Smith: “I think a lot of people maybe questioned me leaving Star”

Triumph only started racing supercross last February, so it took just about one calendar year to net victory number one.

“They’ve been telling me there’s bricks in the UK that have a lot of their accomplishment on them, and there’s one for the first win, so pretty cool to put my name on that and it very special,” Smith explained at the post-race press conference.

When asked about how the bike contributed to getting the win he said, “We have been getting better with the bike set-up all year, just learning at each race we go to. You feel prepared at the practice track, but once you get on the racetracks, they are always different. Tonight, even though it was really hard packed, it had more ruts than what we had seen at Anaheim and stuff in the turns and my bike was handling really good. We made a lot of changes for the whoops through four rounds so feeling more like myself in those and overall, from where we started in October to where we’re at now, just a huge shout to everyone on the team it’s just unreal.”

Smith had two strategies to stay consistent in the Triple Crown. First, don’t fall in the sand, an area where he still struggles. Second, he found a safe, consistent jump line in the toughest rhythm section.

“I was struggling with that big rhythm, the one after the whoops, to get the over 3-3. I was very sketchy on it in practice. I just didn’t feel like I could get that every lap of the main. The rhythm I ended up doing, I didn’t do it until the second lap of the first main, and I think I was one of the only guys doing it, that I saw. I was kind of doubling through the middle of it instead of doubling and tripling out over the big. So the team, we just decided, let’s try it for the first main and it it doesn’t work maybe we’ll go to the bigger line, but let’s see how it goes. It ended up going well. Just a good decision by the team and everyone.”

Of course, good starts helps in a Triple Crown, and Smith and his bike can get them.

“My confidence in the starts has definitely gone up this year, my bike’s coming off the gate really good, so I was feeling good with that coming into a Triple Crown,” Jordon elaborated on his day, “We really just executed everything we talked about all day with the starts and the rhythm, and getting through the sand every lap without falling, so yeah it was good execution and working together as a team all day.”

“The bike is amazing, and I think a lot of people maybe questioned me leaving Star, but I’ve believed in these guys since day one and we worked our butts off all off season, and it really shows,” Smith spoke on the podium about the transition to Triumph from Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing.

He expanded on that at the press conference saying, “Everyone at Triumph Racing has won with other teams in the past so it is a very good crew of people over there. I would say we kind of started with a clean slate. Myself, the team, the bike, everything. We just have worked really hard on each aspect of racing. The starts, the bike, my riding, technique. It has been awesome training with [Mike Brown] Brownie, he’s awesome. Like I said there’s a lot of similarities, we all show up to win every weekend, but the teamwork that everyone puts in at Triumph is kind of unlike any other team that I’ve been on, just everyone working really well together, doing their job and each person trusting in the other person to do their job.”

Triumph Racing has officially put themselves on the map as a premier team in the sport. Now attention turns to Austin Forkner to see if he can get Triumph their second win next weekend, when the 250 East Championship starts up in Tampa, Florida. However, when the West Coast returns in Arlington, Smith will look to repeat and add another accomplishment for the brand. Can he put a red plate on his Triumph TF 250-X?