Seely Scores Career-Best Finish at Thunder Valley National

Team Honda HRC had an positive showing at the third round of the AMA Pro Motocross championship in Lakewood, Colorado, as Cole Seely finished fourth overall for the day with 6-3 marks, while teammate Trey Canard landed fifth with 3-6 finishes. In the day’s opening moto, Canard propelled his CRF450R to a sixth-place start and quickly moved into fourth on the opening lap. He maintained that position for the first half of the race but began closing the gap on third, ultimately making his move on lap 10 to take over the final podium position. Seely tangled with another rider off the start, shuffling him back to nearly 20^th, but he put together an impressive charge, laying down smooth and consistent laps throughout the 30-minutes-plus-two-lap race. With six laps remaining, Seely briefly made the pass on fifth but was unable to make it stick, taking the checkered in sixth.

In moto two, Canard grabbed the holeshot, with Seely in his draft. A heated battle ensued between the Red Riders, with Seely taking over the lead on the second lap. He relinquished one position on the following lap and another at the halfway point before hanging tough in third, scoring the best moto finish of his career. Meanwhile, Canard fought hard to maintain an overall podium position but was unsuccessful after slipping back to sixth by the checkered flag.

NOTES

• On the eve of the race, Team Honda HRC’s Trey Canard and Cole Seely, along with GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle, RJ Hampshire and Jordan Smith, attended Sun Enterprise’s annual fan fest, one of the largest autograph signings of the year. Hundreds of racing enthusiasts were on hand to meet the riders and take part in the festival-style event.
• Only a mere .485 seconds off the leader in qualifying, Canard scored the second-quickest time with a 2:08.313 mark posted in the second session. Seely followed in eighth with a 2:09.384.
• Like Seely, GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle logged a career-best moto result, finishing seventh in moto one en route to 10^th “The day was good,” he said. “The first moto was really good—didn’t get the best start but came through and ended up seventh. That’s the best moto so far this year. We’re making progress and getting closer to where I think I should be. The second moto was rough; [a previous injury to] my hand split back open so I had trouble hanging on but still finished 13^th and top-ten for the day.”
• After three rounds, Canard currently sits fifth in the championship standings with 97 points, while Seely is sixth with 89. Bogle is 11^th with 47 points.
• Team Honda HRC will take a one-week hiatus before returning to action on June 18 for round four at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania.

 THE FOCUS: Preparing Between Motos

With an hour between the checkered flag in moto one and the gate-drop for moto two, riders and crewmembers have very little time to regroup and get prepared for the day’s second race. For riders it means regrouping both physically and mentally, while their mechanics have to prepare their equipment for another 30-minute-plus-two-lap race.

“It’s definitely hard to recover in such a short period of time between races,” said Seely. “Cooling down your body temperature as quick as possible is important, so once I get back to the truck I try to drink some water, put a cold rag on my neck and get out of my gear right way. Liquids are extremely important to try and get your body rehydrated after sweating so much. I drink lots of water and then try to eat a little bit, but it’s tough for any rider to get some food down because your stomach is a bit agitated after the first moto. We’ve been doing this long enough though that we know what foods work for our body and what foods don’t. I also just try to totally relax during that time and not exert too much energy so I can save it for the second race.”

Mechanic Rich Simmons, meanwhile, is kept busy during that period. “The time frame is tight but it really isn’t too bad when it comes to working on the bikes unless your rider crashes and you have a lot of parts to replace,” he said. “When the bikes come off the track we have to wash them, change the clutch, put new wheels on and just look over the rest of the bike to make sure everything is okay. We’ll then get them refueled and head to the line.”