Monday Conversation With... Cole Seely
Monday, January 24, 2011 | 11:35 AM
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The Kawasaki dominance of Monster Energy Supercross in the Lites class is over—the win streak ended at Saturday night’s Los Angeles Supercross at the hands of Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Honda’s Cole Seely. Wait. Cole Seely? Yes. Just two years ago, Seely was a complete unknown in the privateer ranks, and before that, he had actually quit racing for a few months because he had stopped having fun.
Then came a breakthrough 2010 season where he became a consistent podium threat, and now 2011, where he won by leading wire-to-wire in LA. After the race, it seemed like 1,000 people were jammed under the TLD tent celebrating the team’s first-ever AMA SX win. Seely was happy, but nearly at a loss for words about what he had done.
RacerXOnline: How good is that?
Cole Seely: Well, uh, I feel like I’ve been knocked out, and I haven’t regained conciousness yet.
That good?
Yeah, that good. That pretty much sums it up right now. I can’t even believe this is going on.
You’ve had one podium in your career, so to all of a sudden just get a win, that’s a big leap. While you were leading, did that get to you? Were you getting nervous?
Yeah, I mean, I knew if I could just get a start….and I got an awesome start. So the first five laps were just so nerve wracking. By about lap six, I needed to completely regroup. Just remember what I had been working on the bike for the last few months, which is taking it easy on the bike, and not rushing into anything.
So you said you worked hard on your starts. And who was part of that start team you came up with.
Well, Jeff Ward, and my mechanic Rich. Jeff really helps us out a lot with the team. We just did tons of starts. We must have done a thousand each day!
Seely scored the first ever win for the Lucas Oil/Troy Lee team.
Photo: Simon Cudby
So take us through the race. You got the holeshot. Then what happened?
Yeah, I got the holeshot, then Hansen tried to take me out. That’s racing. Nice attempt. I made a few mistakes on those first few laps, but after that I smoothed out, and it actually came pretty easy.
A lot of people may not know your story. Where the heck were you two years ago, and did you think this was possible?
Um, I definitely didn’t, then. It’s crazy, I was on a team called Fun Center Suzuki. They gave me an opportunity when I first turned pro, and I’m thankful for them. Then this team picked me up, and I can’t thank them enough. I really can’t believe it, when I think about things back then, and now, I really just can’t even believe it.
What’s even crazier is, wasn’t there a time, when you were an amateur, when you had given up and just quit the sport altogether?
Yeah. I quit when I was 17 for a few months. Then my buddy over here, Lance Coury, got me hitting ramps and stuff, and it started to become fun again.
"Dude, two years ago this guy was hitting ramps with me! That’s all he was doing. This is awesome!"
-Lance Coury
That made the difference? You were taking it too seriously?
Oh yeah. It was just so hard not to get caught up in everything, riding for your sponsors, and my dad was putting a lot of pressure on me. I can’t thank my dad enough, this second time around, he was like a totally different guy. He still gives me the support, but he doesn’t put any pressure on me. Everything over here makes it easier, this is such a great team and we have so much fun. And Lance is a great friend, he keeps it fun, too. So I’ve come a long way in not that much time. I really, really just can’t believe it.
Seely picked up his first ever SX win in LA.
Photo: Simon Cudby
You’ve won a supercross.
I know! I’ve won a supercross!
This is this team’s first-ever supercross win.
I know! Everyone is just so happy over here. They’ve just worked so hard, and I’m glad they gave me the opportunity.
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Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda’s Cole Seely is a man of many talents— skateboarding, BMX, import drifting … and he’s pretty good at this motocross thing, too. Page 156 .
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Great Job Cole! Good kid, deserved this win. Gonna be a big confidence booster for the kid, watch out for him for the remaining rounds
BIG congrats to Cole and his team!! So cool and inspirational to see the raw emotion of a first win!!
Congrats Cole and Jason you did a good interview even though cole still seemed a bit confussed about what he just did. I have always noticed his rides by studing the lap times and lap charts. I have never saw Cole give up! and no I never got to watch the race. It takes a lot of poise (sp) to keep you concentration wile leading. As he said he just finnaly settled down and rode his race. You can do it again Cole!
Great to see a new face on top of the box that todays motocross youth can look up to. Humble, well spoken and just a great roll model!
Congratulations to Cole and all the guys in the TLD/Lucas/Honda camp! You guys definitely deserved the win! Keep it up and we will see you again in San Diego!
Look at Tomac's face in the podium picture
Great job Cole! Its so exciting to see a guy like him win and get one for the team! I remember racing against this kid and i myself couldnt have seen this one coming, he is still right there in the points too! Keep it up and keep having fun because we all know what really is fun, WINNING!
Did anyone else notice the close ups of Mercedez holding the 30 sec board the last 2 weeks? She has a rotten front tooth or something!!!! I would still marry her tho!!!
Is Pingree still involved with the TLD team? TLD's website or articles lately about the team do not mention Pingree....
Christian Craig? How's he doing?
Nice ! Great job by Cole and Eli. Good things happen to good people . I like 20 but its great to see young guys put it to PC. Focus on the positive but hey, every guy on the line can play that bs game of 100. JimM Carlsbad Ca
For more info on Cole's career. http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/MotoRelated,20/Cole-Seely-the-dark-horse-of-the-2011-Monster-Energy-AMA-Supercross-Lites-West-Championship-Series,1198440
Been rooting for Seeley for a long time, he ran up front at Wortham last year and laid it down with a few laps to go, Nice to see him lay down those solid laps!
3 races after Ping leaves and they're already on top of the box. Coincidence...? Congrats to Cole and the TLD team on a great night.
Nice to see two good clean racers up front, Cole is a good kid and has a lot of raw speed! Congratulations to him and the TLD team, I heard Troy had a few tears for the moment. Keep it going guys!
congrats cole, and too your family also. couldnt have happend to better people.
i remember when you where 4yrs old riding at perris.
ryno @ tre
I left the team back in August to go back to school. Not involved anymore but really happy for Troy and the guys. They work their butts off in that shop and they really deserve this. Cheers, boys!
Congrats to the whole TLD Lucas Oil team!!!! This is the first of many!!!!
Congrats to Seely..... Great job... You deserve more press than the sixth place rider Roczen that they couldn't stop talking about.... I hope you can do it again...
Cole looks a lot faster and a lot smoother this year compared to last year in SX. Congrats! I think he will be on the podium more times this year. It will be interesting to see if that win makes him faster.
Thanks for the clarification Ping. Good luck in school and hopefully we see you back in the team management scene again. You did a hell of a job while you were with TLD.