KTM Canada Presents MXP Chatter With Cole Thompson

With a Triple Crown Tour title to start off the year, as well as a moto win at the opening round of the MXTour in Calgary, 2019 began well for Cole Thompson. However, after some bad luck in Prince George and Manitoba, Cole suffered a back injury prior to Round 4 at Gopher Dunes. From that point on the season was an up and down affair and most certainly not what he envisioned it to be. To his credit, he never gave up and found a way to grab two more race wins at Walton Raceway and Quebec City before the season came to an end. After the final round of the Triple Crown Series in Hamilton, Cole took some time off before posting on Social Media just how injured he was in the latter part of the season. With the off-season now two months old, we decided to give Cole a call to see how things were going and how he was feeling.

MXP: Hey Cole, good to chat with you. Are you currently at home or down south enjoying some nice weather?

CT: Right now, we’re down south at Chloe’s sister’s place. We stayed here last winter for a bit and liked it so we’re back now. There are a few good tracks nearby so it’s a good spot for riding.

Well, anything is better than being stuck here in the cold. Not long ago you made a pretty substantial post on Social Media regarding the extent of your injuries during the SXTour. You were definitely banged up!

Yes, the second half of the season wasn’t great, for sure. I had the back injury in the summer, then my ankle was injured towards the end of the MXTour, and then at the final round in Hamilton I ended up breaking my thumb. So yeah, definitely not what we were looking for, but that stuff happens.

Your post explained it pretty well I thought. I recall watching you ride in Montreal and you didn’t look like yourself. It wasn’t one particular section or anything, just overall it didn’t look like you were charging.

With my ankle it made it really difficult to ride and grip the bike, also I had to pretty much ride on my heel as I couldn’t put weight on the balls of my feet. As you know it’s almost impossible to ride like that, especially indoors. Then I made that bonehead move and ended up cutting the track during the start, which didn’t help matters. From the mid-way point of the summer on it was just a bad deal and I knew it wouldn’t improve until I could take some time off.

Since you brought up Montreal and the track cutting incident, I don’t think there was any question about the track cutting and the penalty assessed afterwards. In the days after the race you appealed the penalty, and in an unprecedented move, you received an even stiffer penalty. First off, what made you roll the dice and appeal, and second, how did you feel after getting a more serious penalty?

Well, looking back, I obviously shouldn’t have bothered to appeal it. When this process was introduced last year we were never made aware that if we appealed something then we would run the risk of having it go even worse. That’s BS to me and I can’t believe they can do that. I guess I was going off of what happened to Nicoletti at SDL and his penalty; he appealed it and it was reduced. So, I took the chance and it didn’t work out.

I think everyone in the industry was surprised that your penalty got worse. You should’ve appealed the appeal ruling.

I was so disgusted with everything after, so I was over it. Even the way they showed me cutting the track in the press release with the frame by frame photos of the incident, it was so disrespectful, in my opinion. Anyway, we then went to Quebec City and I get protested there, not an official protest mind you, just a few teams expressing that they weren’t happy with my pass on Nicoletti in the closing laps. Apparently, it’s not enough these days to have the tribunal review it. It was just one thing after another, and I was glad to get the season over with.

Your season definitely didn’t end well. However, going back to Calgary and the opening round of the MXTour, you came out swinging at Round 1.

Winning an outdoor 450 title means so much to me, and I worked really hard during the winter to be ready. In Calgary, I felt great. During the second moto I passed a few riders and then rode away to win. It was great start to the series, and I took that momentum into Prince George. In the first moto at Round 2 I got the holeshot and was pulling away. I felt smooth and in control then I went into a tight corner that had a deep rut in it and my chain derailed. From there, it was just a panic to try to get it back on and try to finish.

Thankfully that doesn’t happen very often, but we have seen it in Canada a few times; Matt Goerke in Moncton comes to mind. Other than panic, as you said, what the heck goes through your mind in that situation?

Well, about a million things actually (laughs). I just remember thinking that I had to get my bike into neutral so I could roll it and try to get the chain back on. At the same time, I was thinking that if I could just get back into the race then I would be able to score some okay points. Finally, I was able to get the chain back on and was able to return to the race. It was just a tough deal and I was lucky to get out of that day with some points.

You mentioned how important it is to you to win a 450 MXTour title. If you take away that chain incident in PG and that crash while leading on the opening lap in the mud at Round 3, you would have taken the red plate into the east and the rest of the series could’ve been different.

True, it definitely would’ve given me some more momentum heading into Gopher Dunes. Instead, I went into the east feeling like I gave away so much in the west. It wasn’t a good feeling, and then my back began to give me trouble. At that point it was like, “What’s going to happened next?” We battled hard through the east and I’m proud that we made it to the end.

With your sore back and your hard crash at Deschambault, winning that opening moto at Walton Raceway must have made you feel good?

That one was pretty unexpected, for sure, especially with how I was feeling. I rode a few times in between Quebec and Walton but I wasn’t feeling too good. Actually, right up until Walton I wasn’t even sure that I was going to race but we decided to give it a go. I felt decent in practice and in qualifying, but certainly not good enough to win. In that first moto I was able to get out front and from there I just rode my own race. I kept waiting for someone to catch me, but no one did and I was able to win. It was just one of those motos where everything comes so easy. My lines were good, my speed was good, everything felt in slow motion and effortless.

Those motos are the best!

Yeah, too bad they don’t happen more often.

You weren’t able to win the overall at Walton, but still a moto win was a great way to finish a challenging series. Looking ahead now to next year, what is your plan over the next few months?

Right now, I’m still relaxing and in off-season mode. In a few weeks I’ll begin riding, and then once we’re into the new year I’ll start grinding and getting ready for the 2020 Triple Crown Series.

It sounds as though you have a good plan and you’re motivated for next year. Will we see you race any events prior to the opening round of the AXTour in Sarnia, maybe the Daytona SX?

I’d love to race Daytona in 2020 as it’s such a cool event. I almost raced it this year but I didn’t quite have my race set-up all sorted out. Right now, I’d say maybe for Daytona, it would definitely be fun to go and race.

Well Cole, thanks for taking the time to chat. I hope you and Chloe have a great holiday season and I hope Santa is good to you both. 

Thanks for calling Palms, it was good to hear from you, and Merry Christmas to you and your family. I also want to add that I’m super excited for 2020 and the chance to prove all my doubters wrong. I took a lot of uncalled for shots this past season and I will do everything possible during this off-season to be ready to race next year!