After collecting one another in the 250SX Futures main event at the St. Louis Supercross, Pennsylvania natives Gavin Towers and Luke Fauser landed on the podium together at the Foxborough SX Futures round. The former training partners are now in very different positions in their amateur careers. Towers, about half a year into his term with the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team, is near the end of his amateur career, as he has enough points to earn his pro AMA Supercross license. Towers finished second overall behind Kawasaki’s Drew Adams in a rebound ride returning to the podium after finishing second, 18th and 10th, respectively, at the first three rounds.
On the other hand, Fauser is just getting his feet wet on Supercross Futures this year with hopes of coming out swinging next year. Coming off injuries, Fauser is in his second year of racing the 250F. Still, he held off a charging Cole Davies to claim third place—his first podium in the SX Futures program. In just his third start, Fauser got off to a great start, rode solid laps, and did not faulter when pressured. Check out what the duo had to say to our Tom Journet after the race.
Gavin Towers | 2nd in Futures Main Event
All right. Gavin Towers, last Futures race before the finale. How was it for you?
Gavin Towers: It was a lot better. The last couple, I mean, just being stupid. [Laughs] So, yeah, this one was good to just kinda get through a good race and keep on two wheels and just ride my race. I wish I had a little bit more but, to be honest, I just wanted to get through it a little bit and just kind of have a building block going into our final one. That's the most important one. That's where you get the national #1 plate. That's the big one. So that's the main goal. It's always been the main goal. These ones are just getting experience and we've definitely done that this year and it's been a lot of ups and downs, but it's been a lot of fun.
Let's go back to before. What are your plans for moving forward now after this week?
Honestly, Salt Lake is the main focus. And then from then on, dude, I honestly don't know for the remainder of the year. So, just get through that one and hopefully crush that one. And then from then on, just whether that's outdoors or, you know, if we have to do Loretta’s again, it's gonna be more or less up to the team. So, for the most part, just focus on the next one.
And finally, for you, what was your favorite part of the track, toughest part of the track, and most interesting part of the track?
Favorite part of track… I thought that it was cool to kind of do a double over and then like to jump into the whoops. I thought that was a lot of fun and it was a little bit easier in qualifying just the way the track broke down. And then I'd say the toughest part of the track for us just the way it got shaped up. That one [rhythm] after the sand, you were kind of jumping off a little knuckle onto like the table top and it was landing in holes, ruts like it was sketchy, like it could go wrong. So, yeah, we just didn't get any really track prep. That's just how it is for our way we're timed out. So, yeah, that was definitely a toughest part of the track.
Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Drew Adams | 9 Laps | 56.117 | Chattanooga, TN | Kawasaki KX250 | |
2 | Gavin Towers | +12.874 | 58.113 | Venetia, PA | Yamaha YZ250F | |
3 | Luke Fauser | +22.511 | 58.673 | Midland, PA | KTM 250 SX-F | |
4 | Tyler Mollet | +24.385 | 59.201 | Stuart, FL | Husqvarna FC 250 | |
5 | Cole Davies | +26.523 | 57.132 | Waitoki | GasGas MC 250F |
Luke Fauser | 3rd in Futures Main Event
Racer X: All right, Luke Fauser. Last Futures race before the finale. How did it go for you?
Luke Fauser: Yeah, it was really good. I got up to a great start right around with Gavin and Drew and I did the jump line in the first rhythm, got out kind of like second. And honestly in the main, I pieced together a lot more lines than I was in free practice and qualifying because our track in the main was a lot better. So, yeah, it was good and ended up, I was battling with [Cole] Davies there and then we ended up… I had a pretty good block pass on him. But, you know, rubbing’s racing and it was for the podium. So, it was good.
So, you're pretty young. So, I mean, what are you taking away from this? I mean, like obviously you always want to go for the win as a racer, but it's still learning for you. What, what do you take away?
Yeah, so this year is like my learning year. And I was hard at the beginning of this year, so I didn't have a lot of time on supercross yet. And we really just came into these to gain experience and take as much away from the day as we could possibly. And honestly, like we've been talking about it a lot, like the practice tracks are so smooth and then riding these that are so rough, the best training is here. So, we're just getting them in taking as much experience and the podium is great. It's a big learning experience.
Obviously as an amateur racer, Loretta's is the big step. Now having Futures kind of in your training program, how is it going back and forth between supercross and outdoors for you?
Honestly, it's really tough. Like I had about three weeks on the bike before the Daytona Futures and then we had Freestone and Spring [a Ding] after that. So, like you kind of got to focus on supercross, but do motocross too. So, it's honestly really tough, but supercross is coming sort of to an end now, so you can focus on motocross and get ready for the [MX Sports moto] combines and stuff and Loretta's and regionals.