders, but having fun is a really big part of it. When you’re having fun, it’s not work. You’re happy to show up and you’re ready to take on all the challenges that come with it. That’s my main focus. If I ride really good and the result isn’t there, but the effort was there and everybody sees that, I’m okay with it. More so than not, I want to keep myself out of the drama that comes with racing and really just start to click off some good results. Mainly, I want to just get a good momentum from round one. I feel like that was one of the things that really messed me up last year. The unfortunate crash, and then was just pretty injury-prone throughout supercross. It just wasn’t very much fun on top of trying to learn everything, a new bike and everything. But no excuses. I think we’re in a good spot.
Are you going to do west or east, or do you know?
Obviously, the plans are east [for me] and then RJ west, but it’s dirt bikes. Anything can happen. If anything were to happen, then I would be west.
Do you feel at this stage you’re kind of already building towards the preparation for the west?
I’m prepping like I’m racing west, for sure. I feel ready to go. But obviously we’re waiting. The closer and closer we get it will be more locked in than right now. But the plans are east and RJ west. Hopefully things stay the par.
This coming year obviously we’re going into October with SMX and it’s going to be a little bit longer of a grind. You have to try to find that peak towards the end of the year. How do you envision that playing out, mentally and physically, where you have to try to get through those hurdles all year long?
I don't know what to expect because it is new. More racing is good, but it also has its cons too. It’s going to cut into our off time. If anyone were to get injured, it would be really, really tough to get into next year. But the purse sounds good. Everything seems like it’s going to… I don’t really know what tracks. Is Atlanta Speedway one of them?
I don't know the first two, but we know the Colosseum.
Yeah. The idea of it is cool. It will be nice to finally get to it and then see what it really is and what it’s all about. But the idea of it seems good. I feel like maybe if they were going to do this thing, maybe they would cut races, or something. It seems like a lot of racing. But I’m sure they’ll find a way to make it work.
