Red plate holders Joey Savatgy and Shane McElrath once again emerged as round winners in what was a crazy weekend of racing at the fourth round of AUSX 2024 in Adelaide for the Boost Mobile Supercross Sprint. We caught up with the pair following the main events for Debrief.

SX1

Image: Foremost Media.

Joey, another great night here for you. That wasn’t easy though.

No, it definitely wasn’t. I would’ve loved it to be a little less stressful. But it’s kind of a racing thing, in my opinion. I thought I had more room than I did, and yeah, I really think we would’ve been fine. It’s just when we hit, my right hand got ripped off the bar, and all my momentum went to the right, and then I got sucked up into his wheel and my bar was in his rear tire. Then from there, I had my front brake lever in the sky and I was unsure if I had broken spokes, so I was a little nervous. I had wires dangling and the throttle cable was broken, so it was a little squirrely, I’ll be honest. But at the end of the day, we made it work and we did what we needed to do when it mattered.

Has this been something Luke Clout has spoken to you about? When you watch it back, it looks like he wasn’t happy.

Yeah, he wasn’t happy. And I understand. I made the mistake of trying to talk to him right away, which wasn’t smart. And then I went over there before the third race, just to express to him, If I’m going to ruin somebody’s night, I don’t want to, but if you’re going to, you don’t want to be in it. I tried to explain to him, “Dude, I’m not that guy.” I don’t want to be known as other guys in the states, and I don’t want to be known as the guy that’s just a hazard. And I have respect for everybody on the gate. We all do this at the highest level and it’s not easy. So, like I told him, I didn’t mean to take both of us down. And like I said, I really think had my hand not got blown off, I think we would’ve been okay. But yeah, we hashed it out. Like I told him, dude, I have respect for Luke and he’s a gamer and he’s good when it comes to race time. Like I said, I want to have good racing with the boys and I want to be able to battle and put on a show for the crowd. I expressed that and yeah, we’re good. It’s just one of those things that I don’t want the animosity to build up and things to boil over when it doesn’t need to. So I was kind of unsure what to do, but I felt like it was best to go over there and just explain it. Obviously, he hadn’t seen it yet. We don’t have time to see anything. I just wanted to give him my perspective that I don’t want to want to ruin his day and I definitely don’t want to ruin my day. So it was one of those things like, again, I think it was a little bit of a racing thing. Yeah, but we’re good and yeah, we’ll go back to work and get ready for Melbourne.

Points-wise for you, this thing looks a lot better. When we get to Melbourne, is this something you can control now?

To be honest, I think had you asked me prior 2017, with Vegas, I probably would have a little bit different of an attitude, but at the end of the day you have to stay on offense. My job doesn’t change. I want to show up and we’ve got some big hitters coming over to race the finale. So I would love to have good starts like I did tonight, and try to learn from Cooper [Webb] and Jett and Hunter [Lawrence] and put on a show for the crowd. So yeah, my strategy doesn’t change, just the field gets a little deeper.

So Joey Savatgy is going to Melbourne with the intentions to not win only the championship, you want to go win a main?

I would love to. I mean, you’re bringing over arguably some of the best guys that we have right now riding a dirt bike, with Jett and Hunter and Coop, and I have a lot of respect for them. They’re bad dudes on dirt bikes. So I’d love nothing more than to show up and at least battle, obviously. I believe in my ability, but I also know that I have a big obstacle to climb to beat those guys. My goal is obviously always to win. But yeah, show up and try to rub elbows with the boys and then put on a show.

For you, for 2025, Firepower Honda in the U.S., this is probably the best scenario you can have, getting this bike, sorting out, getting gate drops. How does this feel coming into 2025? We’re only a couple months out.

Yeah, it’s a good way to do some off-season prep, that’s for sure. I think I did the math, and with all the different formats and everything, I think between Australian and World Supercross, it’s like 34 gate drops. So it’s a lot. I’m going to have a lot of gate drops next year. But yeah, like you said, there’s no better way to really get comfortable racing. And obviously, I know we’re not in the U.S., but to get gate drops and to be around guys in the air and just get acclimated with that. Obviously, I didn’t race supercross last year, so trying to make up for lost time, some would say. There’s no better way to learn a bike and to work on your race craft and just comfortability than to go racing. So yeah, I don’t have a boot camp per se, but we have some sort of camp with all the races that I’m doing.

Last question for me. Is this the best version of Joey Savatgy yet or is it trending in that direction?

