Photo by: Hoppenworld
With sixteen rounds of the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, in the books, Honda Racing’s Cole Seely has not only locked down “Rookie of the Year” honors in the 450SX Class, he’s also locked down third overall in the Championship. Heading into 2015 with a deep rookie class that included Yoshimura/Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, Rockstar/Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson and Red Bull/KTM’s Dean Wilson, it was anyone’s guess who would end the year as the top rookie. It took the #14 a while to get moving, but since his first podium of 2015 at Anaheim 3, Cole has scored four more podiums and surprised everyone with a dominant win at the 2015 Houston Supercross.
Last Saturday night inside MetLife Stadium, Cole tried to repeat his Houston SX performance, where the Californian got to the front early and sprinted away. Early on during the main event in East Rutherford, it looked like deja vu. Cole got to the front and built a gap early on, but GEICO/Honda’s Eli Tomac and Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey were not letting him get away this time. After leading thirteen of the twenty laps, a few small mistakes by Seely allowed the #3 and the #5 to catch and push him back to finish third on the night.
After Cole’s rookie-leading fifth podium on the year, we caught up with him in the pits to talk about his night in New Jersey and his year as a whole. You can read what Cole had to say in his “Race Rewind” interview below.
Another great finish for you, Cole, third overall in the main event. Can you talk about your main event a little bit?
Yeah. I got off to a good start—right behind [Andrew Short] Shorty—and was able to get into the lead pretty fast and was just trying to charge forward. I was hitting all my marks and I thought I was going to keep gapping those guys, but they were going so fast and I got into a little bit of a side cramp there like halfway through, so that made it tough for sure. Once I saw the gap myself, Eli [Tomac] and [Ryan] Dungey had established on the rest of the field, I just figured that was smarter to back down and take third rather than fighting for the lead and going down or something reckless like that. I knew going into the main that I had secured third in points because Chad [Reed] didn’t line up.
Finishing third overall in your rookie 450SX season is big.
Yeah, for sure. Rookie season, it’s huge for me. Like I said, it’s just been a really good year.
At the beginning of the main event, it looked like you kind of wanted to do what you did in Houston, just sprint and get away.
Yeah, I really wanted to, but the way the track was it’s kind of a foreign riding style to me and one that Eli is for sure good at. Eli’s so strong and all that, he just naturally rides good in that kind of stuff. Where I have to work really hard, it comes second nature to him. He rode really great and so did Dungey, and to be third behind those guys is an honor.
Like with Jeremy McGrath, everyone’s talking about your BMX skills moving over and helping you with Supercross. The bike works really well under you. Do you feel like any of those skills transfer over?
Yeah, I do. It’s crazy, it’s been like the topic for the last week is that. It helps for sure. Obviously Supercross comes really easy to me and it’s just been a natural slow and steady progression. I think the BMX skills and all that definitely help and I try to keep that in my program as much as I possibly can.
It was like a light bulb went off for you right before Houston. Something changed where we could just tell you were ready to go for the win. Was there a point in the series where you just started feeling like you belonged up front?
Just a mixture of figuring out my program during the week and also getting some confidence. You know, running up with those guys, getting second in Anaheim and winning some heat races here and there, it was just like a combination of things that helped me get to the front.
You have Vegas next week. How do you like the hard pack?
It’s okay. It’s tough. But I feel like I’m riding better than I ever have, so that’s going to help. I just need to get out of the season good and get on with the outdoors.
About outdoors really quick. A lot of us so-called experts were curious about factory Honda picking you up when you’ve never really shined outdoors. You’ve quickly made it obvious they made a great decision with your Supercross results, but do you think you can be up near the front outdoors?
I think so. I’m on a really good bike. That’s the bottom line is my bike works really well and I’ve been testing outdoors. We’ve got some good settings and I’m confident with everything—with my speed, with my bike, with everything. So it’s always a plus having that in my back pocket, and yeah, it’s been good, it’s been going good and I’m excited to line up.
