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Yamaha
Podiums at Montreal Supercross
Cody Miller |
Out of sixteen entries in the ATV class main
event at the Montreal Supercross on Saturday
September 29, Yamaha's Cody Miller came out with
the overall win in front of 50,000 people, as
Greg Gee and Yamaha’s Richard Pelchat rounded
out the podium. We tracked down Cody and Richard
to find out all about the event.
Cody! You won the race! Congrats!
“It was awesome. It was really a lot of fun. The
track was pretty technical this year, and it was
a cool experience.
So, you’ve raced the Montreal Supercross before
then?
I raced it in 2005, and I was one spot away from
the podium; I got fourth. It was more technical
this year. It was a pretty good track. It was a
lot easier to make passes on this year, so that
helped me out a lot.
How was the start for you?
In the first [Warm-Up] moto, I started around
eighth and passed up to fourth; I ended up
fourth in the first moto. That gave me fourth
position on the gate for the main. In the main,
I think I started around sixth or so, then I
made a few passes and I was right behind Greg
Gee, Richard Pelchat and Jasmin Plante. There
was one big triple jump that had a small
downside on it—it was pretty tricky—Jasmin
hyper-extended his knee whenever he landed and
that pulled him off. Then Richard was leading
the race, with Greg in second and I was in
third. We were all kind of tight and then
Richard clipped that same triple and he went
over the bars. I was in second; Greg and I were
battling it out for first and second for
probably four laps. We passed each other back
and forth several times over a triple jump in
the back, and then one lap I took the line that
he was anticipating me trying to make the same
pass on him, so then I took a different line and
passed him over the triple jump.
Did you know you could win this thing, or were
you just hoping for any opportunity?
I was basically staying patient. I’ve raced with
Greg a good bit this year. I was following and
studying his lines, taking my time, I knew it
was a ten-lap race. About the seventh lap, I
passed him.
So, that triple was giving a lot of riders some
problems?
I was on that triple jump in the third practice,
and I came up a little bit short and kind of
smacked the bottoms of my feet and my ankles. I
had to pull off right then, and almost didn’t
even want to race because my feet were hurting
so bad, but I got my ankles all taped up by the
paramedics there, and it wasn’t too bad during
the race.
I saw your brother Hunter also had a good
ride…
Yea, Hunter got in a pile-up on the start, and
then he came back up to fifth.
How was the crowd?
The fans were awesome. Every time you hit a big
jump or Greg and I would pass each other back
and forth, you could hear a huge uproar; they
were loud. It was cool.
Richard Pelchat had this to say:
"I was really fast in practice. I had the
fastest lap time, which is really good
because it gave me the first pick for
the Warm-Up race. But the best part was
that I was taking it easy…no rush to do a fast
lap.”
“In the Warm-Up race, Jasmin Plante got holeshot
with me in second,” Pelchat continued. “I was
pressuring him, but the race is a qualifier for
the main event, so I didn't want to do
anything stupid. The race is really short 5
laps, maybe 5 minutes, so I settled for second.
I knew I could make a pass.”
“In the main, Jasmin got the holeshot with
Greg Gee in second and me in third. I got the
inside on Gee in the second corner and started
pressuring Plante for first. Just before the
finish line, there was a 65-foot supercross
triple, it was easy to do but it didn’t allow
for any mistakes. The triple took out about six
or seven riders.
"On the first lap, Jasmin cased the triple hard.
As I passed him in the next corner, he pulled
off in pain with a badly hurting knee. After all
these years, I was leading the race."
"I was picking up about a second a lap.
Just before the mid-point, (it was a 10 lap
event,) I had about five second on second and
third place, [and was] well on my way to the
win. Then the Montreal Supercross bit me once
again," he said.
"I came about three inches short on the
same triple and got bucked off the seat and into
the ground. I remounted, disgusted would be a
good word, in fifth with my clutch lever down. I
charged pass U.S. riders Casey Martin and Aaron
Meyer to be in third place. I was catching on
the leader, but finished a few seconds behind. I
feel bad for throwing the win away like that,
but I was fast and I finally got a podium
there."
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