After riding a Honda in 2022 supercross, and then a Yamaha in World Supercross, Cade Clason is now on his third brand of motorcycle this year. After a year away from the team, Clason is back on Kawasaki with the Partzilla PRMX Racing Team for the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. The 28-year-old veteran hates being referred to as “grandpa” by his teammates, yet in the next breath refers to them as “youngsters.” We caught up with him to see what it's like to help guide his younger teammates along, his new team, and his thoughts on SuperMotocross.
Racer X: Tell me about going back to Partzilla PRMX Racing Team. What the decision behind that was, and your relationship with Julian [Perrier] and everything there. How is everything going, getting back on that program again?
Cade Clason: So, it’s been a really good transition back. Obviously, we worked together for two years, 2020 and 2021. Two-thousand-twenty-one was obviously a really good year for me. But I would say it’s basically not even the same program. They’ve just made so many improvements of trying to grow and just take the step away from a privateer team to more of a satellite team, I would say. I’ve got a full-time mechanic. The one other guy has a full-time mechanic. There’s two full-time guys basically that do all of our stuff, but it’s just nice. My personal guy is there every day. I don’t touch my motorcycle. I couldn’t tell you how tight my guy runs my chain on my bike. I don’t even know. It’s nice. It took a lot of weight off my plate. My new mechanic, Joe, has just been freaking awesome. He’s been crushing it. It’s been fun. A fun transition back. We’ve got a good group of guys training at SOB [South of the Border MX]. That’s another thing that’s obviously different. Before, I was kind of able to do whatever, ride wherever I wanted. Now I’m basically full-time at South of the Border. We do I would say 95 percent of our laps there, and that has been solid. They’ve got two supercross tracks for us there. It’s not just us. There’s a bunch of other privateers and stuff there. So, that’s been really nice, too.
We’re using the same motors and stuff that we were using the last time I was here. But then, suspension change is obvious. We switched to TCD, and we’re running all WP stuff. That’s obviously a big difference than really what anybody else is doing on a Japanese bike. I don't think anyone else is really running WP stuff on that. I think there might be a team that races the GP’s that does it, but Tim has a good relationship with a few guys over at WP, so they put a lot of input into our settings as well as him. He has been super fun to work with, being he’s from Michigan and I’m from Ohio. We actually have known each other for a really long time. He actually does my brother’s suspension back in Ohio, too. So, like I said, it’s been fun. It wasn’t much of a decision, honestly. I talked to a few different teams about some different stuff. I’ve been locked in with them since the middle of the summer, basically. The program I was on last year, they weren’t able to continue what we did last year. Some of the other teams I had talked to weren’t really in the realm of what I was looking for. So, Julian’s program was obviously way above - I wouldn’t say way above my expectations, but it was exactly what I was looking for. Like I said, I’ve got a full-time mechanic, a place to train. The race shop is only an hour and fifteen minutes from my house. Whenever I go to ride, I’m at the shop with them, the whole team is there. It’s super nice to just have everything that I need, to be able to do my job.
Obviously, you raced for SUV and then you jumped to Club for WSX, and you did all these other things. So, I would have assumed that you had options on the table, and I almost thought maybe going to PRMX was because it was a nice, home fit for you. But it sounds almost like it is a step up in a way. It's something that's above what you expected it to be, maybe.
We had a conversation yesterday, Julian and I did, about how much the program has improved and how much I’m enjoying my bike right now, and just how I see things have improved and that I’m really grateful to be a part of it. You had brought up the Club thing. A lot of people were mind-blown that I didn’t stay with them. I tried to make it kind of clear. They needed a guy just for world supercross. Their team is obviously pretty full. They’re not even housing a 450 guy this year. So, that wasn’t even an option really, and then the SUV thing has basically gone away so that wasn’t an option either. I don’t want it to sound like I settled for Julian, because he brought me an offer at the beginning of the summer, and we talked about a bunch of different things. I want to say not long after RedBud, I signed it. It’s been done for a while. I was excited to do it and get to work. He was super accommodating, basically letting me do the world supercross stuff, because he didn’t have to do that, but he knew that I really wanted to. We both thought it would be good for me to start riding supercross obviously way earlier than everyone else. So, it’s just been fun so far. I’m not really one to complain, especially about anything that I’ve got going on right now.
So then in relation to getting back on this bike, like you said, and things are a little more ironed out at the team and everything like that, you had a great year last year and you had great results with them before. So, what kind of expectations do you put on yourself with this program?
