Max Anstie is now three-for-three in the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), taking another win this weekend in Australia, though this one was hard-fought against defending champion, Shane McElrath. Steve Matthes caught up with him after the race to hear about his night, travel, the final two rounds of WSX, and his fitness. Max says he is feeling ready to ride in the 250SX West Division come January in Monster Energy AMA Supercross if that’s what his team decides.
Racer X: All right, Max Anstie perfect season, number 99 like Wayne Gretzky. I'm sure you're not familiar with Gretzky, but he made 99 famous and you are too. So, a little bit of debate with myself and Lewis Phillips about your perfect season on whether it's continuing or not because we did lose SuperPole tonight. I say it goes on, I say this doesn't matter. You swept all three. We're going perfect season still.
Max Anstie: I don't know, I don't mind if you say that it doesn't carry on either. It takes a bit of the… yeah. Everyone keeps talking about it. But I'm pleased with my performances in the races because I am feeling like I'm locked in. Today, even today, every race has had its challenges. Like, today there was a lot going on. Like, I just felt like I was rushing, even just breakfast, getting to the track. Like, I didn't have my full routine down. And I know it's weird, but this is what I've been talking about. Like, doing these races is so good because not every weekend in a, I mean, obviously, if you're a 450 guy and you got 17 rounds, but to win a championship in the US, you've gotta perform no matter what, and can't always be perfect. I'm always searching for that magic, but it's not always like that. So, for me to be able to turn it on, make some good passes, have some good motos, man, it was hot out there. That threw another wrench in the works, another spanner in there, because it was definitely taking its toll, like legs were hurting, even goggles got sweat on them, like silly things that we haven't had. So, no, overall performance was good and looking forward to next week in Sweden.
So, kinda wasn't sure if you were gonna get the pass on Shane [McElrath] or not. Obviously, you've been better, but the track only allowed you to push so hard, right? And it was only 12 laps, and I'm like, I don't know. Where do you think you made some time up on him?
He he was really strong for the six, seven I think his mechanic put eight laps on the pit board, and then I was like, “Alright. We're hurting a little bit. I knew we'd done a good gap on the other boys. It was hard for me to send, I felt like I had extra in the whoops, but I was scared to send the whoops and get squirrely and go into him because he was going right in the middle. So, I didn't wanna go left side and I didn't wanna go fully right if I got squirrely. So, I was able to get alongside, and I think he thought I was gonna cut down because I cut down the two laps before. And then that one I was like just enough. I was like 'The berm looks good. I'm sending it.' So no, it was cool. I also pulled the quad out. I knew I had it from SuperPole, but I didn't do it the first two mains. The pace was high, those first few, and then I had the quad and I could just relax a little and kind of then put all my focus in to execute in the whoops.
So of course, Shane's a great rider. He's got number one on his bike for a reason, and he's been a fantastic 250 rider in his career. And you know, even Enzo [Lopes], like man, he's got some speed, Coty Schock. The boys are good and experienced, and they don't do silly things. Like, they're solid. So, I knew Shane was gonna be there. I do feel like a shoutout to Gareth Swanepoel, my trainer. I've been away from boot camp doing these races, but my actual base is very, very strong. Like, I'm happy pushing that. Like, if I had to do a 15-plus-one, I'm solid. Like, I do feel like I've got lap after lap in me. And of course, races are helping my intensity and the kind of heat race sprint speed, which is more of what I needed anyway. So yeah, pleased with the performance.
The one thing about the quad, I didn't think you were gaining as much as I thought on Shane. I'm like, 'Should it be faster?' Except the lap that you got him, you did it, and you railed that turn, and dude, that was the gap. I was like, 'Okay, maybe he wasn't nailing that turn yet.'
Well, when I was behind him, I honestly I didn't want him to clip the three and single slow, cut down, and then me just like clip his back wheel. So, I was kinda in a weird way, using it as a rest. Like I was going, breathing, and then trying to get close, but not too close. But then that lap, I thought, 'I've got to execute and I'm gonna gap now. I'm gonna send a lap.' And I knew I had to execute that and execute the whoops, and then I had a two second gap. And then I was like, 'Okay, now I can manage.'
Crushed that turn, and then it was kinda over from there. Alright, man good job so far. You've been doing a great job. So, Sweden and South Africa, which one are you looking forward to?
Well, I mean, now all the flights have been canceled, getting back to America, so I'm not really looking forward to the next week of travel, but South Africa will be cool. I've never been there. Sweden's cool because it's Europe, but it's gonna be snowing, so I'm not sure how that's gonna be. It's gonna be freezing and jet lag. So probably South Africa more over Sweden, but we shall see. It's always fun to race back in Europe.
This is the last question. Do we know if you're doing east or west?
You know what it's like with these teams. I mean, Levi Kitchen makes practice on west, and I wouldn't be surprised if Bobby sends us all to do free practice, and then no [Laughs]. I don't know. I would love to do west. I think it makes sense for me to do west after this, it would make sense. But, you know, these decisions with these big teams, I would be ready for west. Whether I race west or not, I wanna do west if it happens. If it doesn't happen, it's not mine.
