Firepower Honda Max Anstie achieved his first ever AMA Supercross podium finish in Houston and enjoyed a lively discussion at the press conference. Known for his love of talking, he did not disappoint in Houston and engaged with the global media.
The British rider, who has won multiple GP races in the MX2 class in Europe, has displayed enough potential to consider a title win in the AMA 250 East Coast Championship. He is full of information and a popular figure among the global media.
Max Interview –
Max Anstie: Honestly it’s a dream. I’ve waited a long time to be up here and to go up those steps onto the podium. You know, my very first year at Supercross was 2010, I was just 16 years old. I nearly got a podium then and finally, you know, I’ve got it. I grew up watching supercross and it was amazing. And then next year I went back to Europe and I never came back (for years).
It’s been a long time. I’ve been racing MXGP over there and, you know, got into the swing of that. And I had great success. I’ve come back to America, made that move and I’m lucky my family supports it and everything because it’s a big move. It’s not easy and now to be here and on this 250 man, it’s amazing.
It’s a great feeling to be racing these guys to be competitive. Every day I wake up thinking how can I go faster through the whoops or how can I go on-off a bit better or whatever. I love it. Whereas outdoors for me in Europe, I love that too, but I was kind of getting to the point where I knew exactly how the tracks are going to be at every single one. Whereas every day I wake up now thinking, I love supercross and I really enjoy it. I really enjoy being here in America and the whole Firepower team have done a great job.
It’s one of those where we honestly came into here having no idea. I’ve ridden with the Star guys a couple of times and they normally smoke me so I came here thinking top 10 would be nice. I went fastest in practice and I’m not joking I came over the the finish line and I looked at the board to think hopefully I’m like fifth or fourth. I wasn’t on the board and I was bummed. Then I realised I was at the top of the board. I was like “no, that’s got to be wrong” so that was pretty cool. I did it twice. I thought maybe I fluked it in the first one and then I did it twice.
I don’t think I’ve ever done that even in a GP so it was pretty awesome to be honest. My day could have ended after that and I would have been happy (laughs).
Then just to be in the battle, I really enjoyed it. I’ve been around the block a few times, but obviously not in supercross, I’m relatively new to supercross. I’ve only done a handful of 450 rounds due to obviously last year with the team and whatever. It’s one of those where I know the first round is always hectic. I watched A1 and the west coast and there was carnage out there. I just wanted to stay solid and I didn’t want to do anything too silly. I got into second behind Hunter and he had a gap and honestly I just managed it and rode my race. I started thinking about halfway “this is kind of cool, I’m in second. I better not mess this up now” so it was one of those where I just kind of cruised around and kept everything tight and solid.
It’s great for the team. I know it’s only round one so we’ve got a long way to go. But couldn’t have asked for anymore.
Well, according to Lewis Phillips – trusted Supercross and Motocross journalist, Lewis reported today that a 250SX Team protested against Max Anstie Firepower Honda bike that is a 280cc..
For sure all Factory Teams are not happy with Max Anstie and Firepower Honda Privateer team fighting for wins in 2023 Season, Max have the speed and talent to win races with the bike… Maybe could be Star Yamaha with Jordon Smith, because Jordan was on that bike last year and wasn’t as fast as Max this year..
AMA Suprecross Rulebook –
d. Engine displacements are listed in the technical standards
sections for each class. Class displacement limits are absolute,
with no overbore allowance.
e. Bore and Stroke must remain the same as the homologated
model.
Yeah, a source tells me that a team protested Anstie's bike. They think it is a 280.
— Lewis Phillips (@LewisPhillips71) February 5, 2023
