i was watching you and kind of commentating on it the rest of the press box was paying attention and everyone clapped when you got over it

so that was good it was it was because it was up on that i mean the worst jump you could probably probably have the bike laying on and i managed to pick it up get it back down and back up so And it was in a difficult spot because nobody could see me from when they came through this hand section.

So obviously that made me, you know, start way back in that first moto.

So I never really got going.

I had to figure out like, The best way to get through these rhythms with the ruts and stuff was just to carry them into them.

So you had to like double through them.

Otherwise, you just started going so slow that it was difficult to balance.

I'd imagine it felt a bit

How

was it? Great, I will say, great.

Had a decent qualifying.

having to get used to the mx suspension again after a week on supercross so that was quite interesting a great feeling to try and feel how that was um got off to a good start first moto put myself in a great position and ran third pretty much all moto made a mistake on the last lap but had a awesome battle with justin justin cooper cooper webb and uh Great finish.

Fourth overall.

Fourth, sorry, in that moto.

Smoked myself.

mellow, but, like,

Um, history has been made.

Yeah.

No, I feel like in many ways, uh, I've accomplished many things, many of the things that I wanted to, when I came over here, both in the 250 class and the 450 class.

And, uh, it's been an amazing, uh, amazing journey.

And today was, uh, yeah, it's just another one of those days where, man, it was, it was awesome.

It's really awesome.

Like, uh, I, I didn't even get the best of starts.

So what was it like actually having him all over you for 30 minutes? You've got a full, I mean, you've kind of been in a Cooper Webb world all summer, but you've got a full experience in that first motor.

mickle do you know that jordan's got pretty radical setup different from you

yeah but i will say um not to say too much but uh i think we've uh I've complimented Jordan as well, and he's set up lately.

I know this coming race, he's going to be making some changes based off of what we did this weekend or leading up to this weekend on my bike.

But that's how it is.

Your teammates, you try and work together.

And they didn't have that during the Supercross season because there was always only one rider, either with Austin or Jordan.

Now we get to complement each other a little bit and help each other out.

And they were like, what the fuck's going on? And like, who cares? But like, yeah, Mikkel, it was really weird for you to

So did anything change to contribute to this or was it just a case of things clicking for the first time?

I told you in that interview we did on Friday, I believe, we made a couple of changes.

Yeah, but so now I look for more than that.

Yeah.

It's how this works.

Uh, I mean, I think just things coming together a little bit.

Some aggression for me on the first couple laps put me in a good position.

So you can be more reckless with testing and not care about your body as much in Europe?

yeah jordan was saying that in the break triumph made a big step he was feeling great a human dealer with the bike so do you feel similar or have the changes that he's made not really applied to what you're looking for

well we've actually gone uh similar direction both me and jordan so on the test check uh we've agreed for quite a lot on on setup but um It didn't fully translate to the race this weekend, last weekend, with the feeling.

But, you know, it's a new bike.

We're going back and forth.

Sometimes you go too far, like we're talking about.

We've gone stiffer and stiffer and stiffer, certain areas, trying to see what the bike likes and doesn't like.

And I think we found sort of a limit to that.

last thing this is deep yeah building on what you just said yeah so next year will be a learning year with a bike and everything yeah but you also had a learning year last year getting used to America and everything yeah learning the year this year getting used to the 450 and everything are you a little bit like I need to get out of the learning years and start

what do you think of washugo do you like it what i mean people love or hate this place today was maybe the best i've seen it but where are you at with this place

Like, experience-wise, I love it.

I think the nature is beautiful.

The track is beautiful.

Riding on it, I seem to struggle here.

It's not been my best weekend here.

But I guess that's just me.

oh there we go

Are you like at all emotional? Not emotional, but are you like, ah, last time I do a lap at Washougal, probably, et cetera, et cetera?

I will say I should probably do it more so.

There's times where we, you know, driving, I mean, driving up here, America's beautiful.

There's so many beautiful places around here.

Reminds you of Trentino, doesn't it? Like the drive-in and stuff? No, for me, the trees was more like Argentinian vibes.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Bariloche vibes, but... yeah, it's, but then again, you have to, you can't fucking sit like, like I am right now.

So I'm just going to do it myself.

It was good, but you could have done better with better starts.

Exactly.

Like you said, um...

I felt like my riding was good all day.

I was a little timid in the first 10 minutes of the first moto.

People were going left and right.

And like you said, I just didn't execute the start.

No, no. Mostyke was

How was the day?

Solid day.

Left a little bit on the table in the time practice.

Didn't hit my mark fully.

Didn't get the leap on my fast laps.

Changed it for the moto, though.

Two solid motos.

Do you know where? Do you know at what point in the corner you're like, okay, I got it, and then where's the last one? Well, that's the

whoever it was in front of

you.

Hampshire and March Bains.

I think you're so good as the Danish Chase Sexton.

Yeah.

I'm like, the only way he's lost that much time...

As if he crashed.

I think Marchbank's APRJ group is where you should be.

The elevation here, anything similar to any MXGP track? I think Turkey was 3,000 feet and this is 5,000 feet.

Yeah, I don't think there's a comparison because you can actually feel it on your breath.

Like when you come out of the airport, you're going to walk and you feel it like when you're breathing.

So I wouldn't say it's comparable, but obviously, you know, the feeling of having a little less power on the bike and stuff like that.

It's just more than that.

I think you could feel it a little bit in Turkey.

Maybe a little bit, but I don't feel it.

Did you

How was the day?

Today was good.

Uh, I actually struggled a little bit in time practice, not, not, not like with my feeling, but just pace.

Uh, I think I was riding a little bit too much within my comfort zone.

Uh, so sort of a mid, uh, time practice, I think I was 13th.

Uh, but for the first moto, I got off to a great start, ran, ran a top five for a lot of the race.

Finished seventh, which, uh, I think we, uh, we're very proud of at this point of the s- season.

[laughs]

Did you have a similar sort of experience?

No.

I, I ran the same lines.

I, but I just had s- so much fun passing people.

It was, I mean, it pretty much the first time I'm passing people in a 450.

[laughs] So, so that's kinda cool and, uh, I actually felt really good.

The, the team did a good job in between these two rounds to, to help me with the bike, and actually also on the weekend we make a few, few adjustments, and I cannot wait to see how that's gonna feel like on the next coming rounds as well

Run me through the changes you made this week, and then the changes you made today

[laughs]

Yeah.

Yeah, I, I enjoyed myself.

I, I, I actually surprised myself a little bit, not that I knew we, we have a great bike, and, uh...

But making it work in the race situation's different.

Yep.

So they're gonna try and give it a go during the week, see if we can, if we can improve on that.

Uh, but other than that, we're gonna keep it the same.

Right?

Yeah.

I, I would say so.

Good would be the word to, from this weekend.

I mean, uh, there's definitely things I'm gonna try and improve on.

Like last year, I mean, I'm starting out a little slow.

Uh, and this track beats you up a little that you, you, you gotta, you gotta work for it in a way.

Uh, what improvements on the bike? Where are you feeling it not cooperating?