Interview by: Chase Yocom – Written by: Dan Lamb- Photo by: Ryne Swanberg / Garth Milan
Monster Energy / Star Racing / Yamaha’s Colt Nichols came into the 2018 Eastern Regional 250SX opener in Arlington still recovering from a major injury, so expectations were not lofty for the Oklahoman. Fresh off being switched from the west to east after breaking his humerus, the #31 was once again back sooner than expected, and with a second place finish at the 2018 Arlington SX, he was also back up on the podium a lot sooner than expected.
Colt started the day quite a bit off the pace—qualifying 10th fastest and finishing 4th in his heat race—but when the gate dropped for the main event, it was a different story. Yes, Colt got lucky to avoid the carnage in turn one that took down most the title contenders, but his main event lap times and fitness looked podium worthy no matter what happened.
After his surprising 2nd place finish in Arlington, MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yoocom caught up with Colt after the race to talk about his night. Colt happily answered Chase’s questions and even broke a little news in the process.
Colt, you seem really happy to be up on the podium. Obviously, the preseason injury made it a struggle to get to this point, but you put it together and came away with a 2nd. You have to be stoked.
I was very stoked. For lack of a better word, I felt like a little girl after the race; I got all emotional and stuff. It was a big deal for me. It was a real struggle to get here. We were contemplating all last week, “Show up? Don’t show up. What do we do?” Even today, Swanny [Gareth Swanepoel, trainer] was all, “You sure you want to race?” I’m like, “Hell, I’m already here. I might as well give it a shot.” It was just a big weight off my shoulders. You put in so much work over the off season and to have a big injury like that sucked. To be able to come back and do this the first race, it was just overwhelming. I almost couldn’t believe it. I’m blessed to be here. The whole team stuck behind me, worked their asses off, put us in a good position, and we took home a 2nd on the night. It went about as good as it could go. That was a win for me, getting 2nd. I came in here thinking if I could get top 10, I’d be happy. Aside from getting 2nd, I feel like I rode really well. I was able to stay in touch with Zach [Osborne], and I was the most pumped on that. It was a really good night.
What is it with you and being able to come back so quickly from big injuries? Is it just having the right people in your corner or is it just mental and you’re able to block the pain out? Obviously, you had a quick turnaround with this last injury and it’s impressive. I know you don’t want to get injured, but you didn’t even lose a step.
I don’t want to make this a habit, but for whatever reason it does seem to happen. That’s just the cards I was dealt. I don’t know; I do believe I have a really good team in my corner. I started working with Doctor “G” on this injury, and he’s been a huge part of my comeback and trying to make this happen this weekend. I always believed in what I was doing. Everything Swanny told me to do, I did it to the “T”. We did everything we could possibly do to try to recover quicker, make this arm heal and get back to racing. That’s what I love. I feel like I come alive in the night time. I love racing under the lights like this and with all these guys. Honestly, it’s something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. To have this opportunity with this team, I want to take advantage of it. I was able to sign a contract with these dudes for a few more years. It gives me a little bit of comfort, and it’s a good thing. Like I said, I don’t want to make a habit of it, but I like to think that I can come back and be mentally strong enough to block it out.
That’s got to be an easing of the nerves, having a long term contract. That’s something I didn’t know, though. Is that something new? Is this the first time you’re breaking that news?
Yeah, a little bit. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t been asked. It hasn’t been something I wanted to put out there yet. It might have been before I got hurt—I don’t really remember when it was—I did a deal with Star to stay for a few more years. That’s a big deal for me. I love everybody I work with. It’s been really awesome to work with these guys. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I was blessed to sign with those guys, and they wanted me to come back. Even after I got injured, they wanted me to be there and wanted to make something happen. It was a big deal for me to get that done, a big weight off my shoulder, like you said.
We really appreciate the breaking news there. It’s much appreciated. What changed for you at night? Qualifying didn’t go the greatest, the heat race maybe not the greatest, but in the main, you came alive. Did you make any bike changes, or was it you gelling with the track more? Getting around the mayhem of the start helped.
I got very lucky with the start situation. It was nuts, a lot of dudes crashing. I honestly had a pretty good start going in, and me and [Austin] Forkner locked bars. His hand came off, my hand came off and I went into the first turn last. That was about the only time I was happy to go into the first turn last. It was kind of everything. After practice, I was like, “Whatever we’re doing with the bike isn’t really working.” It feels great at the test track, but when you come to the race, it’s always a different scenario. We made some huge changes that they had already made on the West Coast with some of those guys. They stuck to their guns, told me what would work and they were right on the money. Big credit to those guys. Man, I just like to race. Practice has never really been my thing. I’ve never been that great at it, but when it comes to race time, I like to get out there and mix it up with those guys. I try to ride to my ability and that’s exactly what I did tonight. It was a good first race for us.
Thanks for the time, Colt, and thanks again for breaking some news with us.
Yeah, of course.
