With teammate Trey Canard out with an injury, Cole Seely carried the torch for Team Honda HRC on Saturday night at the St. Louis Supercross, and although he turned in a notable come-from-behind performance to finish fourth, he was slightly dissatisfied at night's end. The Californian had been fast all day and was hoping to extend his podium streak, but a poor start in the main event complicated things, putting him ninth on the opening lap. Seely methodically maneuvered his way through the competition before settling for fourth.

Fellow Red Rider Eli Tomac followed up last week's victory with a hard-fought runner-up finish aboard his factory GEICO Honda CRF450R, moving him to second in the championship points standings.

NOTES

• During the day's timed qualifying practice sessions, Cole Seely's 48.048-second lap, which was logged in the second session, was good for fourth-quickest, less than one second off the pace of GEICO Honda rider Eli Tomac, who was second with 47.692.
• Seely was slotted in the second heat race at St. Louis, and when the gate dropped, he was near the front of the pack. While running second and in pursuit of the leader, he laid down the fastest lap of the race with a 47.427. He settled for second, earning a direct transfer to the main event. In the same race, Tomac encountered some misfortune on the opening lap and was forced to qualify for the main via the second semi.
• During the 20-lap main event, Tomac laid down an impressive 47.101 lap, the quickest of anyone on the track.
• For the second time this season, the track showcased a split-lane feature that allowed riders to choose between going to the right or left through a specific rhythm section. Although Seely utilized it to his advantage a few times on his charge to the front, he isn't fond of the idea. "The split lane never really works out the way it's supposed to. This is probably one of the better ones, and I was actually able to use it a few times to get around some guys, but it's still a little awkward for racing. There always seems to be one lane that everyone favors, so it doesn't do much."
• Seely wore a replica of Tyler Hoeft's jersey during the opening ceremonies. Hoeft was a young racer and friend of Seely's who recently passed away.
• Before taking a well-deserved weekend off, Team Honda HRC has some work to attend to. The plan is for Seely and Tomac to spend Monday and Tuesday at Southern California track Zaca Station for one of the team's first outdoor tests.
• The Honda Red Riders will return to action on April 11 for round 14 at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

THE FOCUS: Spring Break

Through St. Louis, the AMA Supercross series had raced every week of 2014, which works out to 13 consecutive weekends, but now the racers and teams will get Easter weekend off. The pause is welcome for many, including premier-class rookie Cole Seely, who has never before had to take part in the entire 17-round schedule.

"It's definitely tough, both mentally and physically, to go the entire series, including 13 weeks straight before getting a break in the schedule," Seely said. "It's hard to wake up every weekend and want to get out there and race to win when you're training during the week, so I had to back everything down a little bit during the week. I let myself rest when I'm getting tired and try not to overdo it. Doing that has really pumped me up and made me want to ride my hardest because I now have so much energy. That was the biggest learning experience for me this year."

Seely is looking forward to spending some time at home, but he's also going to miss racing. "The break is going to be nice, but to be honest I don't mind the schedule," he said. "I love racing Supercross, so the more the merrier for me. If they replaced all 12 of the outdoors races with Supercross rounds, I'd be pumped. I don't have any special plans, so I'll probably just go to the beach, hang out and let my body rest."

The break is nice not only for the riders, but also for the mechanics and staff who travel with the series. "I'm really looking forward to my off weekend," said Rich Simmons, Seely's mechanic. "It's tough on everyone going 13 weeks straight, so having a weekend off will be great for everyone to recharge before heading into the final rounds of the season. We have some outdoor testing at the beginning of the week, so there are going to be some long days coming up, but it'll make the weekend off that much better. My girlfriend and I are going camping in Big Sur, so that'll be great."

QUOTES

Cole Seely "Tonight was tough. I got off to a horrible start, so I just tried to be smart about line selection and pick my way through the guys. I got into fourth and felt like I was catching Jason [Anderson] but got a really bad side cramp when I had to avoid a lapper. I made a jerking motion to move out of the way and under my ribs cramped up right away, so I had to just try to maintain the pace I had and hope that Jason would make mistakes, which never happened. The last five laps were tough. I prefer a track that's more technical, where you need to be precise in each section. I really want to be on the podium, but I'm happy with how far I was able to make it through the pack for fourth."

Dan Betley: Team Manager "The night ended pretty decent but it was still frustrating. Compared to where Eli and Cole started, they came through the pack well, so that was good. We just need to keep working on improving our starts, because once again they weren't good. We need to get off the line better in each race. Lap-time-wise, we were good all day; both riders were up front in timed qualifying and even during the main their times were comparable to those of the leaders. The track was fairly basic, so everyone was doing the same thing; there was nothing out there to separate anyone. All in all, the guys gave 100%, rode their hearts out and did what they could to capitalize on the bad starts that they had."

Masamitsu Hirashima: Chief Engineer – Team Honda HRC Motocross "Ryan Dungey was very fast tonight but our two riders also rode very well and aggressively too. They couldn't get good starts in the main but I'm pretty happy with the way they rode and finished, with Tomac in second and Seely fourth. Hopefully they can get good starts and finish higher on the podium in the next race!"

Satoshi Matsushima: Chassis Engineer – Team Honda HRC Motocross "It was a tough night for Honda, with bad starts for both Seely and Tomac. They both had a good pace from timed practice through the main event, but they just couldn't get good starts in the main event. We only have four Supercross races left this year, but we'll try to figure out the starts and get some wins!"

Rich Simmons: Mechanic (Cole Seely) "Tonight's fourth is pretty good compared to where Cole started, so I'm happy with the result. It just looked like his reaction time was off on the start; both [Weston] Peick and [Chad] Reed just kind of beat him out of the gate. He got Reed in the first turn but was just too far back. Getting a good start is always important, but especially at a track like this when there isn't much separating all the guys. He rode strong and showed a lot of speed but he just needs to be more consistent with his starts. Some weekends he's good and others, like tonight, he's not. Once he gets that down, I think he can be up there battling in front."

Press contact: Mandie Fonteyn // Dispatch Communications // mandie@dispatchco.com // +1 (951) 537-0454