Ryder DiFrancesco on First Podium at A1: “I've dreamed about that since I was three years old”

Following his progression the last two years, it feels like that first win is right around the corner. Could he do what Julien Beaumer did last year? Beaumer earned his first career 250SX podium at the A1 opener last year, then earned his maiden SX win the following week. With more starts with good positioning early, more podiums are likely to come.

“Yeah, I really struggled with starts last year and that was my main goal this year was get some good starts,” he said. “And I think I could have done that all last year at some races but coming from the back is super tough in this class and the holeshot did surprise me a little bit, but not with the work that we put in and yeah, it felt good to be clear for sure.”

While leading DiFrancesco said he was struggling with one line Saturday night, and it was a line that race winner Max Anstie nailed consistently.

“Yeah, he was doing the on-off-three on the third baseline, and I didn't do it all day, and I got begged to do it, but I knew if I could just stick to that line I'd be okay,” he said. “Obviously it wasn't the fastest way around, but he came underneath me and I knew he was doing that line and that's really the only place he was getting me and that was a second a lap. I knew the people behind me weren't doing it, so I knew if I could just log my laps and keep doing that line, I wasn't going to catch Max, but I could at least pull it into a podium. And I feel like for me that's the maturity that I've learned. I'm only 20, but just to bring it in, that was, I feel like a pretty good move on my part.”

The overall veteran-like approach is something that did take some learning to achieve.

“I knew I could do it,” he said. “But man, you really got to put a whole solid day together at a supercross race to be on the box. And I do give credit to these guys that have won championships. I think the whole off-season was one thing on my mind that was ended up on the box, and all day just my head was going through it, going through it. Yeah, a lot of unknowns, but a lot more I guess known now that I ended up on the box.”

He remembered back to last year, when he was passed late in the race by Jordon Smith for the final spot on the podium. But this year, he was not going out without a fight.

“I think what got me here tonight and what made me really fight was I got passed with eight corners to go last year and I was in the same position I was tonight,” he said. “And when Haiden was coming, I knew I could just give it all and if that was crashing, that's fine, but at least I knew I left it all on the track. And that really stuck in my head all last year. This is the best I've gotten off to any season and hopefully it's just an uphill rise from here.”