MXA INTERVIEW: JORDON SMITH TALKS HIS SEASON SO FAR

On Apr 17, 2018 Last updated Apr 17, 2018

Near the end of the 2016 Outdoor Motocross season it was suddenly announced that Jordon Smith was leaving Geico Honda, and moving to the TLD KTM Team. This was unexpected, as Geico had previously announced Smith was returning for 2017. Many may have questioned the late season team move, but nonetheless things looked great for TLD KTM when Smith took second overall at the 2018 East Coast 250 Supercross opener in Minnesota. The moved looked even better when Jordan took his first Supercross win at the Detroit Supercross round. Taking yet another win, Smith went into the Las Vegas Supercross finale with a true legitimate chance to win the East Coast Championship. Although a Las Vegas crash ended his championship hopes, ALL were impressed by what Smith did in his first year at TLD KTM. Fast-forwarding to a year later, Smith is in the title hunt again for the 250 East Coast Supercross Championship. He may be a bit off point’s leader Zach Osborne, but as they say “this is supercross, and anything can happen!” We caught up with Jordon at the very frigid Minneapolis Supercross this past weekend.

BY JIM KIMBALL

JORDON, IT SEEMED TO TAKE A LITTLE TIME FOR YOU TO BECOME A CONTENDER FOR THE 2018 EAST COAST SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP. Yes, unfortunately that is true. I had a lot of time off because I got hurt at the Las Vegas Supercross last year, and then tried to come back and race Outdoors, and I got injured again. So I had to pretty much take the summer off from riding. I began riding a month before Monster Cup, and raced the Red Bull Straight Rhythm. I got hurt at the Straight Rhythm; so then I had to take more time off. I was still prepared coming into the season, but I only had about two months on the bike before Arlington, so for me, it was just getting into the racing groove. I felt really good at Arlington, but we got in the first turn pile-up, and were just salvaging what we could from there. Then the second race in Tampa I ended up 6^th again. It was not really where I wanted to be, but then we turned things around, and got things going. We have been having some good results now.

YOU WERE A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER LAST YEAR, SO IT HAD TO BE DIFFICULT COMING INTO THE SEASON AND NOT FINISHING ON THE PODIUM. It is just tough to get out there and race these guys that have had a healthy off-season, and are all ready to go racing. I am definitely not making excuses, like I said, I was ready coming in; it just took me a little to get going. Definitely I was coming into the season ready to battle for a title, and then the first two races to get to 6^th place were tough. I had to step it up a little, but I think I have done a good job of that. I got a podium, and went on to win Daytona.

WINNING DAYTONA WAS HUGE; IT IS ONE OF THE SPORTS BIGGEST RACES. Just like you said, it is one of the most prestigious supercrosses. I think it is because it is one of the toughest ones. It is a mixture between Outdoors and Supercross and then you have the longer lap times, the faster speeds, but you are still doing big jumps. Especially this year, there were a lot of really big jumps, and quads and that kind of stuff. It was a tough track, but I got off to a really good start, and then Jeremy Martin was right behind me. He is looked at as one of the fittest guys in this sport, but I felt like I was actually toe-to-toe with him that whole main event. He caught me a little bit in the early part of that race, but then I put the hammer down a couple of laps, tried to pull back away a bit, and give myself a little gap. With about three laps to go, I had a few second gap, so I just tried to be smart, and brought it home. So that was a really cool feeling. If there is one Supercross that you want to win, that is definitely one of them.

ZACH OSBORNE DOES HAVE A LITTLE GAP OVER YOU IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, BUT YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE RIGHT? I feel like I can come in, and win on any given weekend, so if I win the next three races then the only way that Zach can beat me in a championship is if he finishes second in all three. So it is still somewhat in my hands for the most part. I’m just trying to take it one race at a time, and show the guys that I am here to battle, that is the number one priority.

I feel like I can come in, and win on any given weekend.

ARE YOU TRAINING DOWN IN FLORIDA WITH SOME OF THE OTHER TLD KTM GUYS? I am actually not down at Baker’s working with Tyla. That is Shane (McElrath) and Alex (Martin) who are down there. I am still at Millsaps’ Training Facility. This has been my program since I was a kid, I enjoy it there, and I feel comfortable. We get things done, and that is where I am. I actually did go down to Aldon’s a little bit to test before Dayton but that is pretty much the only time I have been there to test. You know, it would be a different atmosphere a little bit if I was in Florida, but I really enjoy it at Millsaps’ Training Facility. I have had a really good relationship with Colleen (Millsaps) and Bryan (Johnson) since I was 11 years old. I feel really comfortable with their gym program that we have, the track program, and everything. I feel like it is working pretty well for me.

I WANTED TO ASK YOU ABOUT YOUR SITUATION WITH POINTING OUT OF THE 250 SUPERCROSS CLASS; I’M A BIT CONFUSED ABOUT IT. Yes, it is a bit confusing. But once you kind of get the gist of it, it makes more sense. It is just really confusing to read the rules; some of them are really contradicting it seems like. But if you just get the low down from someone that knows what they are talking about, it is a little easier to understand. They can give you the cliff notes version of it, and just get to what really matters instead of reading the rulebook where a lot of stuff does not really even make sense.