Although he sat sixth in 250SX West points after the Glendale, Arizona race, Smartop MotoConcepts Honda’s Mitchell Oldenburg has made the decision to abandon the 250SX class for the 450SX ranks from here on out. The veteran Oldenburg, an underrated rider for sure, made the 450 main in Seattle and as usual, got close to the top ten. We caught up to Freckle on the PulpMX Show Monday night to talk about the 450 decision, the team, and more.
Racer X Online: That track was gnarly. You haven’t been at all the rounds to fully experience this, and again, you jumped on a 450 as well. So, that was a little bit of a deep learning curve for you even though you’ve raced a ton. I’ve got to imagine you were like, “Holy shit.”
Mitchell Oldenburg: Yeah and no. I guess going to Seattle, you kind of expect it. It’s weird. Every time we go to Seattle there’s a chance of rain, but it never really rains. It just seems like it drizzles and it’s just gloomy and miserable, depressing weather. I expected it to be gnarly. Obviously, the 450 class, the bikes just chew the track up so much worse and so much faster, but I wouldn’t say it caught me off guard by any means.
Up in the press box before the main event, the Dirt Wurx guys do a good job of trying to fix it and roll it and smooth it out. You’re kind of like, ‘That looks all right.’ But it takes three laps and everything is hammered.
Yeah. Especially with the 450s. I feel like the first ten minutes of the 450 main it doesn’t seem that bad, but from ten minutes on, every lap gets so much worse. I don't know if that’s just because normally I’m getting close to the end in a 250 main event to where I don’t really notice it as much, but I just seems like once you break that top six inches of the rut that we’ve started throughout the beginning of the race, it just seems like we’re down to the floor in a lap or two.
That was one of my questions, because in outdoors you get to a certain level of roughness, and it doesn’t really get rougher after that. So, I guess supercross isn’t quite like that.
Yeah, from what I’ve experienced, at least. Dallas seemed really bad. The first ten minutes in the Dallas main event, it seemed really good. I was like, ‘Okay, this isn’t that bad. I think it will be all right.’ Then from ten minutes on, just every lap got so much worse. I don't know if it’s because maybe at that point in the race it forces all the riders to go to those cut-down lines and those really low lines, and we’re just getting lower and lower in the turn to where we get to the point where we can’t go any lower. I don't know. I just feel like that halfway mark is when the track gets really gnarly.
So, the question I’m asking is what is harder to ride in these conditions? The 250 or 450?
To ride, probably the 450, but to race I would have to say the 250 just for the simple fact that the top two, three guys aren’t going to stop jumping the jumps. That’s where it gets hairy and kind of one of the reasons why I wanted to go to the 450. When the track gets chewed up like that, I’m past that point of sending it and praying basically to make it. Because at that point, at these softer races like Seattle and Indy and these tracks that get so gnarly in the main event, the longer you can do the jumps, the better you’re going to do.
I think Carson (Mumford), my teammate this weekend, did so well because late in the race he was still able to do the jumps, which is such a big advantage in the 250 class. Like you said, the 450, you’re kind of just giving it a little bit of gas and it’s easier to do the jumps. So, you don’t have to be as perfect in the turns and as perfectly lined up in the ruts. You don’t have to hit the smoothest rut to do the jumps. For me, the 250, I’m not willing to send it anymore. I’m too old for that. I want to get on the airplane healthy.
You mentioned in the post-race interview we did that you wanted to go 450 this year. The team wanted you to stay on the 250. So, you did some 250s. Now you switched to 450s full-time. With Tony Alessi and Mike Genova, was that a bit of a battle or did they understand it?
I wouldn’t say it was a battle. I think it kind of took a little bit of convincing. They wanted to know the reasons why and everything that came along with it. Tony was fully on board and agreed with everything I had to say, on my reasoning to want to go to the 450. To be completely honest, the only reason I started the year on the 250 was money. I’m at the point in my career and in my life where this is a business for me, and I got to make money to survive. That was my best way of making money. I think now the focus has kind of switched for me more to the last three SuperMotocross rounds and trying to get qualified for that on the 450, just the LCQ. I’m not an outdoor guy and I have no intentions of racing outdoors. There’re many reasons on why we went to the 450. I feel like I’ve peaked on a 250. I feel like kind of where I’ve been finishing is the best you’re going to get out of me. I might be able to sneak on the podium here and there if I’m lucky and things go my way. But I think for me, it’s more fun. I feel like I’m growing more as a rider and a racer on the 450. So, I just don’t want to take any steps backwards. I want to see what I can do on a 450 and just kind of go from there.
How’s MCR been for you?
I think it’s quite underrated. There’s a lot of knowledge within Tony. I think a lot of people think Tony is a high-strung person, and he is at times, but he really tries hard for the riders. I feel like he’s there for you guys. He’ll listen to what you have to say. Kind of like what you were just saying. Like, I had to present why I feel like I needed to do this, and he’s open minded enough to try to understand and he knows the sport so well.