I have pretty high expectations. I don’t like to put a number on it. My biggest goal is obviously to lock in top-twenty in points at the end of the year. I’m going to try and be a person to not miss main events. The goal right now is to not miss any. I know that’s optimistic and obviously things happen. I could crash here and miss one, and that’s going to happen, but if I miss one, the goal is to just not miss any more. So, I’ve been working pretty hard. I’m really, really pumped with where I’m at. I started with a new off-the-bike guy, Corey Warf from Charlotte. He’s obviously worked with a lot of really top guys in the past. Going pretty far back, Jimmy Button and Jeremy McGrath and those guys. So, he’s got a lifetime of experience. I think it’s been showing. I started with him during the summer, and I think it carried into my world stuff, because I had good results there. Then I’m hoping that it’s going to carry me through supercross.
Like you said with the off-the-bike stuff, how much of a change has this new program been for you? Have you already felt like you’ve made way better strides this off-season than any off-season before?
Yeah. I think just having another set of eyes on me basically full-time has been a huge plus. Just simplifying what I need to do. I don’t need to do eight hours of work a day. I just need to do four hours of work correctly. I think we’ve accomplished that. Just put a lot of focus into not just my strength and my cardio and things like that, but also my mobility. We do so many things that it feels and sounds so stupid, but it’s actually so beneficial for how my body moves. That’s been, I honestly think, the biggest stride in the right direction, is just getting my body to work the way it’s supposed to, rather than just being super strong and trying to be super strong on the bicycle.
So then as an extension of that, I don't want to make you sound old, but you’ve now been a professional for over ten years at this point. How are you feeling at this stage of your career? Are you in a good spot still, do you feel?
I’m not a ten-year guy yet.
You’re almost there. You have some 2013 results.
The end of 2013. I had a two-year hiatus.
But that’s not by choice, to be fair.
It’s funny. The guys on the team, like Yoder and Simonson and some of the other guys, they make fun of me. They’re like, 'Grandpa Cade.' I’m like, 'What the heck, guys?' I don’t feel old. Every once in a while, my knee bothers me, but that’s just because I’ve got a bad knee. I feel like I’ve matured a lot and just learned how to do things, what to expect when I do something. I know kind of what a motorcycle is going to do or react, and what I can get away with and where it’s like, 'Maybe I should just take a step back here.' Maybe that wheel tap is just not smart to be doing all day long. I say that to some of the younger guys sometimes and they’re like, 'Oh, that’s not that big of a deal.' Then 20 laps later, they’re like, 'Oh, yeah. Maybe that was a bad idea.' I guess I just have experience. Like I said, I don’t feel old, by any means. I’m 28, so it’s not like I’m ancient. But I feel like I’m at a point where I need to continue to get better, because in the next few years it might not continue on the upward trend.
Reflecting on your career to this point, are you pretty satisfied with the journey and where it’s gotten you to at this point?
Yeah. I don't think I’d ever want to sit here and be like, "I’m super bummed that I didn’t accomplish X." I’m obviously still trending in the right direction. I have fun doing it. I never want to sit here and complain about the past because I was in the positions I was in for a reason. I’m just going to keep trying to work on being 10-15 percent better. I don't think I’m ever going to make a jump where I’m a privateer out of a van, I’m riding for Factory Kawi now. So, I just want to keep making steps in the right direction and progressing, and also keep it fun. When I’m not having fun, the want to be better goes away. I love getting up in the morning and going to the track and riding. I still love doing that. I take my dogs with me every day. I get to the track. I walk the track every day with my dogs. I’m like a five-year-old. I enjoy doing it. Like I said, I don’t feel old yet. I’m just having fun. Trying to help the youngsters on the team get a little bit more experience and just teach them. I guess I didn’t really have that role model when I was starting out, so it’s nice to be able to help them a little bit.
How has that been with having younger riders that you’re almost coaching, training, whatever it is, to kind of help them along? Is it unique being in that situation?
