Nate Thrasher: “That Week Off Just Made a Big Difference—Felt Like My Old Self Again”

Luckily, Thrasher had his bike in a good spot leading into the season, which helped a lot after his hand injury kept him riding only on race days.

“Oh, yeah, I think this year, in the off-season, I think it was my most productive,” he said. “I was healthy coming into it, and it hasn't happened for me in a long time. And it was just a steady build. I feel like this is the most solid I've ever been. I didn't make many mistakes tonight and was pretty locked in and just steady, every main event. Normally I get have some moments. This year, just really hasn't been like that.”

“Even in the off-season, I was just steady every lap, every, every moto we did, just building, building, building,” he continued. “And, yeah, I feel like I'm the most solid structurally I've been on the bike and technique wise. So, I think this year is going to be a good end of the season. We still got a lot of racing to go.”

Finally, he was able to ride the week leading into the Birmingham round, which landed him at the center of the podium.

“Yeah, it was just a whole lot better day for me,” Thrasher said in the press conference afterwards. “I finally was able to do some laps this week and, yeah, just kind of translated. Before this week, I was nowhere, and just not riding is tough going at those two racetracks we had definitely with those ruts. So, yeah, I just felt like one with a bike this weekend and, yeah, from practice, I felt like it was tight between all four of us really and going in the main event[s], it was splitting hairs, so I knew it was gonna be come down to starts and, yeah, it was a good race.”

“And the two-week break really helped,” he said. “I took completely off the first week and then I rode Tuesday, Wednesday. And, yeah, I just felt like I just turned a corner at the four-week mark. It was night and day, really. I don't really know how to explain it, but that week off just made a big difference. Racing on it obviously wasn't letting it heal. So finally got some healing done and, yeah, this weekend, this whole week, felt like my old self again.”

For a rider whose results have been like a roller coaster, his steady 3-3-2 finishes paid off in the Triple Crown when Seth Hammaker crashed on the opening lap of race one and RJ Hampshire did not execute his start in the third race. Riders like Thrasher strike big when counted out. In his opening supercross season, his first and second race wins in Atlanta came on a night where he had to race the LCQ to even get into the main event. Then, he won the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Showdown in May 2022. Now, after a 14th last weekend, Thrasher lands P1.

After five rounds, Thrasher sits tied for fourth in the standings with his now-injured teammate Max Anstie, 21-points down from KTM’s Tom Vialle. How will the rest of his season go? Can Thrasher lower the average of his scores from here on out? Is he still in the tile fight? Is there a chance he becomes a title contender here late in the season?

“Yeah, I'm still fully in,” Thrasher said on not shifting his focus from supercross to motocross yet. “I mean, I think we may be halfway right now. There's still a lot of racing to go and, anything can happen just like Max [Anstie] today. You never know. So, yeah, got some points tonight and, who knows, not out of it yet and there's a lot of racing to go, two showdowns. Yeah, there's still a good chance to come back and I'm going to win a lot of races.”