St. Louis Look Back, Foxborough Look Forward with Damon Bradshaw

Eli Tomac (1-1-1) – First Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: “Tomac always seems to amaze me, and he showed that he has that speed. But then it’s like, ‘Okay, how long is the speed gonna stay there?’ When he was right there with Jett in the second race, it showed me that he can throw down that raw speed that he’s had in the past. [Regarding Eli’s ability to learn where Jett is gaining time] Jett’s technique is – I don’t know really where all of the speed comes from, because you watch him and obviously his style is very smooth; and you know it’s corner speed, it’s exit speed, it’s all of this stuff. I just think it’s such small increments everywhere. I don’t think you can say it’s one section. [In St. Louis] there were a few rhythm sections there in the beginning that Jett was doing that I think Eli picked up that helped him. [Regarding Eli’s overall win] From Eli’s standpoint that race was huge, regardless of how he got the win… Eli’s injury [in 2023] was gnarly. He’s progressively gotten a little bit better and a little bit better, and he’s being smart, not trying to win at the first round. And he’s getting better towards the end, instead of blowing himself apart in the beginning.”  

Cooper Webb (5-6-2) – Second Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: “He just keeps trudging. It’s like he’s there, and then he might have a bad moment, and then he just mentally manages; he’s always been super strong. There have been times in the past three years that you count him out, and then he’s right back in your face again. I like that because it keeps me interested in watching him. You know, if you lose that mental side of racing, that’s a majority of the game. Being as mentally strong as he is, and just picking away at guys and fighting and being there so close at the end, it’s super fun to watch. I want to see him do well because, you know, you’re on top, and then you’re down, and guys kick you while you’re down. Then when you can climb back, that to me, man, that’s a huge battle. I fought through it, and I think he went through some of the stuff that I went through. I think he got himself back to where he feels like he’s competitive again… His starts haven’t been great, but he’s still there. You’re not going to count him out and I still truly think he’s going to be there at the end.” 

Aaron Plessinger (3-8-6) – Fourth Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: “Plessinger is a fun guy to watch ride, and his personality is awesome. The fans love it and I think that is huge. I was impressed in that first race [in St. Louis] when he got the third place. I’m not sure why he fell off [the pace in the other races]. But he’s always one that still seems to pop in there, and he has the talent to go the speed. You can see it if he falls off [the pace] a little and he wants to catch back up, he’s been able to. When you see [other riders] that, once they get passed, they consistently start falling off the pace, you’re like, ‘Ahh, they don’t really have that speed.’ But if they can hang there and show that they have it [like Plessinger], then okay. If you have it for three laps then that tells me that you can have it for more if you’re conditioned correctly. And [with Plessinger, when increasing his pace] it’s not out of control. I mean, it’s not like me when I was trying to go to the next step, and your legs are flying and your arms are flying and you may end up in the first row of the stands. But that’s all part of that process of going to that next level, you know? But you don’t see that [out of control riding] with him.” 

Chase Sexton (10-5-3) – Fifth Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: “He’s a super talented guy, and fun to watch ride. [Regarding his team switch for 2024] I know he probably needed a change, but I was just concerned about him going from where he was, whether that was a mental thing over there, or people, or bikes, or whatever. But I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong for thinking it but just going from Showa to WP it’s like, ‘Huh, how’s that gonna work out?” He hasn’t had the [unforced] crashes, but I still don’t think he’s – I’ve seen glimpses of that speed that he’s had, but it just hasn’t been super consistent. It’s like in St. Louis when he and Eli were going at it there for a minute, and then all of a sudden he started falling back. Why? I don’t know. I don’t know the kid and I don’t read about him during the week. He’s got it, but he’s just not keeping that speed long enough. I don’t know what the answer is there.” 

Jett Lawrence (2-3-21) – Eighth Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: [Regarding the Race 3 incident when Jett got t-boned] “Before I even knew – like as Barcia was hitting him – I thought Jett came off the turn super early… At the beginning of the race, when everybody’s super tight, I just don’t know that you can do that. Because you don’t have eyes in the back of your head, and if you know you have Barcia or whoever, you’ve got to be careful coming down early… I’m not blaming it on Jett, but I just think that’s one of those things; you just can’t cut down early at the beginning of the race… Eli, he doesn’t do that much. When he’s got somebody behind him, he is railing the outside with a lot of momentum. So, if someone does come in on the inside, and then does move out there, Eli’s got enough speed. I call it a Guy Cooper move. Because Cooper would do that. And if he thought you were getting close enough to him to hit him, he would grab a handful so he had momentum when you would get together. And a lot of times it worked out in his favor because he had that momentum. So, I don’t know if Eli looks at it like that, but I think he’s thinking, ‘I’m going the absolute fastest route to get away from this guy.’

[Regarding if it looked like Justin hit Jett on purpose] I did see Justin go over and apologize after the race, I think that’s what he was doing. Okay, I’m not gonna go apologize to a guy, especially if I intended to do that. If I was coming in with all intent to knock the [heck] out of you, I’m not gonna come over and apologize to you. You’re gonna get to think about it.

