Just when you think Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson is surrendering some of his momentum and points lead to guys like Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin, the #21 fires back with his fourth win of the year. Jason has been by far the most consistent 450SX rider in 2018 and he used that consistency and a 2-1-4 main event score at the 2018 Atlanta SX “Triple Crown” to score the win and move his lead in the 450SX Championship to a massive 42-points over Musquin.
After the podium celebration was over, Jason answered some questions one-on-one with MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom and from the SX press. Check out what he had to say about his first race inside Atlanta’s new Mercedes Benz Stadium below.
Jason, you got the win tonight. It’s been a little while since you have gotten an overall so you gotta be pretty stoked on it.
I’ve been getting wins, podiums and being up there, but it’s been two races. I’m pumped to get another win and I’m ready to get some more of these and battle up front.
You just want to win them all, right?
I mean, that’s the plan, but it doesn’t always go to planned. I feel like I’m doing a good job so far and I’m going to try to keep it going.
The “Triple Crown” at Anaheim, the track was fairly simple. The dirt was solid—didn’t seem like it ever changed too much—but tonight it seemed like every main event was a completely different track. Talk about the main events, how the track changed and how it maybe changed the outcome.
The west coast one in Anaheim, the track was a little bit more simple. I think the racing was harder in a sense because a lot of the other guys were just as fast as us. If you got a bad start, it was hard to pass the other guys because the track was more simple and dry. I think tonight the other element was the track just broke down and was so rutted. I think that last moto it was pretty insane. The far rhythm section was sketchy—the whole track in general. It was crazy how much it broke down, but it was a true East Coast track, for sure.
How crazy are these “Triple Crowns?” The format is funky. There are three mains and they’re all different times. How hard is that to adjust to?
I think it threw us all for a loop the first time, but this time I think we were ready. As far as my program, that doesn’t change at all. I think we mentally know what’s to come. The first time I was thrown off, and this time I was ready to go for all three of them.
What happened in the first main event? You came off the track with some blood on your face. Did you get hit with a rock or something?
I just got a rock to the mouth. It got me right on top of my lip and then hit my tooth. On the inside of my lip there’s a good cut.
It seemed like there were tons of rocks in this dirt tonight. What did you think of the dirt tonight? What did you think of the track? It was gnarly.
It’s that red Georgia clay, but there are some rocks in there and it can get slick at some points. It looked like identical dirt from the other stadium. It’s always good. It’s slick, but never too slick. It was good.
How did it hold up tonight?
The track was tacky, but it broke down bad.
Was it down to the plywood anywhere?
Not in any spots that I saw, but it was pretty gnarly.
You’ve now won the first race in Mercedes Benz Stadium. You have 58 starts now, 7 wins and you’re now tied with Johnny Omara, Jeff Emig and David Vuillemin. You have the red plate and you’re the only rider that’s been in the top four every weekend in ’18. What’s your program and the consistency that’s come into your racing this year?
As far as my program, absolutely nothing has changed. I’ve always believed in what we’ve done. I think the biggest thing for me right now is my starts are better, putting myself in a better situation; I think it’s experience. It’s my fourth year in the class and I think I’ve learned a lot. I’ve somewhat progressed with the way my race craft is and putting myself in better situations. That’s about it.
They added time to the first main for this “Triple Crown.” Did that make it a little less frantic? How do you deal with the fast turnaround times between those mains?
If you get a bad start in that first one, with an extra two laps you can maybe get one or two guys. At the first one (A2) that would have been a lot more helpful to some of us that got bad starts. And the turnaround time, I didn’t even go back to the pits. I just hung out down there all night.
Photos by: Simon Cudby
