Photos by: Hoppenworld
Two weeks ago, Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson pulled off during moto one of the Thunder Valley National with altitude sickness and it was a mystery as to how long this would effect the #21. Obviously, it was not that long because Jason showed up at the 2016 High Point National and showed everyone the fastest way through the hills of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania in qualifying. In both of the morning sessions, the New Mexico-born rider finished at the top of the time sheet and took the number one gate pick into the 450MX motos for the first time in 2016.
All year long, Jason has struggled getting his Husqvarna into the first turn near the front, but at High Point, he converted his morning qualifying into two solid starts. In both motos, he checked in after lap one in third and crossed the finish line right where he started. When the points were tallied, Jason’s 3-3 on the day was enough for second overall and his first podium of the season. Jason had his qualifying speed and starts dialed in for High Point, but he still needs to figure out how he’s going to close the twenty-plus second gaps RCH / Soaring Eagle / Suzuki’s Ken Roczen stretched out on him in both motos.
After the racing was over, Jason answered questions about his day in Pennsylvania, his altitude sickness, training without Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey at the Bakers Factory and more. Chase Yocom recorded what Jason had to say.
Jason, you were the fastest qualifier of the day. Your sort wild child riding style—this one looked like it could have been sketchy to do that. You were one of the only guys who were doing that tunnel jump up towards the top, maybe turn three. What made you pull the trigger on that one almost every lap?
Today, definitely, that first moto me being a little bit wild kind of bit me in the butt, but for the most part, I felt pretty good out there all day and was able to do some lines that I think helped me out, especially in that first moto. I crashed and had to catch back up and battle some guys. Some of those lines helped me out to get by ‘um. Yeah, there were a couple jumps out there that I was able to do. It was cool, but still not good enough.
I want to rewind two weeks ago and talk about the altitude sickness [at Thunder valley]. Is that something that you recover from as soon as you’re down by sea level or is this something that you battled with through the week, week and a half, before we got here?
Obviously you deplete your body doing two thirty-minute motos. Then, with that, I came in and it was something I’ve had issues with before. I’ve been able to salvage points and get through the motos and stuff like that before. That happened, I got home and I was in Florida, so that drains your body—the Florida humidity and not being used to it quite yet. I got a little cold this last weekend. I felt good today and felt pretty recovered from everything. I’m just looking forward to trying to get back up and get closer to those guys up front.
Are you happy with the way that you performed on the track today after everything was said and done?
Yeah, for sure. We’re riding our dirt bikes, and any day on the podium is a pretty killer day. It’s not as killer as winning. You definitely want to be up front. I feel like I’ve been progressing. I’m better than I was last year, just going to try and keep getting better and hopefully be closer to Kenny [Roczen], be closer to Eli [Tomac]. Me and Marv [Marvin Musquin], we’re up there, but I think we’ve got it in us to battle them and not let them have it so easy.
Do you think your fitness level has changed or do you think it’s having more years on a 450 you’re just making better and wiser choices?
Yeah, I think it’s all around better. Obviously from year to year, you get more fit. You keep trying to do different things and keep upping the intensity level and stuff like that, but for the most part, I think we’re good to go and really fit. Being in the humidity in Florida definitely it’s not easy.
How important was it to bounce back with two podiums after scoring zero points at Thunder Valley?
Yeah, for sure. Scoring no points was kind of a bummer because I was fourteen behind Kenny, but at the same time, you still want to finish really good every day and you want to get max points. Anything can happen. It’s a bummer that Ryan [Dungey] got hurt, but something like that can happen. At any point, it can be anyone’s game, especially if you’re in it every single race. And to have two non-point scoring motos, it’s not cool. We can’t have that in the future. We’ve got to figure out and fix the problems, but definitely not that cool scoring zero points. I rebounded a little and was able to get back on the podium. That was cool.
How is training in Florida different now without Ryan there?
The one thing about Ryan training in Florida is there are days that we’re all battling and stuff like that, but he’s the same dude every single day. He’s just like a robot. So those days where we’re like, “Ah, it’s super hot out,” and you feel like you’re human and he’s not. (laughs) He makes it tough on us, but it’s good. It makes us get to that next level. He’s a champion for a reason. I’m just trying to learn off of him as much as I can and try to hopefully make his tough days even tougher, but at the same time, we’re good buds and we have a good crew out there, just trying to get better.
Will he still be around and helping you guys out? Do you even know yet?
No, he went back to Minnesota. For that dude, he’s been at it for ten years and really not missed a summer. I feel like if you have a little bit of time off, and with his injury, it’s not like he’s restricted or has to do therapy or anything. He gets to go home which is really cool. I would do the same thing. Ten summers is gnarly. I think he went back and I think he’s going to come back in like four weeks, six weeks or so, and then he’s going to start riding towards the end of us doing outdoors and stuff like that, so he can get back on it a little bit towards the end, maybe if we’re slacking or something. We’ll see how it goes.
Was that the roughest track of the year today?
Yeah, it was the deepest track for sure, but what was cool about it was it was really rough but it was slow. It’s not like you’re at Glen Helen where you’re fifth gear wide open through the choppy stuff. It’s rough, but if worst comes to worst, you’re going fifteen miles an hour. It’s not that gnarly. Well, it’s gnarly, but it’s a little bit safer.
