The annual “stacked field” talk before Anaheim 1 always puts a premium on main event positions for privateers, so those who can make their way into the mains consistently are definitely doing something right. Freddie Noren and Cade Clason made the grade at both rounds, including Clason holding Hunter Lawrence back in the final turn of the A1 LCQ, and then they both slogged their way into the San Francisco main via the LCQ, with Clason again getting the last spot after some battling with Justin Barcia along the way.
Either way, these dudes will take it, and that includes battling each other in the mud over the weekend. We talked to them about racing each other after the race.
Cade Clason | 19th
Racer X: Cade Clason. Just take me through this day because this is unreal.
Cade Clason: Right. Dude, it's the muddiest race I think I've ever been a part of. It was stressful. You had to go out and do a [timed] lap in first practice. We saw somebody decided to not ride first practice and they were gonna ride second and then they canceled it. So you have to get a lap in when that stuff happens because you just don't know what it's gonna do. The track really in practice wasn't that bad, besides the whoops, like you could still double stuff and do everything, but then it just kept raining and kept raining and then my heat race, I was actually up there like around the 11th or something, but I had so much mud on my helmet. I couldn't hold my head up anymore and it was like pushing my goggles down! It was a whole mess and then I just ended up pulling off so that my mechanic could wash my bike completely for the LCQ. So I had like a last gate pick and I just pinned it down the outside and just, I don't know, man, I got a halfway decent start and then just picked a couple of dudes off in the LCQ. We had no pit boards all day, so I'm like looking around at the TV screen trying to see what place I'm in! Yeah it was cool. I made it in two-for-two [qualifying for main]. In the main, my holeshot device got stuck down on the first lap, so I had to stop on the first lap and like mess with that. I just kept chugging away. I never crashed but I got stuck twice. It was just, it was just hard, man. I lost my brakes. Like, you're so uncomfortable, you're freezing cold. I'm going so slow. I can listen to the announcers talk, it's just wild.
![Cade Clason]()
Cade Clason Align Media ![Fredrik Noren]()
Fredrik Noren Align Media
In the main event, can you articulate where you are and who you're fighting? I know you get lapped a little bit early but like, do you even know what's going?
It's so much fun. Just like Freddie [Noren] and I were just duking it out. We pass each other, I'm yelling at him when he'd get stuck. Then I'd get stuck. Like, Malcolm [Stewart] passed me like four times. [Laughs] I was battling [Justin] Barcia for the first like 10 minutes until I got really stuck. It was just fun, man. No, I had no idea where I was. I probably would have guessed I was a little higher than I was, but just duking it out for 15 minutes for 19th. It's better than being Malcolm who did all the laps and got no points!
You make both main events to start the year. Are you pretty happy with where you're at and where everything is right now? Or do you feel like you're looking for a little more?
I'm looking for a little more. I don't think I've been riding very good. Like, today was just all about luck, right? You had to put yourself in the right position, not crash and you had to be lucky. The LCQ last weekend I rode really good and that's how I've been riding but, like other races, , or practices and stuff, I haven't put it together like I have been at the practice track. I feel really comfy on the new bike. I'm happy with it. I haven't even raced my race bike yet. I've raced my practice bike the last two weekends, just because with the new bike we got it so late, we got a motor two days before A1. So I've just been riding the practice bike and now I'm gonna get a whole new practice motor. I'm happy but I always want to hold myself to a pretty high standard.
Fredrik Noren | 20th
Racer X: Freddie Noren, 20th on the night. Pretty chaotic main event. Just take me through it from start to finish.
Fredrik Noren: Yeah. Very chaotic main event, that's for sure! I mean, I'm not very stoked on 20th. A1, I was 21st after a crash, so I have a little black eye, then 20th this week, it's not where I want to be, not where I should be. So, I'm kind of bummed on that. Obviously, it's good to be in the main events and I did win my LCQ. So that's a good thing as well. But, yeah, very chaotic. Off the start, I actually had a pretty good jump and then I lost it once I got out in the mud somehow and I pretty much stopped in the start straightway to pull a tar off because I couldn't see anything. [Laughs] That's pretty much how the main started. I got going and rode okay, then I got stuck going into the second lap and I had to genuinely like lift my bike. I felt like a GNCC rider! Possibly. I had to get off the bike, use both my hands and lift it forward to get going again. I'm like, okay, I'm not going that route anymore and then it was going pretty good. I have having a little battle with Cade there for like 18th place and then I fell and then I fell again and I think I fell again. So, yeah, it was not ideal. But you know what the, the Maddparts.com Galaxy Cloaking Kawasaki team, it’s done a fantastic job. Hopefully San Diego will not be muddy because I really want to have a normal track!
I heard the phrase “Freddie is a good mud rider” maybe five or six times today. Is that something that's the truth or was tonight just weird or what?
It was weird. I'm a really good mud rider. I've almost podiumed outdoors at that Loretta [Lynn's Ranch race] when it was muddy. I was fourth there so I can ride mud. I don't know really what happened today. It's good to be in the main, obviously, but like, I'm pretty bummed on the race.
I know you have the black eye from A1. Was there anything else ill effects wise that carried into this week?
I slammed my hand, too, so I didn't practice anything coming into this week. But my hand is good now. Other than that, I'm fine.
So, all things considered is it cool that you at least made the first two main events of the year and you can kinda get the ball rolling from here.
Yeah, for sure. I just stopped picking it up.
