The 250SX East Region of Monster Energy AMA Supercross has only raced two rounds so far but has offered some of the wildest racing of the season so far. With many of the top riders going down in the first turn in Detroit, and then points leader Austin Forkner crashing out while leading the main in Arlington, it has left the points chase wide open. For instance, Pierce Brown has been one of the most consistent riders and his pair of fifth place finishes gives him second in points. Meanwhile, Seth Hammaker was able to rebound for a DNF in Detroit to finish just off the podium in fourth in Arlington. Our Kellen Brauer caught up with both of these riders after the race to hear about their night and how the season is going for them.
Seth Hammaker | 4th
Racer X Online: Seth Hammaker fourth tonight in the end, right? But you're right there on Tom [Vialle] at the end. Take me through the ebb and flow of the main event because you were in the mix, kind of fell back, and then got back up there, right?
Seth Hammaker: Yeah. Start was pretty good. I think I was like third, came around there. Then the first couple laps played out. I was pretty solid at the beginning, made a few mistakes probably like after lap five and really like, struggled in the middle there. Tom [Vialle] and Cameron [McAdoo] got around me and then I was just kind of like right by myself for a little bit, kind of got back into a flow at the end there though. I saw I was catching Tom a little bit, tried to make a push for the podium spot, but just came up a little bit short. But I felt like overall there was some positive take away, obviously better than Detroit. It was kind of funny how all the results felt like it was like flip flopped. It was kind of crazy. But it was good. Good solid night for us. And yeah, like I said, something to build off of.
Looking back to the middle point of that race, is there anything you can kind of pinpoint that just felt a little off with you?
I guess. I haven't really, like, dug into it too deep. Yeah, I mean, obviously this week we watch video and stuff like that. I did struggle I remember to get the rhythm after the sand in those couple laps and it's hard to keep your flow when you miss that rhythm because then I was like double, double, double, all through that rhythm. So, I think that was kind of a key point just to get the rhythms clean. It wasn't about like necessarily all the speed. It's just being consistent throughout the whole main event, doing the obstacles and just being smooth,
Talking about that rhythm, obviously, Austin [Forkner] went down there. How difficult was it to get seeded off of that single into the pocket? And then it's a big down-up kind of transition right there, right?
So, it was really gnarly. Even after you get it down, you don't want to case it. So, you're always over jumping it into the next one. So, yeah, that's one that I was hoping no one was gonna go down off of that because, like, I could see what happened to Austin, I could just see that happen to anyone if they came up short. But yeah, it was pretty hard.
So, you didn't get to really race the main event of Detroit. So, were the things that you learned on the bike or with yourself? I guess at this round that you're kind of excited to work on in the week now.
Definitely. Yeah, it's nice to just get like a full main event because obviously Detroit just got to the start straight and that was it. So, I think just log in the laps, the longer laps too. I think I can work on some consistency. I know my speeds there, fastest qualifier today too, but I think it's just slowing things down and hitting my marks each lap. But that's just gonna be something like, more mentally than anything.
Daytona next weekend, are you guys going to do any sort of Daytona prep this week? Like Daytona section or outdoors or anything?
Honestly, probably not. Maybe a day of outdoors, but honestly just kind of go there and just do what you can do. I mean, there's not really much prep in California for it honestly. But yeah, we'll see.
Pierce Brown | 5th
Racer X Online: Okay, Pierce Brown, P5 on the night. Coming from the back to the front or mid pack to the front is never ideal. But were you satisfied with how the pace was?
Pierce Brown: Yeah, like you said, the pace was there. We just needed to start up with the guys. I mean, dude, I took a gamble on the gate position. I was pretty far inside my route wasn't ideal, but I thought I could somehow finesse a good start out of it, and I just got pinched off too early. So that was a bummer. But yeah, that came from the heat race mistake. I didn't have a good gate pick and it kind of domino on the night, which is a bummer. But the speed was there. I mean, qualifying went great. Heat race was looking at a win, I would say, but overall, I mean we just have a few things to clean up, just some starts and those first five laps of intensity and we'll be all right.
Yeah, you know, the speed was there, like all day, it seemed even qualifying, you looked a little bit froggier today. Was there anything that you can pinpoint, maybe worked on over the break or today that worked better before you?
Yeah, we put a lot of work in on the break. We were doing long days, and we made some improvements on the bike too, so that helps. But yeah, we built like three weeks into this weekend and then we got to this weekend and the track was completely different from the California track. So, we almost had to go back to the Detroit setting. But overall, I mean, we learned a lot today, another day of growing. So, it's not all bad. We're second in points. So, we're in it.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tom Vialle | Avignon, France  | 172 |
| 2 |  Haiden Deegan | Temecula, CA  | 168 |
| 3 |  Coty Schock | Dover, DE | 132 |
| 4 |  Pierce Brown | Sandy, UT | 131 |
| 5 |  Max Anstie | Newbury, England, United Kingdom  | 125 |
Yeah, this is the second round now for you guys where the 250 go second in the heat race and then first in the main event, does that kind of make the track a little more even keeled throughout the day because you got rough track during qualifying, rough track in the heat race, rough track in the main event. Is that better?
If you look at it that way, yeah. We love some smooth tracks, you know. But it's crazy because we go out for free practice and the first qualifying, second practice. That's the worst the track is all day. They fix it up for the last qualifying and then our heats, I mean, I've been heat two twice, so the heats have been destroyed, dude. And I kid you not, the main event is the best track we ride all night. Like it's the smoothest, which is crazy, but it is cool. I mean it makes for a man's track like all day long. It separates the boys. So, I think that's good. But it is kind of hard to get used to, like, I'm so used to that heat one, dude. Nothing's better than the heat one, especially here at Arlington. Dude, it is over, you know.
Well, that's why I'm asking you because you've experienced obviously fresh tracks in heat one a lot. So, yeah, is that hard to deal with regularly coming from rough track and qualifying to fresh track in the main and then rough track again or is that not a problem at all ever?
I’d say I'm used to it by now. I mean, Detroit was kind of hard to get used to it. But the main event track's no different. Obviously, we're racing at the same time, but just qualifying and heat races, they're tricky, you know, like it's kind of hard to start the day off on a rough track and ride a rough track all day long. Like, we don't do that practicing, or at least I don't. So, it switches things up, but I mean, whatever they want to do, we'll have to be okay with it, you know.
Yeah. Daytona prep this week. You guys going to do anything different? Outdoor tests or something weird like that to just prep for the roughness?
Not much to do in California. [Laughs]
Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. I don't know, a day at the track like Fox or Glen Helen or something just to do it differently.
No, I actually found a sand track right behind my house in Elsinore. It's dialed dude. We got some rain. I think we're getting some rain next week too. So, I might go out there with Ryder [DiFrancesco] and we'll spin some laps. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, other than that there's really nothing much to do.
No Nuevo. No Corona-Dilla, nothing?
No, no, none of that stuff. Dude, Daytona is really not as rough as it has been in the past, you know, like lately it's more supercross.
Excited for it though?
Yeah, I love Daytona. That was my first podium. So, hoping we can back it up. Maybe a win. Who knows.
