Tom Vialle has shown plenty of times in MX2 Grand Prix racing how good he is under pressure and he showed it again on Saturday night in maybe the best supercross ride of his career.
After getting a bad start, Vialle didn’t panic, passed his main title rival, Deegan, and then methodically passed his way into second (with help from Swoll taking out Hammaker) all while keeping a charging Deegan behind and just far enough away that he couldn’t put any take-out moves!
We asked Vialle if his GP experience helps him in those situation and why he is so cold under pressure: “I mean, yes, it can help and not, you know, like it can go either way,” he opined. “So, just trying to stay focused on myself and not really think about that or the other rider. I stay focused on myself during the whole day, during the practice everything. It has always worked pretty good for me, so, I will just try to stay like that during the last race.”
Vialle also mentioned that he was okay with a bad start – once he realised Haiden was around him! But he admitted the race was stressful with the pressure high and Deegan on his tail. “It was actually good because I knew after the start, I knew Haiden was right with me, because when I had the bad start, I was like, ‘Okay, this one is gonna be tough, but I saw actually Haiden was right in front of me, so I was ‘okay, we are together in that.’
“Of course, he was behind me and trying to push, we actually came back from pretty far to the front and I think I had a small gap, like he was really not like close to me to make a move. So, I tried to stay like that. I didn’t really want him to get closer. Was pretty stressful, but I tried to push till the end, and we came back to second and third. So, it was a good race.”
Vialle has a 15 point lead with one round to go, but that one round is of course the East/West shootout that allows more top guys to get inbetween the title contenders and, of course, more Star Yamaha riders on the track.
It still won’t be easy and it still isn’t done, but there are not many riders that are calmer under pressure than Tom Vialle.
