When Joshua Varize broke his wrist in late November, few would have thought he’d be on the line for Anaheim 1. The AEO Powersports KTM rider was able to get back on the bike two weeks before the opener but was not at full strength by the time A1 rolled around and it showed, as he missed the main event. With a weekend off due to Oakland being postponed, Varize may have been one of the biggest benefactors, as he was able to heal up some more and get more seat time to be ready to go in San Diego. He still had to fight his way into the main event through the Last Chance Qualifier but once he was in the main, he rode a steady race to earn a P12. It’s not where he wants to be just yet, but it was a big step towards getting back there. We caught up with him after the race to hear what he thought about it.
Racer X: Take me through your day as a whole. I think it started out maybe a little bit rough with some qualifying and practice stuff, but you kind of sorted it out by the end.
Joshua Varize: Yeah. Free practice was really good. Qualifying one was really good as well. Then that second qualifier, just kind of I think was just making too many mistakes, trying too hard. I was fighting the track really bad. The sun was in our eyes pretty good, too. I qualified 24th going into the night. Wasn’t too stoked on that. Heat race, I did a lot of racing tonight. The heat race start was not great. I came into the turn really good, but I blew the turn, no brakes, and went on the other side of the track. Got going. I was in 12th and they ended up red-flagging the race, due to a downed rider. But we did a staggered start, which I’ve never done before in professional racing, so, it was kind of cool to experience that. I got going again. I went down in the last turn. I went over the Tuff blocks. I was in tenth when I did that, so I was one short either way. Then going into the LCQ, I had 18th gate pick. I was like, ‘This is not going to be great.’ Somehow there was an inside gate open. I definitely capitalized with that and took that. Got a good jump and I just couldn’t get my elbows in front of the two riders next to me, so I had to lock up the brakes. It actually helped out because I was literally probably eighth or tenth on the first turn and squeezed inside of everyone and came out second. I was like, let’s go! We’re good, stay in second. I got passed a few times. I definitely fell back to fourth at one point of the race. Next corner got back into second, so we were jumping around. I ended up second in the LCQ. I was just stoked because that was definitely my goal from A1. I just really needed to capitalize on how I did there. When I got into the main this weekend, I was like, ‘All right, we’re better.’ Just the overall all day was better. We figured out a lot on the bike. With Oakland being canceled, we had a little bit more time to test and stuff. The main event was great. Had a not-so-great start but I kind of locked up the brakes and cut under all that carnage. It was good. I had some really good battles throughout the night. There was a lot of passing that I was doing and getting passed and passing back. Overall, it was great. I came out with 12th on the night. Stoked to bring this momentum into A2.
The track kind of changed quite a bit throughout the day. It was pretty soft early. It kind of got slick by the end. So going to the LCQ, we know you don’t want to be there, but did you maybe even learn a couple things that you could use for the main event?
Yeah. Honestly, the track broke down pretty good. It was really soft. In the big rhythm, I was going two-three, and I didn’t go three-in until the main event. I did it in the main event and I’m like, why have I not been doing this the whole time? When I was going twothree it was hard to get the pop with everyone landing on the lip that I was using. So, it was really good. I really liked the track. It was a little bit tighter, but I had a blast riding it. Had a good flow. Like you said, racing the LCQ is not ideal, but I believe it honestly helped me out because I was able to figure out the track a little bit more and just kind of build my confidence, just keep doing laps. Each lap I was getting more comfortable with it.
Talking about some of the stuff that you worked on in that little break with Oakland being postponed, how much of that do you feel helped you get a little bit more comfort in the bike and everything?
Yeah. Only having a few weeks, I think it was two and a half or three weeks going into the first round at Anaheim, I still was a little bit under the weather with my wrist and my thumb but having that weekend off was nice because we were able to test and give the wrist and hand a little break. It helped out a lot. I think this week leading up to San Diego, I had built a little bit of confidence back up. Just having more time on the bike helped out a lot, for sure.
Looking ahead to a Triple Crown, do you feel that’s going to help you a little bit to have those shorter races and not put as much stress on it over a long distance like that?
Yeah. I think my confidence will be a little bit more knowing I have three chances. Not really, right? It goes on overall. But kind of three chances to have a main event with all the main event guys. I did two Triple Crowns last year and I had a blast at them, and I really like that format of racing. Some people don’t. It kind of sucks because you’re going back-to-back so fast. But I’m looking forward to it, for sure.
