Seely Takes Home Fifth at Indianapolis Supercross

Round 11 of the AMA Supercross series at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium saw Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely produce another fifth-place finish aboard his CRF450R. At the start of the main event, Seely was slow out of the gate, rounding the first turn in the top 10. By the time Seely had made the pass into fifth on lap seven, the gap between the lead group of riders was too great for him to catch. Despite putting together solid laps, the remaining 15-minutes of the race, the Californian was unable to make up ground on fourth place, forcing him to take the checkered in fifth.

NOTES

• The evening before the race, Westfield Powersports hosted Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely and Andrew Short, along with GEICO Honda rider, Christian Craig, for a Supercross party at the dealership in Westfield, IN. Fans had the opportunity to get autographs, hang out with their favorite racers and win raffle prizes before all the action on Saturday.
• On race day, Team Honda HRC helped support the Road 2 Recovery Foundation by providing the Indianapolis auction winner and his family an inside look at the team’s tech truck, along with a signed set of Cole Seely’s Troy Lee Designs gear.
• With a mindset more focused towards the evening program, laying down single fast laps during qualifying can be a struggle for Seely. During the daytime practice sessions, Seely was 12^th fastest with a 57.149, which was secured in the second session.
• The competition was tough in 450SX heat 1 but Seely put himself in a good position right off the start, launching out of the gate into fourth. He continued to charge forward, passing rival Jason Anderson on lap two to take over second. He maintained that position to the checkered flag, transferring himself directly into the main event.
• The same weekend that Seely was competing in the Indianapolis Supercross, fellow HRC racers Tim Gajser and Evgeny Bobryshev were competing in the Argentina round of the MXGP series over 5,700 miles away in Patagonia. Gajser put together two dominant performances, finishing 1-1 on the day to take his first overall win of the year. Bobryshev also secured his first podium finish of the season with solid 5-2 marks.
• On Saturday, April 25, Team Honda HRC will be in Detroit, Michigan for round 12 for the AMA Supercross series.

THE FOCUS: Honda Racing Worlds Collide with Seely and Rossi

On Friday morning, Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely got the special opportunity to spin some laps in Honda Performance Development’s simulator in Brownsburg, Indiana, alongside HPD backed IndyCar driver and reigning Indy 500 Champion, Alexander Rossi. During the promotional activity, Rossi took to the simulator first to show Seely around the Mid-Ohio course and get a baseline for lap times. With a few last minute pointers, Seely jumped in and took the wheel, which also happened to be the exact wheel from Rossi’s official racecar. After his initial warm up laps, Seely impressed everyone by quickly adapting and continuing to drop his times after each lap.

“You definitely can tell he races,” Rossi said while watching Seely drive. “I mean, it’s a completely different thing, but he understands the concepts and fundamentals that people who aren’t involved in any form of racing are lacking.”

For the final session, the HPD engineers uploaded the Long Beach street circuit since Seely has attended the race previously and wanted to give it a shot. Once again, he impressed everyone by dropping his times only a few seconds off of Rossi’s.

“It was super fun. I’ve never been in anything like that,” said Seely. “I’ve played video games like ‘Forza’ and ‘Gran Turismo,’ but they only tell you how the track goes. The simulator is nothing like a video game. It’s crazy how much you can drive it into a corner and feel the acceleration. I could have stayed in that thing all day.”

Seely continued by saying what a benefit it was to have Rossi go first. “Seeing Rossi run first really helped me to see where he (braked), what gear he was in, how he accelerates. If he hadn’t done that, it would have taken me three times as long to adapt.”

Photo Credit: IndyCar

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