Cycle News

INTERVIEW TEAM HONDA HRC'S COLE SEELY P70 air forks and his results immediately improved, and he went on to win the final MX round in Salt Lake City. Seely, however, prefers the Showa units. "I tried the KYB setup, but I've been so comfortable with my Showa stuff that I didn't really feel it was necessary to transfer over," said Seely. "I wasn't really searching for something. I was already happy with my Showa stuff. I just tried >>DAN ON COLE Dan Bentley is the manager for the Honda 450 HRC Team, and he sees a lot of potential in the young rider, Seely. That's why he put Seely on their 450 as a fill-in rider for a few races last year, and he certainly liked what he saw and eventually offered him a full-time job on the factory-backed 450 team. We recently sat down with Bentley at the St. Louis Su- percross and chatted with him a bit about the team's new rising star. Seely isn't completely new to Honda, however, he has been on their radar for years as a 250 rider. Seely rode a Honda under the guidance of the Troy Lee Designs squad, so when the fill-in opportunity came about in 2014, Seely was their first choice. And it turned out to be a good choice. Cole turned a lot of heads when he made his 450-class debut last year. He did very well for us as a fill-in rider. And more than that, he actually did some testing for us prior. So he was always on the radar as we were going to bring somebody in to the team. But he obviously has the talent. We felt that he was a better 450 rider than a 250 rider because of his riding technique. He's very smooth and he rides the 450 in the powerband where it needs to be ridden. I think because of his BMX background he's very good on a Supercross track and he sees a lot of what needs to seen as far as going fast. He has a very good tech- nique and he's very easy on the equipment. Not only is Cole gell- ing with the 450, but with the team, as well. At least that's what it seems from the outside. What I really like, what Cole has brought to this team on top of the results is the camaraderie that we have right now within this team, how everyone gels within the team. Everybody works together and helps each other. Trey and Cole are actually very close and they're friends. Each one of those guys has their own rider coach. He uses Jeff Ward; Trey uses Timmy Ferry. But there's an interaction between all four of those guys, including our staff, to get those guys to the top of the leaderboard, and it works. It's working right now. Just the way everybody works together as a team is way better than it's been. This is starting my third year and it's the best it's been so far. It's obvious he's close to getting a win. What is the next step that he needs to make? That's a good question. He's gaining the confi- dence. Once he breaks through I think he's going to [break through]. It always seems that's what happens with the riders. They break though, they have that first win, and then they can start clicking them off because they believe in themselves. He believes in himself now that he belongs on the podium and now he's on the podium, doing that consistently every week. The next step is for him to get a win and from there he should just then believe that he deserves it. His times week in and week out are within 10ths, and he's an excellent starter. So he's right there at the beginning and he can run the pace. He's actually in great physi- One of Seely's top qualities as a racer is his ability to adapt to race tracks quickly.

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