Heading into his sophomore Supercross Class season against ultra-stacked field of the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, nobody really knew where Yoshimura Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe would be. Brett started the year off at Anaheim 1 with an eleventh and, other then a crash in Oakland, has been a consistent top ten guy since then. Even more impressive are Brett’s three top fives in 2012, two of which were career-best fourth place finishes in San Diego and Indianapolis.
With the season now heading into the final six rounds, Brett appears to have found his groove—this just in time to make a run at some podiums and possibly move up into the top five in points. Last weekend in Indianapolis, the Australian made it clear he will be fighting for every position from here on out. Not only did the #24 finish fourth in the Main Event, but he also left Indianapolis with the first heat race win of his career on a 450.
We talked to Brett after Indianapolis to ask him about the race, his 2012 season so far as a whole and his expectations for the remainder of the season. Here’s how that conversation went down:
Good weekend for you, Brett?
Yeah, it was good.
It was definitely nice to see you up there battling at the front.
No doubt. (Laughs) We had a really big week, and things got a lot better, so I’m able to kind of get up there and ride at the front. So that helped.
Nice. So a lot of work on the bike last week?
Yeah, a lot of different things happened, and it’s kind of what I’ve been searching for, so that played a big part. Also getting two good starts on that track really helped as well.
How did it feel to get up there and fight with the leader? I think fight is the right word, too.
It felt good. It felt like that’s where I wanted to be. That’s all I wanted to do: fight and hold the position. I really just wanted to hold down at least that podium spot, but I wasn’t able to do it. I just wanted to fight as hard as I could early on and get going. It was just good to be up there.
You mention wanting to hold on to that podium. Do you feel like you let one get away there?
Yeah, for sure. (Laughs) It was a bummer. I really wanted to hang on to that one. Hopefully I’ll get another chance in this next few rounds and try to seal the deal on that. Yeah, I felt like I definitely had it going, and [Davi] Millsaps was coming on strong at the end, and I couldn’t maintain that pace. It was definitely a big step for us in the right direction, especially for myself, just to be at the front again and run up there, so that was good.
Yeah, for sure. You also got a win Saturday night in your heat race which had to feel good.
That was really good. Really to get the holeshot in the heat race, that felt good, ’cause we made a lot of changes, and we really weren’t sure. I’ve been getting good starts this year, and we made some changes that we thought may effect the start or may not. We weren’t really sure. I lined up and thought, “Well, let’s focus on the gate and go. Do what you normally do, and let’s see what happens.” (Laughs) And that thing just rocked it. That was really cool. It was good for me to get up there, and then, to hold the heat race win down was cool. That track was tricky. It was really slippery and had a lot of ruts too. It was nice to get the win, but I wasn’t desperately going after the win. It was a track where you could go down easily. I felt like the way the first corner was set up—with that 180 left-hander—it was really, really important to get a good gate pick, so that’s why in that heat race, once I got that good start, I just wanted to ride smooth and not crash or just tip over and lose positions. Get me that good gate pick for the Main, then I was able to go on to win, so that’s cool.
You have been a consistent fourth through tenth place guy all year. I think you had just one race outside the top ten. How would you rate the 2012 season as a whole? Good season? Okay season?
It’s been good. I’ve felt like I haven’t been riding to my fullest potential, but I haven’t been overly stressed about that. I’ve really just wanted to stay consistent. I think I’ve had two races outside the top ten and one of those I went down, so it was hard to come back through. I think I’ve been solid, and that’s what I really wanted to get out of this season. At least the first half of the Championship, I wanted to be consistent solid, and I wasn’t gonna stress if I was a little off the pace. I just wanted to be there. You know, when you look back in the history—especially in the 450 class—it always seems like that first half of the Championship, you really gotta put yourself in a good position to finish off the last half, and you gotta be there.That’s the biggest key. Last year, I bombed out halfway through; I had a few big crashes and wasn’t able to finish it out. I really looked at my season last year and said, “okay, what mistakes did I make?” and tried to eliminate those. Of course, in motocross, you’re always going to make mistakes and you never know what’s going to happen. So you can’t count on everything, but I really just tried to stay patient and focused this first half, just work on things and try and finish the last half in a good position and try to finish it out strong.
Not sure if you know this or if it is on the top of your mind right now, but with injuries and with the way the points are, you have a chance at finishing third in the Championship.
Yeah, I definitely know that. There are really about five or six riders that are going to be hustling for those spots. You know, it’s a bummer that so many of the big contenders have fallen out and made mistakes. It’s a tough game. To run the pace and run that fine line for so many rounds, it’s tough, but that was part of my plan, to pick and choose my way through. This last push for those positions—like you’re talking about—the possibility for third is up for grabs and a top five is very respectful. When you look at the field coming into it, anything inside the top five is really cool. Those positions are up, and it’s gonna be a battle. There are a lot of guys that are riding well, and we’re all pretty close around that mark, so it’s gonna be who wants it the most and who can pull it off consistently over these next six.
Yeah, and it seems like the pace of Millsaps, Brayton and yourself–and some others vying for the newly opened podium spots–has dramatically picked up of late. Is that a fair assessment?
Yeah, I mean, my pace hadn’t picked up until this weekend. I’ve been riding a consistent pace the whole year; it’s just been a little bit behind. To make a charge anywhere in the top five, you have to be running a pretty good pace. To do that consistently each week is the hard thing. I’ve been running a consistent pace, it’s just been a little bit off, but we were able to find some things with the Yoshimura Suzuki this week that have lifted my pace without having to do anything different with my riding. I don’t have to override or try and push myself harder; we’ve just been able to lift my level up. If I can continue this faster pace and keep the consistency, I’m in a good place right now.
What is it like being the only rider on a factory team and having a 100% factory effort focused on just you? Is there a ton of pressure involved in that scenario?
I think it’s awesome. Everything in this sport comes with a pressure tag, I think (laughs), the pressure on yourself and, of course, the pressure from the team. When you’re at the factory level, then you’re representing the mother ship of Suzuki. There’s alot there that you don’t know about. You feel it. Honestly, I’ve been in these positions before. I’ve been the only guy–whether I’m on a team and the rider got injured–so it’s not my first time, but for the whole year–to just be the guy–that’s pretty cool, to have a full support team that’s totally working towards what my needs are and to get me better. It’s a very rare position, I think, for a rider to be in. It doesn’t happen that often, but I just happen to be there, and I’m taking advantage of that.
It has to be nice. (Laughs) Have you guys gotten started on any outdoor settings yet, or will that come on the week off?
Yeah, we kicked a few things around today actually. Starting to look ahead for sure. Outdoor season is definitely a little bit more bread and butter for me, so we’ve already started to throw a few things around and get the wheels turning for the ideas on that stuff. We have a bike I was running well at the end of the season setup-wise, so we have a really strong base. Whether we do a lot or absolutely nothing, we know we have a good bike for outdoors. Like you said before though, there are really good overall positions up for grabs in this Supercross, and I definitely have my sights set on getting one of those.
Well, that leads well into my final question. What are your overall goals for the final six rounds of Supercross?
Well, I kind of mentioned I don’t think I’ve been riding at my fullest potential. I’ve been trying to really pull that out of myself, and it’s been tough. By this past weekend, we came across that stuff, and I feel like it’s there now. That’s what I want to see. That’s my biggest goal for the remainder of the Supercross season, just to get to that point where I’m comfortable with riding faster.
Well, good luck with that, and thanks for taking the time out to do this.
Anytime.