Photo by: Todd Gutierrez
“On the Lamb” is a moto editorial series by MotoXAddicts editor, Dan Lamb.
There are a lot of teams in the pits that get credit for building winners, but most of them hire prodigies and previously proven winners to get the job done. That’s not a bad formula if you want to win in Monster Energy Supercross, but the guys at the Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Red Bull/KTM squad tend to get their winners the old fashion way: they earn it. Anyone can hire speed; it takes passion and patience to nurture it.
The Troy Lee Designs squad was built from scratch by Troy Lee, a man with more passion for the sport of motocross and supercross than anyone you will come across. Troy Lee has used that passion to build what is quickly becoming one of the most respected teams in the paddock. The team now has seven 250SX main event wins with six coming from the recent 450SX graduate Cole Seely and Jessy Nelson who got his first win for the team at last weekend’s 2015 Anaheim 1 SX. Neither Cole nor Jessy came from the amateurs with the lofty expectations that the amateur prodigies bring with them, but Troy and his team of hired guns have nurtured their talent in all the right ways. With Cole, they literally rescued him from early retirement and a 9-5 job, and he went on to nearly win the championship with them last year. With Jessy, they brought him out of the amateurs early and stuck with him through a somewhat slow rise to the top of the sport.
Last Saturday night in Anaheim, Jessy surprised us all with a flat out dominant, wire-to-wire win at the opening round. Jessy started the opener qualifying fifth, but he quickly showed everyone he was more than just a top-five guy when he came from fifth in his heat race to catch Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Tyler Bowers and challenge him for the heat race win. In the heat race, Jessy was nearly a full second faster than any other 250SX and on pace with the fastest 450SX riders in the house. It was an eye-opening moment for anyone watching the clock that was validated even more in the main event.
In the main event, Jessy ripped the start and immediately went to work. By the halfway point of the main event, it was obvious nobody was getting in the way of the #28. Jessy was the only rider on a 250SX breaking the 56-second mark, and he was making it look easy. It’s not often that a rider goes from never making the podium in the first two years of their career to winning, but it was Mr. Nelson’s time. Will we see more of the same from Jessy as the series moves forward? I think so. I’m not giving away the Championship trophy just yet—he has to prove consistency—but it wasn’t a lucky win from a kid that got the start and held on. Jessy had the speed from start to finish and looks like he could be the man to beat as the series moves on.
After the win, I caught up with Jessy in the middle of the Troy Lee victory celebration for a quick interview. It was cut short by a champagne bath, but the way he’s riding, we will definitely talk to Jessy more in the near future. Hear what Jessy had to say by clicking play below.
If you want to see why our interview was cut short. I’m the guy talking to Jessy at 4:29 of the video below when the champagne flies. Those guys know how to celebrate a win.
If you want to see why our interview was cut short. I’m the guy talking to Jessy at 4:29 of the video below when the champagne flies. Those guys know how to celebrate a win.
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