Paul Coates: All ready for the outdoors
By TMX Archives on 3rd Aug 16
My first outdoor of the year came up quick after a lot of training getting ready for RedBud and I got some good support straightened out with the team who supported me for supercross.
I decided to race a 450 with the help of Team TiLube Honda for the outdoors. I thought it would be the best decision to race a 450 because my team is SX-only and the budget only goes so far when it comes to doing extra races in the summer that haven't been budgeted for.
As RedBud approached everything came together and I was excited to get back racing! For my first event back I wasn't expecting too much since I hadn't raced an AMA outdoor since 2014 so my main goal was just to score points.
Practice at RedBud was the first time I got to ride the race bike. I adjusted pretty well after the first practice but in the first moto I didn't get a good start. I managed to fight my way up from 32nd to 19th.
The second moto I needed to improve my starts but unfortunately my start was no better and I had fight my way back to 22nd. I know I really need to work on my starts! I think I forgot how hard the Nationals are but for my first outdoor race of the year I was happy with the outcome and after RedBud I won the top privateer award from the AMA for my performance.
Next up was Spring Creek (Millville) which is a track I always really look forward to. It's always a fun track! It got really rough but I was just happy to be there.
In the first moto I had a few crashes but was still able to finish 22nd. In the second moto I got a pretty good start and I battled with Factory Kawasaki racer Tyler Bowers for the majority of the race and was able to finish the second moto in 18th.
After flying home from Spring Creek I came home and rode with my training partner Christophe Pourcel.
Up next we made the 3,000-mile trip to Washougal, Washington. It's always nice to be able to make it up to that race - the scenery is unbelievable and every view out of the hire car looks like it could be on a postcard.
After getting to the track early Friday we got everything ready to go for Saturday. In the first moto I started out in 28th and got myself into 22nd by the end of the moto. The second moto I showed a lot of potential and finished 18th but I had to work for it.
After the first three outdoor races I've managed to score points at each of the rounds which was the main goal for me.
We are now on a two-week break before we wrap up the last three rounds starting at Unadilla next weekend then going on to Budds Creek and the last round which is the Ironman National.
I have been preparing myself on the break hoping I can improve my results and get into the top 15. That's the goal for right now so check back in about a month to see if I've managed to.
