Mumford Backs It Up

It was a weird track, I know the overcast helped keep some of the moisture in, but some of those ruts were half a bike deep…
And chattery. There were so many times I would hit a rut and nearly fall off the back of my bike, but then I am like, “Well it's the smoothest line still, so I am still going to come back and hit it the next lap.” So it was pretty challenging, I did have some outside lines that were keeping me fresh, keeping my momentum up. But solid day. Track didn’t change too much from the first moto to the second moto, I basically ran the same lines both motos.

What tires did you run?
I ran the knobby tire all day. I maybe could have ran the paddle tire the first practice, but I was like, “I’m going to commit to this thing, I’m going to learn this tire.” Because I’ve been running the paddle tire all year. So, I did that and just committed to it all day.

You’ve got to learn those edges right?
Yeah exactly. And learn where I can make the time and use the power to my advantage out there. That was kind of my strategy. Team owner was like, “Man, I think you could’ve gotten away with the paddle in the first qualifying session.” But I was just like, “Ahhh, I’m just going to commit to it [knobby].”

After your third last week what was it like for your phone, your socials? Did you sell the Honda 125 yet? [Mumford has been building and selling bikes.]
I did sell the 125, I still have a CR 250. But I did sell a YZ250 from last weekend, one of the guys was just like, “That was so awesome, I want to help you out, I am just going to buy that bike.” I’m like, “You’re the man dude!” I made more money selling that than I did the race, I was stoked.

Yeah, my phone was melting for like a day. I had at least over 100 text messages. Which was cool. It's obviously great, and I did a lot of media stuff, and I am only home from Sunday afternoon until Thursday morning. So, all of that stuff was honestly stressful, but Tuesday I was like, “I am ready to just be back at the race, let’s talk about a different weekend.” Because it was just so much. It was great for me, it was great for the team.

On the flip side of that there’s times where your phone never rang right?
Exactly there’s been so many years where I get two text messages from family members like, “Hey, stick with it man.”

Last year at Quad Lock Honda I was like, “Hey where’s Carson” and they’re like “We don’t know.”
What’s that mean?

It was weird because I was like, “Is he alive, do we know?”
Exactly! So to go from struggles with that whole situation to where I am at now, it is awesome. I mean I had every single rider on the starting gate for practice be like, “Hey dude, awesome job last weekend." It was super cool. I race these guys all of the time and it's the first time I have seen some camaraderie. It's cool, definitely feel like I’m getting a little bit more respect from them. The AMA staff was like, “Hey dude, right on.” Like I never would have expected that, right? So I am definitely enjoying it, it's making these races a little more enjoyable with people being more friendly to me.

And there’s no, “Oh Mumfy got lucky” or whatever because the next weekend you get fourth, so suck it everybody.
So, I had a lot of people reach out and be super supportive, but I also had a lot of people not congratulate me and just say, “Better back it up.” And I was like, “Yikes! I’m going to try.”

But you have been really good all year so backing this up is even more impressive.
For sure and it just was like, so solid. I passed 14 guys the first moto to get to fifth. After the first turn pileup I came up the hill in 19^th. So, to go from that to fifth was pretty impressive. And the second moto I got an eighth-place start. I came around the first turn in eighth I was like, “This is going to be the easiest moto ever, I can for sure get fifth.” So that was really nice and I didn’t have to dig so deep and absolutely wreck my body. It was like a finesse style of track, there was a lot of times I was telling myself, “Focus on half-throttle.” Because you want to make traction. So, I am actually going to enjoy going to dinner. Last weekend I was cramping, like, “Just get me to the hotel! Get me on the plane home!” So, that is nice, I'm feeling good I can socialize with everyone. But yeah, it was an awesome weekend.