The Monster Energy AMA Supercross track in Nashville last weekend was treacherous to say the least and took out a lot of riders. As always with tough conditions there are riders who come away happy with their result like Jo Shimoda, those who are unhappy with their day like Cullin Park, and for veterans like Jordon Smith who have seen both sides, Smith seemed content to be on the box and make it through safely. Here’s what the three riders had to say after the race.
Jo Shimoda | 2nd
Shimoda and Smith said the following in the press conference.
Jo, you’ve had a fast qualifier time, a heat race win, and now a podium. How does it feel to not just be back, but to be having some success.
Jo Shimoda: I’ve been telling everyone, I’m just happy to be back on the gate. It’s great to be back on the podium, but really just to be back on the gate, traveling. Just the routine. That’s great.
How are you adjusting to the intensity coming back to racing?
It’s always going to be difficult never easy, but the sucky thing when you join the races later, you don’t have the data from round one. It feels like you have to start a little behind everyone. Then you learn after a couple of races. Even just for suspension. We did so much testing after the first race. It just takes time to get back up and be strong again.
You have five podiums in your career, it’s impressive how you’ve come back from the injury. How did you come back so fast, and how do you feel this year versus last year.
This year, it’s more like planning ahead kind of thing. I feel like I have better strategy, but as a rider all you can do is your best. Nothing changes. All you can do is your own best.
Jordon Smith | 3rd
Jordon, you were leading early in that main event, take us through that, and also, you told me this season how these podiums feel different now. You’re very grateful.
Jordon Smith: Today is what we have been looking for all year, with the start was good and passing Hunter on the first lap and running good for a few laps. But those mistakes, they just keep happening, and we’re trying to figure it out. We’re working hard during the week to figure it out. But, like you said, I’m not taking these podiums for granted, my last one was in 2019, and then after that, there were times I didn’t even know if I’d keep racing a dirt bike. Just couldn’t get injuries figured out. To be back up here is special. To be back up here, talking to all you guys, doing it in front of the crowd, and to do it with a baby, it’s really special to have her here at the races.
There was a big gap between when you were rattling off a lot of podiums, and then now. There has to be a different perspective these days.
Yeah, I have a different perspective. When you’re there and you’re young, you’re on the top of the world and you feel like you’re never going to lose it. Then, when you go all the way to the bottom, you feel like you’re never going to get it back. To be back on the podium now, it feels good. I definitely feel like I’m running out of chances. So, I’m trying to make the most of each one. I feel like I was in two different careers, before and after 2019. It’s cool to go through all this again.
You mention those mistakes. Have you worked with anyone on the mental side, or is it just race technique?
I haven’t worked with anyone like a mental coach or anything like that. Yeah, it’s just, in 2017, 2018 I hardly ever crashed during those two years. It’s just been, the last few years, it was just lack of seat time. Just showing up to the race and trying to race the best guys in the world when you’ve hardly been racing. It’s like showing up to play golf against the best in the world, and you only play golf twice a year, and you think you’re gonna play with the PGA Tour guys. Except, in golf you just hit the ball out of bounds, but here we go crashing on a jump and you’re down and hurt again. [Laughs] So, yeah, just trying to get back to feeling comfortable on the bike and feeling comfortable again.
Cullin Park | 10th
Park said the following to our Aaron Hansel in the media scrum.
Racer X: Cullin take us through it.
Cullin Park: Man, it was a struggle in qualifying, ended up tenth. Went to the heat race and felt pretty good and was trying to work my way up after a bad start and got in a pileup. I was in 15th, and I thought I might be in the LCQ for the third time in a row! I came back to eighth, which is okay, but I did ride good. I was pretty happy with the riding, and come main event I was like, “Okay, it’s time to go.” I didn’t get the best start and was working my way up and was up to ninth with about three laps to go. Then I made a crucial mistake and got passed. Pretty embarrassing of a day. I’ve made a step forward this year and I want to get into the top five. I fell super short of that today. No one to blame but myself, I was just off from the get-go. You know what though? I have a weekend off and I’m really looking forward to closing out the season strong in Salt Lake.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed like today was tough to get a bike dialed in with the conditions changing so much.
It was completely different conditions all day. It started out muddy, then by the main event it was super dry and blue groove. Like you were saying, I kind of chased that a bit today. I was just off, it was just one of those days. It’s a bummer. I had a lot of friends and family here. Getting tenth just isn’t cutting it for me.
Well, at one point you would have been pumped to get in the top ten, right?
For sure. Last year if I would have gotten a tenth, I would have felt like it was a win. But now, tenth isn’t what I’m working for. Seventh was my best this year and I wanted to get another career best tonight. I was looking to get sixth or fifth. I just didn’t put myself in a good position in the main event and I didn’t execute like I should have.
Was the track more difficult than it seemed like it would be on track walk?
Oh, for sure. We all kind of did the same thing. The pack of guys I was in, we all did the same lines, the same rhythms, so making passes was hard. That’s something I need to work on. I’d catch someone and hang behind them for way too long and end up ruining my own race. I think, had I made some quicker passes, I maybe could have broken away from the group I was in and maybe even caught the next group of guys ahead of me. That’s on me. But you know, as bad as the day was, now that we’re talking about it, I definitely learned a lot. You learn on your bad days and I’ll go back and work on the stuff I know I need to work on for Salt Lake.
And the track in Salt Lake could end up being just like today’s track. It gets dry like that there sometimes.
Those are conditions I tend to struggle in. Being from Florida, I never really rode these types of conditions. I was texting with my trainer, Blake Savage, and he was like, “You just need time on these hardpack tracks.” And like you said, Salt Lake might be the same way, so I need to get my stuff together in the next two weeks.
What’s the hardest part of transitioning from supercross to motocross?
It’s such a tough happy medium. For me, I’m racing a 450 outdoors. You ride the 450 completely differently. This week I’ll ride the 450, then the week before Salt Lake I’ll get back on the 250 and get back used to it. You ride the outdoors so much differently, then you throw in a different bike, and you can’t even compare it. It’s good to change it up though, you get in that supercross routine and it’s so nice to go outdoors, but by the end of the summer I can’t wait to get back on supercross.