Photos by: Simon Cudby
Before the season started, not to many pundits or fans would have had the series heading to the penultimate round with Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson a favorite to lock down the 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Championship in Salt Lake City. Well, the #21 has a 34-point lead over Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin, and Monster Energy / Kawsaki’s Eli Tomac was mathematically eliminated on Saturday night in Foxborough. With that, if Marvin wins in SLC on Saturdy night, Jason would have to finish 14th or better to lock down his first ever title. Let’s just say the team is confidently boxing up the #1 T-shirts for a flight to Utah this week.
When we look at the points, Jason wasn’t dominant in ’18. With a vacated title on the line, Jason came in with a game plan of wins sprinkled in with Ryan Dungey-esque consistency, and he executed week in and week out. Heading into round 16, Jason has amassed 4 wins and 11 podiums with an average finish of 2.7 on the year. A long way from where he was at this time in 2017: just two podiums, no wins and an average finish of 5.7.
Jason will no longer be labeled “erratic with a tendency of making costly mistakes.” By this time next week, the #21 will likely be a #1 and it will be well deserved. After the Foxborough SX was in the books, Jason answered some questions at the press conference about possibly locking down the title next weekend and the changes in his 2018 program that helped him get there.
Jason, congratulations on the podium. Early in the main, in the long rhythm section, I saw you come up short on the table to table. It seemed from that point on that a little adjustment was made. I know the track was tough, but did you decide at that point that this was a Championship night and I’m going to just manage the situation and get a podium?
Yeah, the track was brutal. Everyone was doing that table onto table, and you’re right, that one lap I came up so short. I was hitting the rhythm fine it was just you hit a soft spot out there some times and it would catch you off guard. I did that and honestly even the triple and stuff like that I never really felt comfortable to push it and keep pace with those guys [Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin]. It was tough for me, but like you said I had a little but of a moment and just wanted to keep plugging away and trying to do the best I could.
You’re in a position to wrap the title up next week; I’m sure you’re aware of this. Does it change anything? Are you going to have to go through your normal routine this week?
I’m definitely going to do my normal routine this week; I’m going back to California. It’ll be cool. It’s the same goal all the time and I know I keep saying that, but tonight, honestly, it did. It was like, at some point… I went double single over the triple the last three laps ’cause I was kind of scared of it. Next weekend hopefully I can have a good results again and be on the podium. It will be really cool.
You changed your program you told us at Anaheim 1. You did more work in California, more work with the team, more work with the bike. Kind of different than what you were doing in the past. Now that you’re looking back on what could be a successful season, do you feel like that was the right move to kind of bet on yourself and do your own thing?
I think a lot things I did was just more for me to be happy doing what I’m doing. Maybe it’s where I live, you know, stuff like that. I still spent a lot of time in Florida, but sometimes it was a nice change of scenery to do something different. I think that’s what helped me a lot and it kept me really fresh. During the season, it’s hard on us. We’re doing 18 weekends in a row that we really need to… It’s nice to be happy while you’re doing it. I think that’s why I had a hard time in the past. Sometimes you just get in the deal where you’re training, go to bed, wake up, training, ride. I’m not saying I didn’t do that, but I was able to go home where I liked. Eat dinner at a restaurant, hang out with my friends and things like that. I try to make it a little bit nicer. I still work really hard. I’m not saying I didn’t work hard.
How have the friends you hang out with been during this process. You’re on the verge maybe of winning this title. Is everyone treating you the same? Are they pumping you up? Are they trying to not talk about it?
Honestly, I don’t really have a hard time talking about much. They can talk to me about the Championship or me blowing it or whatever. (laughs) Honestly, we just try to hang out and have some fun. Lately we’ve been on a Mario Kart kick and just been playing the Mario Kart on the Wii—you know, just normal stuff, but normal stuff that’s keeping me good at the same time.
