The third round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Thunder Valley is complete and it's fair to say the track tested the riders just as much as the competition did. After the race Steve Matthes was able to catch up with Triumph Racing team manager, “Scuba” Steve Westfall, to talk about his riders, Joey Savatgy and Jalek Swoll. He also spoke with Aaron Plessinger who was disappointed to see the lack of ruts that normally form on the tough Colorado track, and Malcolm Stewart who actually liked it! Here is what they had to say.
“Scuba” Steve Westfall
Racer X: Let’s start with Joey Savatgy. More bad luck, another first turn crash. He’s been so good here in the past, back in the day, and we thought he could podium. First turn crash first moto and then bad start second moto and worked up, but a crappy day for him and I am sure he’s not stoked.
Steve Westfall: No, he’s not stoked, and I don’t know what to do, how to fix the starts. We’ve tried a bunch of stuff and obviously we are going to go back to the drawing board again this week and hopefully High Point [goes well]. Then, I know for a fact after we have that break, he’s gonna come back up. We gotta get it sorted, because it's not helping him and we’re obviously trying to get him to do the SMX [playoffs] and you’ve got to be top 20, so points count and obviously we had an issue last week. That didn’t help either, I only can control so much.
Happy with his riding though?
He’s riding well. I think, to be honest, he freaks out when he doesn’t get a start and then it takes a little bit for the engine [his body] to get going and it's hard to get him past that for whatever reason. I think if we can control that better it will help him out a lot.
He took that inside gate, which isn’t always great but it keeps you out of trouble, is the idea. Except it didn’t work this time.
Yeah, it didn’t work! [Laughs] Usually that inside is to stay out of trouble and it didn’t work. But then Jalek [Swoll] went there in the second moto and he snuck right around, so it worked. It has its advantages and disadvantages.
And Jalek’s day, what did you think?
He rode well. A little tight at the end, I think he was riding behind him instead of in front of him sometimes and then I got yelled at for trying to wave my rider on. I didn’t know that that was a thing again… [AMA rules say you that team staff can't cheer their riders from the infield, an old rule Westfall forgot]. We’ll work on it. He’s been riding well and keep plugging along.
There’s nothing like racing, as you know. What have you learned from testing to racing these first three outdoors?
It's hard to say. Chassis is the biggest thing and you can always use more motor at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter whose bike you’re on, 250 at the end of the day you always want more motor, more motor. So obviously we could always use a little more power but chassis is the biggest thing. And that’s been the biggest thing to try to relate from where we’re riding and what we’ve been trying to ride, to coming here and out west and this dirt's way different. I feel like next week will be an eye opener, because that’s what we ride all of the time.
That’s a good point, if you think of the first three rounds, it's nothing like Georgia, right?
No, we’re not even close, this is like the freeway in Georgia. So it’ll be nice, we'll see what happens.
Aaron Plessinger
Okay, first of all Aaron Plessinger, one of the weirdest things I saw all day was Justin Hill coming from out of nowhere, catching you, battling with you and then I don’t know, maybe he got tired? It was like a rocket was strapped to him for a couple of laps.
Aaron Plessinger: Was that second moto? Yeah, yeah, so he started in front of me, I screwed that second moto start up so bad and he was ripping. He was ripping, he had a flow.
You just made the podium man and he was giving you all you wanted.
Yeah, it was gnarly. He was riding good, we were obviously back of the pack, like 12th or 13th or something. I kind of found the tiniest bit of flow, caught up to Christian [Craig] and I don’t even know what I got in the second moto, maybe eighth or ninth or something?
First moto, when you are up there and those guys are going by you, what is that like? How frustrating is that?
It sucks. I don’t know what it is about here, I always struggle and it's always been with bike setup. I don’t know coming here, because last year was good, I got second.
Doesn’t Hangtown setup work here?
Ehhh… I don’t know. I wasn’t fully pumped with the Hangtown setup, we actually went back and changed shocks this week. And I was riding so, so good this week and I had really good confidence coming into this weekend. But once I started that first moto, it's like I was skating around, it's like I didn’t know what I was doing. Went back to like eighth and came back to fifth. And then the second moto was just me screwing up the start, I was in like 20th or something and did what I could.
So last year you got second here, so what was the secret? I know things change but you could have just shown up with last year’s set up.
We kind of did a little bit, but I was just stink bug man, and when you’re stink bugged like that it makes you feel great, like I have all the confidence in the world [sarcasm]. But no it was gnarly, and I think they missed the mark on the track.
Really? That’s not what I’m hearing.
Dude. I was talking to Hunter [Lawrence] on the line and he was like, 'Last year was so much better than this year.'
Everybody’s different.
Everybody’s different, and everybody has their opinions and my opinion is this track could be so, so good and so rutted and gnarly and more skill-based, but it was just wide open. That’s my thoughts on it. But we’re coming out of here healthy, we’re going to one of my favorite tracks, so I’m feeling good.
Real quick, last weekend I didn’t get a chance to talk to you. I know you cramped up and couldn’t move your leg. So in a situation like that I guess you’re pissed but you’re cramped so what can you do? And then your teammate Chase Sexton won, like I don’t know where your emotions are with something like that, because you had a big lead.
Dude, I had a really big lead. And it's not like I slowed down a crazy amount that last lap. I was still trying to go for it. But it's hard to be mad about something like that. That was a breakout ride for me, I led 33-and-a-half minutes of that moto and it's just unfortunate that he was riding so good. He was riding exceptionally well and it's hard to be mad at that too because it's something you don’t see every day is someone coming from 40th to first. Especially in the 450 class. So, on one hand, yeah it sucked getting passed but to see that happen as a fan of the sport, I mean that’s cool as shit.
Malcolm Stewart
Malcolm Stewart, 7-7 on the day for eighth overall, man you got screwed on that.
Malcolm Stewart: Yeah, we are going the wrong way [overall math], but we are riding good. I’m not going to lie, we came here and did the first practice, and the lines that I remember, they’re not there. That was ten years ago, I was coming down the downhill and I was like, 'Oh! I remember we used to go straight, now we turn left.' So, it's a lot different. I kind of feel like when Tom Vialle came over here and didn’t know the tracks, that’s me right now, a little lost.
It was a real good day for you though, you were just behind those 4-5-6 guys.
I was just off, but those guys were riding good, they kind of chipped away from me, I was a little uncomfortable, but I tried to make it work, ended up seventh. And then the second moto we made a little bit of changes and same thing kind of happened. Results went 7-7, but at the same time I actually felt a little bit more comfortable, and I rode better. At the end of the day, again I am having a great time, I’m not bummed at all. The team's in a really good spot, I’m in a really good spot, headspace. And we’re just going to take what we can and learn and go to Mt. Morris. That’s all we can do.
What about the elevation? How was that?
It wasn’t bad, I’m in better shape now. That’s what happens when you don’t eat red meat and all of that other stuff. But as far as that I was actually okay, a slight headache but nothing else.
Some of the guys tell me the key to this place is really opening up the turns and keeping momentum and flowing. Did you find that? No more point and shoot?
I ain’t gonna lie, I was all over the place, okay? I was all over the place! I was like, 'I remember ten years ago I did this,' nothing could relate. So, second moto it was, it was a lot more off-cambers than I remembered, and as far as that the track was a little more hard-packed than I remembered, because we weren’t sure about rain. But I'm okay because I don’t like this track at all when it gets rutted so they did me a favor!
