Garrett Marchbanks made the switch from the 250F to the 450 class early in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship and boy did it pay off—literally. At the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) final, Marchbanks finished a solid 6-7 for sixth overall netting seventh overall in the championship, giving him a $120,000 take home bonus. (He netted $131,000 total when combined with his per-race purse money.) Afterwards, our Steve Matthes caught up to the #36 to chat about his day at the season finale.
Racer X: All right, Garrett Marchbanks, hey you had a good night. Your starts weren’t there again—shocking—but I thought you rode really well, and you hung out right outside the top five.
Garrett Marchbanks: You know, honestly, we can shit on my starts, but honestly, my jumps were great. I spun on the dirt, I don’t know why, it was the weirdest thing ever. I’ve never had that in forever. So, I think what happened is last weekend we tuned the bike a lot, back to my outdoor setting, and we kept it. And I think what was happening was it was too torquey on the bottom, so it started spinning. But besides the starts, no, it was a good night, but we came in a little under the weather. I don’t know what I’ve been dealing with, almost like a little head cold or something, so it was kinda give it all I got, do the best I can. And see what we can do with it. It was really good. Six-eight, six-seven on the day.
Catching AC [Adam Cianciarulo] a little bit in that first one.
Yeah, I got AC in the first one.
Oh, you did?
Yeah, AC finished seventh and then Colt [Nichols] was behind him and then they got be reversed in the second moto. [Laughs] Second moto, you know, I wish I had the energy I did in outdoors. I just kinda ran out of gas around the six-minute mark to go. And yeah, just didn’t have it. But I’m happy, you know, I never really rode that much supy [supercross] and this week was the first time I actually put some solid hours on it. I feel really happy with it.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Qualifying Points | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 550 | 163 |
| 2 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 340 | 146 |
| 3 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL  | 710 | 126 |
| 4 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC | 451 | 120 |
| 5 |  Aaron Plessinger | Hamilton, OH | 622 | 104 |
| 6 |  Adam Cianciarulo | Port Orange, FL | 538 | 96 |
| 7 |  Garrett Marchbanks | Coalville, UT | 255 | 92 |
| 8 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 449 | 91 |
| 9 |  Colt Nichols | Muskogee, OK | 163 | 90 |
| 10 |  Ty Masterpool | Paradise, TX | 242 | 84 |
Track was slippery it looked like.
Yeah, I actually liked it. I never really rode a slippery track on a 450, like supercross [wise]. So today I was like hating life through practice. Yesterday I was like, “I don’t know how to f*^%$#g ride this bike!” It was crazy, first moto, I just got in a groove and was like, okay, I found out how to ride it. And second moto was a little better. It was a good day. And I’m happy with the team. Proud of them. Yeah, it was a good year.
What’d you finish overall? How much money did you make?
Uh, I think it was seventh. Seventh overall. So, I made $120[K]. Most I’ve made in a very long time.
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That’s awesome. For a guy like you, that’s amazing.
Yeah, I mean, I was out my ass, up through the roof with bills, hospital bills with my wrist injury and other stuff. So, I’m very thankful for the money. You know, it’s not that bad. When you’re on your own and parents aren’t helping no more [Laughs] you gotta do it on your own.
Yeah, I think you were a real eye opener out there, you know, with your speed. I think you opened some eyes in all three of these rounds. And they were different. Like, “Oh look at the outdoors speed he’s got, look at the indoors speed he’s got, look at the hybrid stuff." I think you opened some eyes. I think that was cool for you.
I was very happy with it. Charlotte was one of those rounds where I feel like it could have been better. We struggled with just getting the bike dialed. And then Chicago, man, I haven’t felt like that in so long. Honestly, years. Like I just, I was blurry eyed, I can’t ride, I just feel like I wasn’t even able to ride a dirt bike. It was the weirdest night I’ve ever had in a long time. I feel like my first rookie season, I was like, “What am I doing out here, I’m an idiot!” This weekend was good. I was able to put good laps together and rode with solid guys like AC, Colt, and AP [Aaron Plessinger], so it was a good night.
Here’s the total payout from all 3 playoffs of the SMX World Championship Finals 💰#SMX #SuperMotocross pic.twitter.com/dPqfvwfWzC
— SuperMotocross (@supermotocross) September 26, 2023
What’d you think of going up the peristyle and jumping down? I’m a big moto history guy so it was really cool for me to be back here, but you’re a kid. What’d you think of all that?
No, it was very cool. You know, I wasn’t born when they had the last race [Laughs], but you know, I definitely watched a lot of old videos of it with my dad of that stuff. No, it was definitely cool. I mean, I feel like the jump down wasn’t very big. It was pretty mediocre and—
Dark, too, right?
Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. The jump up was kinda dumb. I mean, it was more of a kicker up the hill, so it was like if you seat bounce that thing too hard, you’re endoing. [Laughs] It was definitely cool. It was very interesting. I definitely liked it. Hopefully we come back here next year.
