When the rain poured down Saturday at San Francisco’s Oracle Park ahead of the second round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, the talk was centered around so called “mud specialists.” Riders who are strong in muddy conditions come in all forms, but one of the first qualifiers of a good mud rider usually tends to be someone who has a lot of experience in the mud. Usually that means coming from a place where it rains a lot and there’s no other option but to ride or race in the rain, but Simi Valley, California isn’t exactly a hotbed for rainstorm conditions. That’s where 19-year-old Slade Varola calls home, but the limited experience in muddy conditions didn’t hamper him one bit as he qualified right into his first ever 250SX main event out of the heat race and cruised home a 14th place result in his first ever go.
“I've never ridden muddy supercross,” said Varola after the main event. “I've ridden it slick and snotty but like it was deep out there. We weren't hitting anything. It was whoever can roll the fastest and I was by far, you know, one of the slower people out there, but I didn't go down.”
Varola was one of many Californians who showed well in the downpour on Saturday as Bakersfield’s Ryder DiFrancesco won a heat race, fellow Simi Valley resident Carson Mumford got his first ever top five in the main event, Perris native Joshua Varize earned a career best seventh, and Menifee’s Hunter Yoder also got a career best eighth. But Varola got the full range of experience for his first ever muddy supercross as he hit the track first in qualifying with the 250SX B group and then also had the first heat race after the rain really picked up and nobody knew just how bad the track would be. Varola kept a cool head despite being lapped in his heat race to see his ticket to a main event stamped for the first time ever.
“In the first qualifier, I was 250 B, so we were the first guys there,” said Varola. “We were hitting all the triples, we were blitzing the whoops, but by the time the A group got out there, they weren't even hitting anything. They definitely needed to tame everything down because it was getting pretty sketchy. I think a lot of people had some close calls out there.”
Having picked up a ride with HBI Racing heading into 2024, Varola is a recent Supercross Futures graduate and even had a strong showing at the SuperMotocross 250 All-Stars race in Los Angeles three months ago where he holeshot the race and got on the podium. A former Suzuki amateur hot shoe, Varola has jumped between Yamaha and more recently Kawasaki as he navigated his first couple years on big bikes before finally deciding to go full-time professional this year. Having some experience in stadiums before certainly helped Varola quickly adapt to the format of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, but nothing truly prepares you for lining up with the top dogs of the sport like actually doing it. Varola missed the main event at Anaheim 1 last week by just a few spots, but the result didn’t put a damper on his motivation.
“Last weekend, I missed it by like three spots in the LCQ and I was really, really nervous,” said Varola. “I just came into this week, and I knew I just had to be a little bit more calm. I just kept it on two wheels and ended up passing a bunch of people. So, it was good. I’ve just got to work on staying calm and just riding like I know how to.”
If you happen to float around some of the local tracks in Southern California, you’ve likely seen the #805 (or perhaps the #45 for his amateur number) putting in the laps. Varola possesses a lot of natural ability on the motorcycle and certainly doesn’t seem intimidated by the scale of supercross. It’s a good thing supercross comes naturally to him as well as he is currently dating Jeremy McGrath’s daughter, but not much seems to faze Varola. As he continues to learn what it’s like racing at the highest level, his biggest takeaway from two rounds behind the gate is that there’s not much room for error.
Check out HBI Racing's vlog from San Francisco:
“Everyone's fast,” explained Varola. “It's such a tight buffer between you and the guy in front of you and even the guy behind you. So, you’ve just got to hit your marks and really focus on staying calm and just logging laps. That’s the big thing.”
Well now Varola has logged laps in a main event, and crucially kept a cool head in tough conditions to make sure the bike crossed the finish line. With a solid result under his belt, Varola is excited and ready to try again in San Diego, hopefully in drier conditions.
“I know I'm fast and I can make the mains,” said Varola. “I’ve just got to get it done.”
