Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin is all too familiar with the soft and rutted conditions at the Indianapolis Supercross. Lucas Oil Stadium always provides a track that breaks down and it caught out Martin a lot early in his career. The first three main events Martin ever did at Indianapolis provided 20-19-21 results until he had a breakthrough win in the venue in 2018 (which was also an East/West Showdown). Saturday night’s race was the first time Martin had been back in Indianapolis since his 2018 victory and he rode to a steady fourth place finish.

Behind him, Red Bull KTM rookie Tom Vialle is navigating the trials and tribulations of experiencing all of these unique supercross tracks for the first time. Last week at Daytona, Vialle crashed out of the race while in second, but was ultimately okay. This week was another opportunity to race rough supercross track and see where he stacked up. A bad start didn’t help but a little crash exacerbated the problem and Vialle could only collect an eighth-place finish. The juxtaposition between watching a supercross veteran like Martin get better as the track got worse was coupled with Vialle trying to figure out the ever changing conditions.

We spoke to both of them after the race about what racing that difficult of a track is really like.

Jeremy Martin | 4^th in 250SX

Racer X: Alright, Jeremy Martin, fourth place tonight. Overall, looked a little bit better in the main event, it looked like you were able to find your groove a little bit about halfway. Is that fair to say?
Jeremy Martin: Yeah, for sure. I felt like in the main I probably rode the best I did all day. It’s just a bummer, for me, I think I was close to a podium tonight. It might have just been start position, honestly. But I can take getting fourth, I can take that when I ride well. So we’ll just try to get a good start next weekend, ride like that, and see if we can get on the box.

What do you think it was about the main event specifically that you rode a little bit better. Was it bike setup or anything?
I think my bike setup was really good for the conditions. It had a lot of hold-up for the soft jump faces and stuff, but it had really good side traction. I’ve kind of been fighting that at some of the previous races, but tonight I was on point and could turn and kind of do the things I wanted to do.

With those rutted-out conditions, were you excited coming into this, knowing it would get rutty and choppy like that?
To be honest I was a bit nervous. I think Dean Wilson posted on press day and I was like, “Oh my god, it’s going to be brutal!’” But I think Dirt Wurx did a really good job with trying to fix the jump faces up. I was a little surprised with how big the whoops were, for how soft they were, because nobody is going to get through them consistently. Just little guy problems. [Laughs]

Those whoops were pretty treacherous by the end, right?
Yeah, for sure. I was just in survival. I think I tried to skim them twice today and I almost died. I’m like, “You know what, I’m here for the season and we’re going to go to the jump line.”

Tom Vialle | 8^th in 250SX

Alright, Tom Vialle. Looked pretty good, aside from the start of the main event, you had a little crash. Just take me through it all.
Tom Vialle: Yeah, all day was pretty good. On the start I think I slid the back wheel on the gate. I had a bad start; I think I was 12th or 13th maybe on the first lap. I caught back up, I was back on the group up front, then I had a small tip-over and lost a lot of time and a lot of energy also. I think I finished eighth. Not really the position I want to be in, but I think the speed at the beginning was pretty good. I caught the guy in front of me and had a good pace until the crash. I have to put together the small things, I have to put everything together to match the pace up front.

These last two weeks have been very rutted and tricky conditions. It’s your first time experiencing that on a supercross track. What do you think? What’s that like?
Indy, the track, I’ve never experienced that. Even the dirt, it’s like glue, you know? If you close the throttle, the bike stops a lot. It’s really special, and the first time is quite sketchy. I’ve never ridden on a track like this before, so I had to get used to it a little bit. Every race is new for me, so I try to learn as much as possible for the next year.

Have you been doing much bike setup changes with these last two rounds being a little bit trickier?
We work of course, we try to find the best setup of course, but I don’t like to change so much. I don’t like to change the whole bike every race. But for sure we try to make it as best as possible.