A LOOK BACK AT SEATTLE: Progress comes in many fashions and Coty Schock has proven his resilience in a variety of circumstances. Most recently he took his efforts to finish first in his heat race and did it under pressure. Step one complete. Then he ripped the hole-shot in the main event and was well on his way to a great finish. (Our Yamaha’s are fast) Step two complete. In the main event, he ran in fourth place on one of the most difficult tracks of the season, lapping the field at a very aggressive rate. Unfortunately, two lappers drifted into his rhythm lane causing him to land on a tuff block. Exasperated, he remounted his Flo Motorsports equipped bike and finished a respectable eighth place on the night cementing his fifth-place spot in the standings. Most riders and teams would be dejected on what could have been. It was our chance to band together, laugh it off and move on to the next one – something a team like ours can do. Disappointed? Sure, but we have the ability to look forward and take the positives into the next round. There are three rounds left for the Western Regional racers and two of them are east/west showdowns. With the goal to finish in the top three on the season, anything can happen and probably will. It has become apparent that everyone is now seeing what we always saw in Coty – he is a gamer and will fight to the end.
MAX VOHLAND #92: Flo Motorsports backed Max had the luxury to alternate between supercross and motocross training over the last two weeks and had some fun. The better part of this week was dedicated to testing some new settings and working on starts. Fact of the matter – Max rides a ton and seems to really enjoy the grind of training. The last race in Birmingham was setting up to be a great one but a first turn crash in race three of the Triple Crown format derailed that effort. Finishing sixth on the night did not meet Max’s expectations but overall he is trending in the right direction. The better he does, the more he wants. His steady progression up the standings from twenty-first in Tampa to nineth after Birmingham is a trend that will continue this weekend in Foxborough. Max is a very technical rider, so a little rain will not bother him.
On a side note, Max volunteered to make a presentation to the SMX Next group in Birmingham. Topic: “How to handle the pressures of a race day.” The program continues to evolve and bring a variety of talent and personalities for these future racers to learn from. For these kids to hear from a current pro like Max on a race weekend had some value that they will remember. His well thought out presentation and easy way of connecting with the audience was great to watch.
DEVIN SIMONSON #88: Devin is off the turn track and full speed on the moto track this week. His wrist continues to improve and strengthen. Supercross training will resume next week and then we can decide on his return to racing. Full steam ahead.
REID TAYLOR #186: Reid has returned to riding and is spending time on the turn track. He is making good progress with his thumb injury from earlier this season. The next step for Reid is to get full grip strength and he can return to full-time supercross training.
SMX NEXT in Foxborough – The return of the SMX Next program will be this weekend in Foxborough. We will have two riders entered: #600 Alex Fedortsov and #981 Ryder Malinoski. #257 Jesson Turner will sit out this round. With their good finishes, all three are already qualified for the championship in Pittsburgh on April 26th. Without reliving the Birmingham SMX Next race, lets just say Alex and Ryder are looking for some redemption.
These recent YouTube videos are awesome as the team continues to perform at the highest level. Check out this one from Birmingham.
https://youtu.be/4X6DdOVwB7E?si=xthCAZMDtbpCX6fp
We have added another video series to our YouTube channel called “A Day in the Life” that will show a variety of athletes that train at the ClubMX facility and the extent of what they endure in the course of their day. It will give more insights to the difficulty of the sport and how these athletes handle it.
https://youtu.be/4xElouhEnFk?si=_fwSNa0cVWKMwIFQ