I would say we’re trending. To be honest, we have a little bit of a Frankenstein setup. We have my 24 forks and a 25 shock, and it’s just simply due to the fact that I feel like during the week, the tracks are hard pack enough to where I just don’t know that testing is necessarily beneficial for me. I don’t want to chase something that maybe isn’t there. So, we’re learning as far as what the motorcycle does, and the biggest thing for me is I’m learning the clutch release and the feel and the throttle response and the connectivity and all that stuff. Obviously suspension is another story, but I don’t think we’re way off. But at the same time, at Vancouver I got my teeth kicked in a bit and struggled, but I do believe that those were the worst conditions for me. Not racing at all last year and then going headfirst into Vancouver with ruts, you’re dragging the foot pegs up the faces of the jumps and rhythm lanes and stuff. It was tough for me. And definitely some of the flaws of where we’re at right now with the setup was shining a lot more. But we made notes of that and we’ll try to see what Perth brings and try to make the adjustments. But yeah, we have some testing to do for sure, but I’m happy with where I’m at.

We’ll see you at Melbourne. Thanks, Joey.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

SX2

Image: Foremost Media.

Overall winner and still the class leader. Shane McElrath, congratulations on a chaotic night here in Adelaide.

Yeah, honestly, it felt like we were back at round one. It’s like everybody was trying to figure out where they’re at again. And honestly, it was all track condition. That’s what was really tough, the start was pretty short. That’s what we had with this little bit smaller footprint track. And dude, it made the racing really tough. And I knew coming into the weekend it’s going to be tight, close racing the whole time. But dude, we were literally banging bars out there. The whole moto, the first couple motos I’m like, “Dude, I got to separate myself a little bit and seriously play it smart.” I know I have the speed, but it’s like trying to get clean track on a tight track like this is really hard and with only six laps to do it. Yeah, praise the lord. It was a hard-fought win. We battled really every race. In the last one, I finally got some clean air, but it was a battle all night.

Hey, that first main for you, looked like you didn’t have your holeshot button locked in. Was that right?

Yeah, it worked for the site lap and then we went to set it for the actual start and it just snapped. The whole thing broke right when we went to set it. So I didn’t have a holeshot button for the first one. And I honestly still came out pretty good, but the track was fresh going out in the first one. Everybody’s sending it and we’re just sliding around the corners with the track conditions. And I tried cutting down on Cole [Thompson] over there and I just, I nicked his back wheel and that was all my fault with us both going down. Definitely a bummer, but we got to keep fighting until the end and I was happy to regroup after that and just really focus forward and yeah, line up again and do what we got to do.

Take me through that, obviously being able to race your teammates here, who you have another three, four great riders on that team. On a tight track like this, that’s hard.

Yeah, it’s really hard. Yeah, I mean all weekend, we’ve been really close. Yesterday in time qualifier, it’s like Cole, Brodie [Connolly] and myself, we are literally less than two-tenths apart from each other. And same today, it’s like Brodie is really gaining confidence. Cole’s been riding really good and it’s like you have to count him in every single time and Alex [Larwood] is starting to believe in himself and calm down a little bit and really start to race good. Plus, he’s starting really good and that goes a long way. It’s not really just Cole and I anymore. It’s like the younger guys, they have the speed. It’s about controlling the emotion and they’re really starting to figure that out. That’s really tough on a tight track like this.

Hey, one more of these things to go leading into Melbourne. A good points lead for you. Can you control this now?

I believe so. For me, I want to win. I mean, there’s bonus money on the line, and that’s where it’s like my mindset doesn’t really change. It’s like, yes, I’m here to win the championship, but the championship will come by executing the races. I’m looking forward to Melbourne. I think that track’s going to be a lot better, I think it’s going to be a lot like Wollongong. I’ve had a blast there the last two years for the WSX and I’m excited to line up in Melbourne.

Reflection so far for the Australian Supercross season you’ve had has been highs, there’s been lows. It’s about how I think you put the rest of the night together. Is that something where you can stay a bit more calmer, put it together and execute? That seems to be something that you have on your side?

100 percent, and that’s something for me, I’m working on my speed to have it earlier in the day. That’s something that my whole career has lacked a little bit. It’s like my goal is main event time, but it’s like especially tracks like this, you have to start well. I won my heat race yesterday, which was a good start because that was my first heat race win of the year. This track you had to put yourself in a good position. But for me, I’m really growing in maturity, I’m racing better. This is a different series, but I still have to continue to refine my skill and that’s really what I’m having fun doing, racing different guys, different class and I mean everybody races a little different. There’s some young guys that have a lot of speed and I still have to figure out how to outsmart them and outrace them because I may not always be the fastest one.

The expectation for you coming into a season here in Australia, it’s hard to say this, but has this been easier, has this been harder? Or is this what you expected to be faced with?

This is what I expect of myself. Honestly, it’s all about execution. There are some good racers here, but I signed up to win. I get the bonus money for winning and that’s where – it’s not a walk in the park by any means – but I do believe that I can win and I should win as long as I execute how I know how to execute. And that’s where these guys, they definitely keep me honest and I have to continue to execute to continue this.

Two rounds of World Supercross, then we’re straight into Melbourne to see this thing out. Thanks, Shane.

Yes, sir. Thank you.