The racing in Monster Energy AMA Supercross has been incredible all season, but the action in Seattle might have been the best yet. All eyes were up front when Levi Kitchen dominated in front of his home crowd in the 250SX class and Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton had an intense battle up front in the 450SX class. All of this on a track that may have been just as tough as the competition, when rain the night before left it not exactly wet, but not dry either. Riders were left looking for the shallowest ruts that wouldn’t grab their pegs and send them to the ground.
So, what is it like to ride a supercross track as treacherous as Seattle? Our Aaron Hansel caught up with three riders, Julien Beaumer, Shane McElrath, and Cade Clason to hear about battling the Seattle track and more.
Julien Beaumer | 7th in 250 Main
Racer X: Seventh place in the main, tell me about your night.
Julien Beaumer: It was good. I struggled a little bit in qualifying, but the heat race was better. The main was a lot better in the beginning too. I had a good flow going then kind of fell flat in the middle and made some mistakes. That was it. I just overrode the track a bit. Then, with about three minutes left, I got a good flow going again and started rolling, just like we do at the practice tracks. I think there are a lot of positives to take away from this race. I think it’s going to be good to end on a good note tonight and bring it into St. Louis.
When you start as well as you did, is it overwhelming to have a pack of guys behind you like that?
It’s a new thing for me to be starting up front. I struggled with breathing at Anaheim 1 when I started up there, so tonight I just focused on breathing and making sure I was breathing a lot. That helped me. I just have to get more used to starting up front each weekend. I’m going to keep trying to start like that and get better at it.
How’d the track treat you tonight?
It was rough. Really, really rough. That’s probably the gnarliest track I’ve ever ridden. It was definitely a brutal night, and I’ve heard a lot of guys saying the same. I think I learned a lot with it. I’ve never ridden a track like that, and I learned a lot. I’m going to take the positives and take what I learned this week and come out swinging in St. Louis.
Shane McElrath | 16th in 450 Main
Racer X: You almost holeshot that main! Take us through it.
Shane McElrath: Yeah, I’m pretty happy with my starts. My rut wasn’t super good, but it’s like, "Hey, I’m not that comfortable today, but I’m going to put myself in a position to go," and I did that, and that’s what I’m pumped about. I’m going to continue to make that progress and those steps to stay in the front a little bit longer, and that’s where we’re really gaining the knowledge and understanding and getting the data to know how the bike needs to work in situations where it really matters. It was a really tough race day today, just trying to overcome a lot of that stuff. Really, just the uncomfortable parts, trying to work through being uncomfortable and force your way through it. This is what we all have, and I’m trying to muscle through it. You have to talk yourself through it because your mind is trying to talk you out of it. It was a really difficult track, and last week in Indy, it was really tough.
And the week before that in Birmingham was really tough!
Yeah, and this week was equally as tough. You had to really be careful all the way around the track. The bumps and the ruts, they were super hardpacked and bumpy all the way through.
Did it surprise you that some parts of the track were hard like that? Seattle isn’t known for hardpack, and it rained last night and in the morning.
It’s weird. I think it was like that because they’ve had good weather up here, and they were able to get the track built and covered before the dirt was actually wet. Tonight, during the main, when they prepped some of the rhythm sections, they were the softest then all day. Continuing to mix the wet dirt in on top with the dry stuff underneath did that, I think. It was just like Indy, you hit it on the first lap and there aren’t any ruts, and you just feel it sink in. Two or three laps in and there are ruts all the way across the jumps. The jumps were all soft, but anywhere where there was flat ground it was hardpacked.
Yeah, it was the complete opposite of that in the morning.
Exactly.
You’re talking about forcing yourself through being uncomfortable, but what’s the balance point between that and going too far? Especially on a tricky track.
I think the biggest part is just being smart about it. I’ve never been that good at qualifying, and I’m old enough now, I want to qualify good, but I take what qualifying gives me. I’m a racer. When the gate drops, I’m going to race. Anytime we’re out there practicing, the track is not in good condition. It’s never like it is in the race when you’re in practice. I need to get a little bit better about piecing stuff together early on and worry less about just trying to do a good lap. It doesn’t matter. Ultimately, I should still qualify, so it’s like, just back it down five to ten percent and connect everything, and then increase the intensity a little bit. But you get down there, like today, there wasn’t a free practice, and it was straight to two ten-minute timed practices, so you try to hammer, but it’s counterintuitive. I think it’s about controlling your emotions at this point. Each lap, a little bit more, a little bit more, then by race time you’ve got this big foundation built and you can push it where you know you can push it. It’s about understanding how the track is going to develop.
Cade Clason | 19th in 450 Main
Racer X: Tell me about your night, how did it go?
Cade Clason: I started probably where I finished. I passed a couple dudes in the first rhythm section and Ty Masterpool just decided he was going to roll-roll, then hang a right and try to go inside before the whoops. I think he forgot there were other people behind him, and I T-boned him while I was in the air. I was way back then. It’s hard when you crash early like that because you get lapped so early and you’re by yourself. I was trying to catch up, I caught Justin Rodbell and passed him, and I never really saw anyone else the whole race. It wasn’t great, and I felt so uncomfortable in the main. It gets down to that rocky base, and I’ve always sucked here. It’s so chattery and not ideal for me. I don’t ride stuff like this ever, so it’s tough. In the heat race, I was shredding. I could’ve gotten like seventh had I not started 12th. I felt good, but I needed a little bit more. It is what it is, and I was in another main. We’re going to St. Louis next week, which has really good dirt, and a roof so we don’t have to worry about rain. I’m excited for that.
Get into the track a little bit. We thought it was going to be absolutely horrible, but it wasn’t all that bad, was it?
No, it really wasn’t that bad. I’m at the point where I know these guys know what they’re doing when they build these things. They’re not going to build in the rain if they can help it. As long as they’re not building when it’s raining, and as soon as they build it, they pack it and cover it. They know what they’re doing. As long as it’s not raining on race day, it’s not going to be that bad. It was muddy in practice, but I was doing the same lap times in the first practice that I did in the main. It really wasn’t that bad, they did a good job. They brought in this vibrating roller that attaches to a skiddy and they packed everything really hard, way harder than normal. When we walked the track it looked sick, and after the first session we were all like, "Oh, it’s really hard, it’s going to be good." Then we started breaking through and it got soft, and worse, obviously. It never rained again, but it kept getting soft. The moisture was floating around—there were lakes between the lanes. It wasn’t that bad. It was good enough that you still had to go really fast, and if you were uncomfortable, you were going to be way off. Everyone has to ride it, and I have to be better in these types of conditions.
That second rhythm lane looked like it was really taking guys out. What was different about it?
I’m friends with the guys who build, and they said the outer lanes were much harder when they were bringing dirt in. The inner ones the dirt just got softer and softer. That section was spongey when they built it, and those faces just gave away eventually. I really wanted to go, roll-2-3 in that rhythm because that would keep you out of the ruts.
