Photo by: Hoppenworld – Interview by: Chase Yocom – Words by: Dan Lamb
Usually the 250SX class is about the young prodigies, but when you look down the line up for the 250SX Western Regional Championship of the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross series, the Championship favorites are the proven veterans of the class. While nobody on the line in the 250SX West has a past regional Championship on their resume, riders like Jason Anderson (2 main event wins), Dean Wilson (6 main event wins and a 250 AMA Motocross Champion) Darryn Durham (1 main event win) and Cole Seely (3 main event wins) have all won SX main events. Add that in with guys like Zach Osborne (1 MX2 MXGP win), Dean Ferris (1 MX2 MXGP win) and Malcolm Stewart (a 4-year veteran of the class), and you have a regional Championship with a lot of veterans that are at a point in their career where a title is more crucial than ever. Yes, as always, there are the young guys like rookies Cooper Webb and Shane McElrath and sophomores Justin Hill and Zach Bell, but unlike the 250SX Championships of the past, it’s not about them in ’14.
Of all the experience in that lineup, a few came into ’14 the odds-on favorites and expected to win. On the top of a lot of experts’ lists heading into last Saturday’s A1 opener was Troy Lee Designs/Honda rider Cole Seely. Being a three-time 250SX main event winner and the winner at the 2011 Anaheim 1 Supercross, most expected the Simi Valley, California native to be battling for wins immediately and the Championship at the final round in Las Vegas. Well, at Anaheim 1, Cole did not disappoint.
The #21 grabbed a 2nd place start, quickly went to work on Jason Anderson for the lead, made the pass and, at the start of the fifteenth and final lap, looked poised to add a second A1 victory to his growing list of accomplishments. Unfortunately for Cole, Jason had different plans. With three laps to go, Seely had a five-second lead, but Jason never settled and, with the white flag out and just two turns to go, Jason made his move. With lapped riders everywhere, the #17 saw his moment and seized it with a buzzer-beater block pass on Seely. The pass was hard and aggressive, but after the two entered the corner and hit, Jason appeared on the other side with the A1 win. Cole held on to finish second and take a solid 22 points with him to round two.
After the bittersweet second blade finish, the Troy Lee Designs rider talked to Chase Yocom for a Race Rewind interview. You can check out what Cole and Chase talked about in the interview below.
Cole, 2nd place on the night, how was it out there?
It was good. Me and Anderson were running a really fast pace, and I was able to pass Jason on like the third or fourth lap, and I kind of put my head down and charged. By lap twelve or thirteen, I started to get into lapped traffic—a couple guys just not really respecting that blue flag when it came out. I don’t know. I just got caught up in too many guys, and Jason was able to throw a wheel in on me. I can’t blame him. I would have done the same thing. That’s just part of racing, but I felt really strong tonight, and I’m just going to carry that into the rest of the season and try to get ourselves a title.
Can you tell us about your off-season a little? We never hear a lot from you or about you during the off-season, but you always come out swinging at A1.
Yeah, I just wanted to keep everything I was doing this year kind of on the down-low, just not really let anyone know exactly what I’m doing. Really all that does is put myself out there, and I guess that’s just bad for me. (laughs) I’m working with a new trainer this year—Brian Lopes. It was a really good off-season for me though and really productive. The team’s working really, really hard this year, and I’ve been right there with them just plugging away. Ryan, our engine tech, has been putting in the hours, and I’m really blessed to be working with him and I’m really close with him this year. And my mechanic, Rich [Simmons], this is my fifth season with him and my fifth season with the team, so we’re getting closer each year and everything’s starting to come together. The rest of the season should be good.
Yeah, your bike looked to be on point all day. Were there any changes made throughout the day to make it better?
Yeah, we were making little suspension changes here and there, just some stuff we had tried during pre-season that we knew would work. Obviously, when you get to the race, you never know exactly what the track conditions are going to be, so we tried some things. We tried some stuff before the heat race, and it didn’t really work out. We ended up just going back to the setting we had been running, and it worked really well.
Well, the old saying is “You can’t win the Championship at A1, but you can sure lose it,” so you have to be pumped with a second and having that momentum heading into Phoenix next week.
Yeah, for sure. I’m not going to say that, though, ’cause I hate losing. Every time I’m not on top of the box, it makes me mad, especially losing it that way. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season, and I’m going to just keep plugging away.
Alright, well, we really appreciate your time and congrats again on a great start to the season.
Thank you.
