Nashville may be known as Music City, but in the world of Monster Energy AMA Supercross it is starting to get a name for itself as being the race where anything can happen. Riders crash, bikes break, and red plates swap hands. In the 250SX West Region it all started when points leader, Levi Kitchen, got a bad start in the heat race then an off-track excursion, which resulted in a sixth-place finish. This led to a bad gate pick for the main and a mediocre start. In a race where anything can happen, Kitchen was then cross jumped by his own teammate (a racing incident that can happen when you don’t pull the holeshot), sending him to the ground, hard. He would get back up for 14th.
Throw in Cameron McAdoo's rough night in the 250SX East Region Championship and it was an unfortunate night for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team. But the flip side is that RJ Hampshire had an outstanding night. He was the fastest in qualifying, won his heat, pulled the holeshot in the main and then rode away for the win. Coming into the night 15 points down, RJ knew he had to win, and that’s exactly what he planned to do, regardless of what happened to Kitchen.
At the post race press conference, he stated: “For me, it didn't matter, I needed to win no matter what. It might be different for Tom [Vialle], because he was close to the points lead, but I was 15 points down. So, I knew I had to win no matter what and whatever plays out behind he plays out and it just so happened that, you know, Levi had his first, actually his second time off the podium, but his first kind of bad weekend. And yet I executed my night exactly how I needed to. I mean, it's only two points and so it's not like it's much and I still need to win. I need to head into Denver and carry the same kind of confidence I had today and know I can be the guy. I felt like I lost that a little bit during that long break. So, just give myself a chance on the weekends, you know, focus on my starts like I did tonight and execute tonight.”
Supercross is not only physically demanding, but riders need to be mentally tough as well. Without confidence results can suffer, which is what RJ attributed his results to in Seattle and St. Louis.
“That six week break after I won Glendale, six weeks of really not racing on the weekends, like, man, I struggled with that," he said. "Almost took it too easy, lost my intensity, and it showed. I had two crashes that were pretty big. I mean they weren't just tip overs. So, I had two big crashes in those six weeks and then I show up to Seattle thinking I'm gonna be right back to where I was in Glendale, and I wasn't. Like Levi smoked me there and then I show up to St. Louis try to get it back on track and got beat bad again there. So, it was like, 'Okay, look, I gotta change something.' I need to be more present and have my intensity back and show up here and do exactly what I did tonight. And let whatever play out behind me play out.”
And that’s exactly what Hampshire was able to do in Nashville with the help of his team. It is almost impossible for a rider to be “on” all of the time. Confidence can waver. That is why it is important for riders to surround themselves with others who will lift them up, which is exactly what RJ has in Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team manager Nate Ramsey.
“We put a lot into this race," Hampshire said. "No one lost belief that we still had a shot at the championship, and it starts with our team manager [Nate Ramsey]. So, he brings a lot of excitement and belief in me to the race weekend. It's cool to see and we have a lot of similarities in our career. Yeah, it's really good vibes around our whole truck, our whole team and it shows on the weekend, I mean, we love what we do and to go out there and execute and give our sponsors what they deserve is huge.”
He expounded on the lack of confidence further: “The confidence got drained from me at Seattle to be honest with you. Like, dude, Levi just walked me in my heat race. I had nothing for him and then he put 20 seconds on me in the main event. So, if any confidence was lost it was from that. But yeah, once I left St. Louis, I was more just kind of pissed off like, 'Look, you're just kind of losing this title, you need to be the guy.' So yeah, I mean, I still showed up this weekend, 'Look, I'm gonna go win, do whatever I can do.' Try to get myself back into it even if that was five points, you know, five points each round, leading up to our last round would have been we're tied in the championship. So yeah, I definitely didn't lose faith or hope in this. And definitely now you have that extra spark.”
So even if luck swung Hampshire’s way in Nashville, with the way other championship contenders finished, he still had to put himself in position to capitalize. He had a plan and executed it perfectly. He also set this championship up to go down to the final two rounds which will be exciting for all to watch.
