After a mediocre 2023 season (in comparison to 2022 where he won seven rounds), Jason Anderson’s name was not at the top of many lists as a preseason favorite heading into the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. That is until he came out at Anaheim 1 and placed second behind Jett Lawrence.
Anderson would find himself on the podium again, second behind Ken Roczen, in Glendale, before hitting a midseason slump. However, these last three rounds he has been turning things around, placing fourth in both Foxborough and Nasville and landing back on the podium in Philadelphia. Where he talked about his night and regaining some of his confidence at the post race press conference:
“Yeah, I think to be honest, I think I've just been building momentum from race to race," said Anderson. "I think even in like Foxborough, I still wasn't even really riding like myself in the heat race, and I got up there with the guys and I was able to feel the pace and kind of get a little bit more confidence, being able to hang up there, and then last weekend, same thing. And I think today I just started finding some lines towards the end of the main event and was able to make a run, obviously made it on the podium.”
Anderson showed great speed in the main, riding in fifth behind Eli Tomac for most of the race, he would close the gap, only for Eli to pull back out again. It wasn’t until late in the race that Anderson was able to make his way by the two-time supercross champion.
“Yeah, I feel like the track tonight was really tough to make a pass and make a pass stick. I think the sand, I was kind of just seeing at one point if he [Tomac] would switch up his line because when someone's behind you, you're trying to figure out what they're doing. So, I was hoping that he would switch it up and luckily one lap, he missed the triple, but I wasn't close enough to even capitalize on that. And then whenever he went to the outside, I was able to triple to the inside and make it stick. And then after that I didn't realize that Coop [Webb] was that close to us. I was tripling before the whoops and I think to be honest, I got on the podium based off of some lines that I found just being behind those guys for so long. So that little cat and mouse thing kind of made me figure out what was good and what wasn’t I guess.”
Speaking of Cooper Webb, Anderson, who is known for his aggressive riding style, made a last turn pass attempt that resulted in Webb going down. However, this was not a blatant take out move like we have come to expect from Anderson. It was simply two riders, going for the same line in a turn, neither one willing to give it up. Anderson had the wheel, Webb ran into the back of him and went down. Most surprising though, was Anderson almost (emphasis on almost) felt remorse for how things played out.
“And with Coop there at the end, I was charging, and I knew the only way I could do it was to try to go around the outside in the whoops and yeah, I tried to squeeze him off and he didn't wanna let go. But it's, I just wanna be up here on the box, you know, and I don't, it's tough because Coop's always been a straight up dude and I think it's cool to see him still fighting for titles this late in his career. So, you know, kind of bummed that it was him, but at the same time, I wanna be on the box.”
The three races Anderson has podiumed this season have been dry races (Anaheim 1, Glendale, and Philly) and he might have been the fastest rider of all at Anaheim 2's Triple Crown, but a last-race crash and a penalty bumped him off the podium. Beyond those races, the 2024 supercross season has been one of rain and soft, rutted tracks. Something that does not come as easy for the New Mexico native. So, in order to better himself he has been spending time out east.
“I mean, I'm usually better on harder pack tracks. I think just obviously us [Monster Energy Kawasaki] doing all of our testing in California, me living in California, I think just in general we're gonna be better at it," said Anderson. "Like these guys, they [Jett Lawrence and Chase Sexton] live in Florida. They ride softer dirt and stuff like that, but that's something that I gotta figure out and learn and right now I've been riding at ClubMX and I luckily, I was able to have the boys from Kawi out there this week to do some testing. Trying to get them a little bit more open minded to giving our bike an opportunity and myself an opportunity in some of the ruttier conditions and they're working with me, and I think it's showing it.”
Anderson has been riding at ClubMX during this mid-season portion of the season, but in the week leading up to Philadelphia, several Kawasaki staffers also went to South Carolina to test, including test rider Broc Tickle.
This current generation of 450SX riders, who could be preparing for the vet class racing, instead are still looking for ways to improve their skills at supercross. And it's paying off. And while Anderson and his team continue to look for more on soft, rutty tracks, in the next two weeks it doesn’t matter. Denver and Salt Lake are as hard pack as they come, and historically Anderson rides really well in both places. Look for him to battle for the box again at these closing rounds.
