As far as Monster Energy AMA Supercross is concerned, Cameron McAdoo has been the model of consistency. These words have probably never been uttered before this season. After an awful (in so many ways) opening round in Detroit, where he finished 15th, McAdoo has one win and four second-place finishes. This consistency is paying off as he is the current red plate holder. However, Tom Vialle is lurking, only four points back after a third-place finish at round six. Both riders sat down after Foxborough to speak with the press about their night and the rest of the season as it starts to wind down and the championship pressure builds.
Cameron McAdoo | 2nd
When you made it into second, was there a push to try and get Haiden Deegan and then at some point, did you kind of settle in and just think championship big picture wise?
Cameron McAdoo: Yeah, by the time I got into second, I think Haiden had like three or four seconds on me and I was trying some areas to obviously make up some time and see what I could do. Just because I knew that with how slick it was, there was some potential for some mistakes. But there wasn't really anywhere that I felt that I could make up a bunch of time and he was riding really good, like he threw some big laps down in the beginning so, I was trying, honestly, I dealt with some pretty significant arm pump tonight and it's not something I usually deal with. So that was kind of frustrating. But I pushed as much as I could and what I felt was reasonable, you know, safe.
On the arm pump, was it the track was a bike set up related? Is there anything you could point to, or no?
Honestly, I think it had to do with how slick the track was just trying to accelerate on the slick stuff, and it was really cold tonight, so, not super sure. But it could be a list of things, you know, it's just one of those things where when it comes up you're just like, “Ahh, it's so frustrating.” But, yeah, it was a good night.
How many real changes have you made to the Kawasaki throughout this last year. You've been on that platform for quite some time. It has changed, but you're pretty familiar with the team and the platform.
Yeah, actually, we've had a some pretty big changes. The engine, they were doing a lot of good work on towards the end of outdoors last year. I obviously missed outdoors last year, so I didn't get to pick up on that. We’ve had some different chassis changes as well. Kind of all around, I mean, every team changes stuff every year, we all have to try to push to progress. But I think in general that we've all kind of made a made some good steps in the right direction with the bike around the team. So, I'm really comfortable, I just need to execute a couple of things, maybe a little bit better. Definitely get some better starts. That'd be helpful. But I'm really happy with where the bike is at right now also.
Is this the healthiest you've been as a pro?
It's kind of funny you say that because I came into the season very unhealthy with my shoulder and then in the first turn in Detroit, what happened there, I fractured my tibia in my leg. So, I am very healthy now though and it's great to be this far, finally into a supercross season and just, you know, stacking good races together and being healthy and staying consistent. It does feel good.
Red plate coming into this weekend and then you leave with it again. Can you talk about, from your point of view, having the pressure of the red plate and riding consistent races and trying to take this thing home?
Yeah, I honestly came into the weekend with the same mindset that I've had all year, just race tonight and that's something that I think I've struggled with in the past and I think it's ended up biting me. Starting to think forward or think too far into things. It's great to have the red plate at round six. It's the furthest into the series that I've been the points leader. So, it's exciting and I'm really excited to just take this thing to the end with these guys. It's gonna be a hard fight.
You mentioned taking it race by race, but with only three races left and a little bit of a points lead, are you starting to do the math? Like thinking, “Okay, second is fine.” You're ahead of Vialle, you're only losing three to Haiden Deegan.
Honestly, not really. It's like they're so important every point counts, obviously. And you wanna get every point you can. Obviously, Tom and I are really close, and Haiden is really not that far back either. Like I said, it's been working for me this kind of the way I've been approaching it, my mindset, like just taking everything that I can get each night and not going for more than what I'm capable of. And so that was kind of something that has been important all year and I think will be for these last few races too and especially for two of them being shootouts.
I actually wanted to ask you about the showdown, does the game plan change at all for a showdown because a bad start there could actually lose you more points than in just a normal East Region race?
No, I think the game plan is the same because the game plan is definitely not to start 10th like tonight. So, you want to start up front no matter what, whether there's three or four good guys who are capable of getting a win or seven or eight. So, it's obviously a little bit more important and I think that there's potential for bigger point swings, obviously, in the shootouts and with two of our next three races being them, I think it's gonna have a factor. But I do think that, something I always say, kind of the cream rises to the top, you know. So, may the best guy win.
Tom Vialle | 3rd
Tom, it seemed like you started jumping the whoops later in the race. Was there any specific strategy or reason behind that?
Tom Vialle: I actually skimmed the whole moto. I think I jumped them for the last, maybe three or four laps. I was far from Cameron, and nobody was really behind me. So, I was trying to be a little bit safe, and I was kind of struggling a little bit with the bike set out. The track was really hard pack and slippery. I got a little bit arm pump in the main event. But I couldn't do much more, I think tonight than three. So, just trying to be safe and actually three was the best I could do tonight.
You mentioned the track conditions and it did look like it was a track very difficult to push on. So, once you get midway, do you just kind of decide to settle in? Do you have to change your mentality of just salvaging the points and accepting a third?
I don't know, when I started second behind Haiden I was really like, “Okay” I felt great actually the first five minutes I was pretty close and then I had a few mistake in some corner and then kind of losing some time and Cameron passed me and I was still pretty close, but I couldn't really find some line. And like I said, I was kind of struggling from the first practice on the bike set up. I tried a lot today, but I never really can find something great, and I feel like I couldn't really ride at 100 percent and really push on the track. So, I tried to, when I was in third and like five laps to go, I tried to set up for third and I mean, we didn't lose a lot of points for the championships. And yeah, we're gonna work this week on the bike and try to find some better setting for next weekend.
Second year racing supercross, you're right in this championship battle. How does the pressure in this championship battle stack up against the pressure you had when you won two MXGP titles over in Europe?
I mean, when I go to the race, I always try to do my best and no matter what. And of course we have three races to go, so it's gonna be really important, I think next weekend. And I'm gonna have to be to be good at the race and it's only three races to go. It's actually pretty short championship, let's say I used to race for like 18 or 20 GP’s in Europe. So here it's only like nine or 10 races and it's pretty short, like the mistakes are really costly so you need to be careful and be there every race. So, it's only three races to go. It's gonna be nice. It's gonna be a good fight again for sure.