Yeah, it’s definitely unique. Some days I just want to strangle them because I’m just like, 'What are you guys doing right now?' But it’s fun because I learn from them too. Younger generations, basically every kid has a much more loose riding style than I do. I’m about as stiff as a board as it gets. So, it’s not just me sitting up there, riding laps, and then telling them what to do. If they ask a question, I answer it. A lot of it comes down to feel and testing stuff. One day I was testing tires with Pirelli and Hunter Yoder, one of our 250 guys. We were both testing tires. He’s like, 'Man, I never would have thought to notice the tire doing something in this situation, and then you brought up a feel in something, and then I went back out and rode and I paid attention to that, and I can totally understand what you’re saying.' Just things like that, teaching them how to feel stuff and what to look for in certain situations. It’s hard because you don’t want to put blame on the wrong thing when you don’t really know, regarding testing and stuff like that. So, being able to decipher and break things down and then describe it to the suspension guy or the tire guy or whoever, how they need to hear it to be able to fix the problem or to address it, is super important. So, sometimes they’ll say something, if they come to me and they say, 'My suspension feels soft and shitty' I just want to strangle them. I’m like, 'Well, where does it feel soft? What is it doing that it feels soft? Is it deflecting or is it diving in the corners or is it blowing through in a rhythm section? I need more details to be able to help you.' It’s just trying to get them to understand that’s what suspension guys and motor guys and guys like that need to hear. That’s something that I just recently started to grasp over the last two years. I’ve really never got true suspension testing until I was with PRMX and MX Tech a few years ago. We would suspension test like every other week. I’ve learned so much about suspension and how it works and what they want to hear to be able to break it down to change stuff. It made me grow up a lot in the sense of trying to work on my motorcycle and not just myself.
With doing more of the testing with being kind of like a team leader on your team, have you ever even thought about some of the things that you’d like to do when racing is done? Would you like to go into the testing side? Would you like to go into the coaching side, or anything like that?
I like the idea of coaching. I obviously coach now, sometimes by myself and a lot of times through the Moto Academy with AJ [Cantanzaro]. I love that side of it. I love helping young kids progress. Even Club has hired me to coach for a week at a time when their coaches are out of town, and stuff like that. I really enjoy it. My wife thinks I should be a team manager at some point because my organization and my demand for organization, and not perfection because perfection isn’t possible, but striving for perfection is something that I stress on the mechanics and the team. The guys get on me because I can be a little aggressive sometimes when things aren’t organized or on time. I really think I’d be good at it. I hate calling sponsors and asking for money and stuff like that. That would be the one part of that job that I would absolutely hate, but I would love the managing of the team and the parts and the mechanics and the riders. Not just do that stuff, but also coach or help out throughout stuff. I think that would be so much fun. I just love the idea of it.
We’re seeing the sport kind of change a little bit in this next year to this SuperMotocross thing. We don’t really know what it’s going to look or feel like for you guys over a ten-month span just yet. But from the privateer side, you’re kind of in that window of privateer to factory, in-between it a little bit. What’s your thoughts on this whole changing of the vibe of the sport and the way things are?
I think it’s really cool that they are trying to work together. I think it’s going to help the two series. I think it’s cool from an aspect of the TV package. It’s going to be great for the fans. I think it’s good for the riders, because there’s always some confusion on who you’re supposed to call and what organization takes care of what, and some of that is going to go away because they’re going to obviously mold together certain things. I think the AMA is going to be able to be more involved with both series, the same people because outdoors is always different people than supercross. I think it’s a good idea. I think there’s obviously going to be plenty of kinks to work out and different things like that. I love obviously the new payout. I think it may be aimed a little bit too much toward the final three races, because let’s be honest - the guys who make those final three races are probably all making pretty good money already. We were kind of complaining about the back half of the field guys not getting paid enough, but those guys aren’t going to make that. Which, it’s whatever. It’s progress and that’s what matters. That’s obviously a really good thing. We went to the media day and learned a lot about some of the things that are changing and how things are going to work, so I’m excited to see that kind of come to fruition and just get to work. It’s progress in the sport, which is all that matters.
From your perspective, it seems like to me you’ve always tried to race at any point in the year, so this ten-month grind isn’t going to be too bad, you think?
It’s definitely a lot. Obviously, plenty of guys do all the races. I just think it’s definitely going to be difficult to stay healthy for 28 races, or something like that, and three more at the end of the year. Think about how many guys are hurt at the end of outdoors, and then it’s going to go right back into three more races. How many of the guys who are actually top twenty in points are actually going to be healthy enough to go ride a whole new type of event? So, that’s going to be different. I think they’re either going to take more spots, say they’re going to take the top 25 in points because they’re going to have to fill injuries and then take new guys. I don't know how that’s going to work. How will fill-ins work when guys aren’t in the points? So, there’s plenty of confusing parts and pieces to the new puzzle, but I’m sure there will be plenty of questions asked and answered.