As the season progresses we’re starting to get some more talent returning to the ranks in both classes. One of the biggest names to come back at RedBud was Jason Anderson, who hadn’t raced since sustaining a non-displaced neck fracture in Nashville. He didn’t light the competition on fire over the weekend, but still did reasonably well, going 5-7 for fifth overall. We caught up with Anderson afterward to get his take on his first race back.
Racer X: All right Jason Anderson, welcome back to the races, obviously long day, hot day. Only a couple of days on the bike, how does it feel though?
Jason Anderson: It’s just nice to be at the races and doing what I like to do.
Coming into this did you have any expectations with your limited time on the bike or were you just looking to have a good time?
Basically, I had no expectations. I knew I would have speed, I think in practice I was like P3. And then I knew I would be capable of trying to be efficient and try to ride behind the group. I don’t have it in me to try to ride through the group or anything like that. But I knew the best thing for me was to try to get straight back to racing and try to improve from week to week.
That first moto I feel like there was a group of four riders ahead of you, you kind of faded off of them and then got back up to them late, did you find lines or what was it?
No honestly I faded off of them because I tried to take a couple of cool laps just to try to manage and then I knew that when they battled and stuff they would kind of slow down a little bit, and then I was just trying to find some lines where I wouldn’t have to put too much energy into a pass. For a while there I came up on AP [Aaron Plessinger] those last couple of laps and all my lines that were good I almost passed him a couple of times and then he was smart enough to take those lines because he could hear me behind him on that last lap. So, it kind of took the wind out of my sails. But to be P5 the first race, it was a hot one, I knew that second one was going to be tough on me. But we have another week and we’ll see how we show up next weekend.
What did you think of this racetrack? They made a couple of changes for the 50th anniversary, did you like what they did to it?
Not really. I didn’t really like what they did in the LaRocco’s Leap area, the rest of the track, like the start and stuff, that didn’t bother me at all. But the LaRocco’s Leap area I like the OG style where you come off of the tabletop into the whoops and then the 180 before LaRocco’s Leap.
I feel like they dug that turn as deep as they could dig it for you guys, it's like everyone was paddling through there.
It's like they dug out all of the mud from the rest of the track and put it in that corner. It really made it really tough for a 450, which is rare.
So limited time on the bike, did you get any testing done or was it all just trying to get yourself back to where you wanted to be?
Luckily, they did a little bit of bike work while I was gone. But it's tough, it's always a work in progress with the bike. If you’re not comfortable and winning, you’re always scratching your head a little bit. But for me I got seven days of riding and I was just trying to make sure that I maximized the time I had. Without doing too much and still doing enough to be competitive with the time I had.
I think you said this was the first time you brought your kid to the race, so how was it being dad life at a race for the first time?
I was more nervous about the travel more than anything, you know being on the plane. But she handled it like a boss. She wasn’t too amused with the racing, she slept all day. But she’s chill, she’s easy and she’s cruising.
She slept on the plane, that’s all that matters, right?
She slept on the plane, so let’s hope tomorrow she sleeps on the plane again.
Watch this interview in the video below: