Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 14 APRIL 7, 2015 P73 there are and how many big names there are. I'm mostly thankful for it, but I'm a little surprised at how well it's gone, especially the past six weekends, I've been in the top four, five out of the past six weekends. I'm stoked on it. Comparing myself to Ander- son, I lost the championship to him from five points last year. We're always going to have that rivalry, but we get along really well off the track, but on the track we have that rivalry of being compared to each other. He's a good rider, so that's fine with me." However, this year, Seely has been so much more consistent than Anderson. "Yeah, for sure," says Seely. "Different class, different bike, more racing. There's a ton of vari- ables to it." Anderson might have adjusted quicker to the bigger bike, but Seely seems to be really at home on it. "It's definitely more bike, more laps, more competition. It's a handful for sure. It's a whole other world out there. It's been tough," says Seely. "Each weekend I'm still learning and making it easier on myself, feeling more comfortable out front and all that stuff. It all helps. But it's been a crazy experience. I think the more comfortable I get with being within the top three or top four or top two, whatever it may be, it's going to help when I get a holeshot and I'm able to lead. I'll have that comfort and be able to hang on for all 20 laps. "If anything I've been able to ride more how I want to ride," says Seely. "The 250 you're so strung out and the thing's on the limiter pretty much the whole time you're racing it. I don't like to ride like that. I like to have good throttle control and really be able to finesse the bike and all that stuff. The 450 has allowed me to do that because it's so powerful. I don't need to be high in the RPMs, I can rev the thing, I can short shift it and really ride it how I want to. If anything, I haven't really had to adjust to it, I've been able to just ride how I want to ride it. I'm a lot more comfortable on it." Now that the season has started, Seely says it's baby steps now, just small changes made dur- ing the week that make the difference. "It's small things, nothing too drastic," says Seely. "I'm not too picky when it comes to setup, so if there's something they see and they want to try during the week then we'll try it. But I've never come back from a test or a race like, this bike sucks, I want to test, and I want to change stuff. It's more them saying, we think the bike can be better here, better there, let's try something. That's the only reason we've changed anything is from them wanting to try stuff. These guys are re- ally knowledgeable and have a lot of experience. Usually it ends up working out and they're right and my setup's perfect week to week." Still not exactly a household name, Cole Seely is definitely noticing more people coming up to him asking for autographs. "I think being a 450 guy and being on TV every weekend and getting more press and all that stuff is definitely making the lines longer for auto- graphs and all that," says Seely. "And I've got Trey Canard as my teammate, so everyone wants to get his signature. That's always a plus. But yeah, I feel like I'm getting more recognition and a lot more people are learning who I am and all that stuff. Even during opening ceremonies I get more cheers week to week." CN Here's a warning to his competitors: Seely says he'll be even better next year.

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