[Regarding his own aggressive racing incidents] I look back on some of them with Chicken [Jeff Matiasevich] and I just cringe. It was anger coming out, and some of them were accidental, for sure. Some of them were intended. Nowadays people bring it up in a laughing, funny way and they’re like, ‘You know you completely meant to do that.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, there were two or three of them where I was out of control and I was gonna run into him, but it wasn’t on purpose to run into him. But I knew I didn’t want to be in the crash, so I got off the bike and it turned out bad.’ So yeah, there were times that I did mean to [make contact], but then there were other things that happened, and we were just racing. Like the one in Paris [in 1989]. There’s no way at the end of that [whoop] section I was gonna ghost ride my bike. I got whiskey throttle and came off the back of the bike and it completely looked like I meant to. The same with the one in Anaheim. I slid off the back of the bike and the bike was dancing; it looked like I tried to throw my motorcycle on him. It completely looked like it. Even if I look at it, I’m like, ‘Yeah [that is what it looks like].’ I know I didn’t try to do that that night. I was out of control.

I like aggressive riding. I don’t like stupid [stuff], like some of the stuff that I was involved in, but I do like to see aggressive riding. I don’t agree with everything that the AMA’s doing to keep these guys from rubbing, because you have a racetrack that’s super hard to pass on, all of the guys are really good, and especially in the Triple Crown you don’t have time to [mess] around or be nice. You gotta get in there and rub a guy to get by him.

It’s just like these guys [today] knowing that if Barcia’s behind them, and he’s riding good, they’re nervous. They don’t like being in that position. Or if they pass him [they have to stay aware]. It’s like guys in my time. There were certain guys you passed, and you knew you better get completely away from them as quickly as possible, or they were gonna run into you. I feel like it goes back to that whole mental thing. It’s playing head games. I don’t want to see anybody break somebody’s leg for being overly aggressive, but you’ve got to get in there and move people out of the way.

[Back to the Jett incident] I know everybody’s gunning for the kid, right? They want to rub him, they want to disrupt him. And guys have tried, and I think it has worked a little bit, but he settles right back down and goes back to work. He’s obviously talented. The other riders all better be happy and thank the Lord that they had some mud at the beginning of the season, and some of these penalties, because without those things we’d be looking at a boring season right now… That’s just the way it is. He’s just got raw speed, he can get starts, and he can come through the pack faster than anybody right now.

[Regarding Jett’s history of making quick passes early in races to get into the lead on the first lap] It catches guys off guard… And you know, honestly with Jett, I don’t know that I would, after that incident in St. Louis, I don’t think I’d change my way about it. Because it’s worked more times for him than it hasn’t. But he probably could learn from that, too. In Supercross you’ve just got to be careful turning off early, especially if you’re familiar with what’s going on with the guys behind you and who they are. It’s like learning to race with guys. You know who you can trust, who is super aggressive, and who you can’t trust. I just think that was a minor mistake. From the success he’s had, I would think very little about it, and continue doing what I’m doing.

[Regarding Bradshaw’s quick move up to the premier class, and if he could evaluate his competitors before actually racing against them] No, it was a learning process. I had to race with them and ride with them. I mean, you knew some of their strong points, but as far as racing with them you had to get in there and be wheel to wheel and figure out who really hated you, who just maybe disliked you, and who you could trust and race super, super tight with. I’ve talked about this before, but Jeff Stanton was one of those guys I could race super tight with and trust his moves, and I think he felt the same way about me. We had our bar-banging expeditions, but when we were in the spots of the track that you had to trust somebody, he was that guy [I could trust]. There weren’t many others; Dubach, I could trust him. Emig, it wasn’t that he was out to get me, it was his style of racing that I knew I couldn’t ride super tight on him. Guy Cooper, you needed to be in the next county to not get caught up in his carnage. But, you know, that was fun. That was a game for me. It was, ‘How close can you race with another guy.’ I was watching some of them in St. Louis, and a lot of the 250 Class guys, just seeing how close guys were getting to one another. To me, I enjoy seeing that, when you know you can race that tight with somebody. And it’s all that learning process. I’ve said it forever, you have to learn to race with each individual guy that you’re going to be competing with on a week-in, week-out basis.” 

Jason Anderson (4-7-19) – Eleventh Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: “We all talk about starts and I just don’t think his starts have been great. I think if his starts are good, and he’s upfront, he has the speed. He showed it in St. Louis several times with passes. When I was watching him, I was like, ‘Holy [cow]!’ Just the short distances, like in between the corners and the faces of jumps, and after jumps to the next corner, he’s super-fast. I think he still has that talent and that raw speed to do it, it’s just that starts are so important. I mean, Jett’s been able to get not such a good start and be a player at the end, but there aren’t many other guys, if any, that can move through there like Jett. I don’t think Anderson’s done and I think he’s still got the speed to win.” 

Ken Roczen (18-13-5) – Twelfth Place – 450SX Class. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.

Damon Bradshaw’s insights: “I’m not counting the guy out. He can win. He showed that. The guy’s got amazing talent. Unfortunately, with where he is in points, maybe he’s not a factor there [for the title], but he can still win, we saw him do it.”