Justin Hill Qualified P1!

Justin Hill has always had the speed. Since moving to the premier class, the 2017 250SX West Champion has shown those flashes every now and then and Saturday's seventh round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross was one of those nights. Hill qualified P1 overall for the first time since the race at this very stadium... five years ago!

A lot has changed for Hill over the last five years: he quit racing at one point, worked his way up the local PNW police force as a sheriff, wrote some music, and became a dad. After two full years away from the sport, Hill came back in 2023 and got back to racing full-time for Team Tedder, even scoring third in the 450SX main event at the 2023 Denver Supercross that year. 

After topping the board in qualifying Saturday, Hill was setup in a good position heading into the third and final Triple Crown race of the night behind Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb, and Ken Roczen. Hill's finishes of 4-4-8 scored him fifth overall on the night. Our Aaron Hansel caught up with the #46 after the final checkered flag.

Racer X: Great night for you man! Take us through it. What were you, fourth in that first one?
Justin Hill: Yeah, fourth in the first and the second one. It’s always tough when you’ve got the podium pressure staring at you, but I felt good today. I had a lot of good things going, on the bike and attitude-wise, and I drilled a lot of stuff this week. I came back and I felt better. I was disappointed last week, I just didn’t ride the motorcycle. It’s weird, we’ve got some guys hurt and there’s that opportunity there and it’s like, there’s almost more pressure. Now I’m doing a little more math than I should. It was almost easier when it was, ‘I’m just going to try to beat Jett,’ or, ‘I’m just going to try to beat Eli.’ Then they’re out and I was just doing too much math. It’s just not a good headspace to be in. I just tried to change that and go back to where I was at the start of the season. I needed to get rid of all expectations and just ride the dirt bike. I was just putting too much in my head at once.

I drilled a lot on and off the bike and corrected some things I was doing. It was weird, when I got back from Detroit I was sore in areas of my body where I know I was riding like shit, if that makes sense. There are certain areas of your body, when you’re doing all the wrong things, you get smoked in those areas. I remember it like it was yesterday, when I woke up after Detroit, that’s how I used to feel in 2019 when I struggled so much. I felt all those muscles from riding stupid. So I knew we had to change where we are on the bike and do some things, make some adjustments. I did that, but I think I also did a good job of not overthinking it during the week, and not doing too much too fast. The older I get the more I value building blocks when you’re trying to get somewhere.