Maximus Vohland on DNQ | 2023 Anaheim 2 Supercross 3

There is a lot of pressure on a factory rider, especially one who sits beneath an awning as prestigious as that of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. Some of the 250SX class riders are still just kids though and Maximus Vohland is no exception, as he is barely an adult at the age of nineteen. Although he is in the third year of his contract, he has only lined up at six professional supercross races. Injuries have been the story of his career thus far and there was more heartbreak in San Diego last week – he fell on the restart after a red flag was thrown in his heat race, crashed out of a transfer position in the last chance qualifier and ultimately missed the main. Now, one week on with the dust settled, Vital MX caught up with the 'orange' rider to discuss the tough night and how easy it is to reset.

Jamie Guida, Vital MX: We are here at Anaheim 2, on press day, and I have to bring up last week. You had some issues during the staggered restart and then the LCQ. I have to be honest – I feel it was a bit of immaturity. You were impatient, maybe overly excited?

Maximus Vohland: Honestly, I felt good riding all day. Even in the races, I just made a couple of mental errors. The one that really cost me was, of course, that restart in the heat race and then the LCQ was just a mistake. I was making clean passes through the pack. I had just passed two dudes in the same lap and then, yeah, I messed up a rhythm. I mistimed it, cased the first, went long in the next and then landed right in a rut. It kind of compressed and shot me off the track. I mean, it just happens with racing. I'm looking forward to being back here in Anaheim. I did good here at the first round, so it feels like I'm back at the first round again but for another try. Yeah, I'm not too bummed about it. Of course, it wasn't not a good result. I've definitely worked this week on mental and physical stuff to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

When I say immature, I don't mean that being ugly. I just mean you are young and the adrenaline is flowing. It's hard to be patient. You came in at Mach 10 on the restart and weren't really expecting those guys to be going so slow, and then grabbed tons of front brake.

Yeah, yeah. It's just what it was. I expected the guys to race into the corner. I kind of mentally psyched myself out before the restart. I was like, “I'm racing into this corner and will just stay super close or tight and try to get as many spots as I can in three laps" instead of just being calm and realizing I was in ninth. I just need to make it in for the main, because that's all that matters anyways. You know, lesson learned. I definitely don't have as many gate drops as other dudes out there. We're learning as we go and it's just one mistake. Let's just try to minimize it.

When you said you worked on mental stuff, what does that mean? What did that consist of?

Just really focusing on putting it behind me. To really forget about it and just focus in more on mental prep, like riding my stationary bike and really envisioning and trying to prepare myself properly for this weekend.

Were there any words from Ian [Harrison] or Roger [DeCoster] post San Diego?

Not a lot. They didn't really dig into me too much. You know, sometimes you have a bad weekend and you hear a lot. Sometimes it's quiet. You don't know which one is worse, but I'll take what I've got and let's just try to make it good this weekend. If I get a good result here then everyone forgets about it. You are only as good as your last race, so let's just focus on that.