The third round of the Monster Energy AMA 250SX East championship held in Daytona, Florida was a challenging yet strong night for Triumph Racing’s sole rider, Jalek Swoll, who battled the technical track to finish in a solid seventh position.
Words and Images by Triumph Racing
With Evan Ferry ruled out of action due to his right shoulder injury sustained in Arlington, the team’s full focus was on Swoll – also injured in the previous round – in only the third ever Supercross race for Triumph.
Following a successful global media launch of the series production Triumph TF 250-X earlier in the week, the Triumph Racing team was excited for the challenge of coming to Daytona, one of the most historic tracks of the Supercross season. The track layout for the event was designed by Triumph’s own Ricky Carmichael, the 15-time AMA champion sending the circuit in a different direction than usual, with the hardpack dirt giving way to sections of beach sand. If the most physically challenging track on the calendar wasn’t already hard enough, the weather would also play its part in pushing the riders with its technicality and lines.
Due to pain from the impact of his Arlington race crash, Jalek only swung his leg over the #33 bike on Friday’s press day to give himself maximum recovery time. In the first qualifying session, Swoll placed 10th as riders got used to the tricky mud and sand track.
With rain falling before Qualifying #2 for the 250 class, track conditions became even more difficult with deep ruts forming, although Jalek was able to improve to eighth, giving him 10th overall in terms of fastest laps heading into the heat race. With the rain holding off, the track did improve somewhat and Swoll was able to power his Triumph TF 250-X into fifth at the flag, providing him with a transfer straight into the Main.
As the gates dropped for the Main Event, Swoll made a great launch but was swallowed up by the pack in the 90 degree right-hand Turn 2. Sitting in 10th after the first lap, Jalek and his Triumph TF 250-X would work up to sixth while the rutted track caught many riders out under the Florida floodlights.
As the race panned out, the #33 would slip down a further position and was locked in a battle for seventh in the closing stages of the race with series leader Max Anstie. With the red-plated bike breathing down his neck on the final lap, Jalek rode a defensive and clean lap to hold onto the position by 0.09 seconds.
Jalek Swoll (#33)
“It was fun, but it would have made it more fun with a good start! It feels like a never-ending track with long lap times and the rain made it so technical and gnarly. I think that the race went pretty decent considering how last weekend was and how I’ve felt all week. Honestly, I’m just happy to get through this gnarly night healthy. I’m well capable of being in the top five and fighting for podiums and I’m going to shoot for that still. But to make it out of a night like this, I’ll take it!”
Bobby Hewitt – Triumph Racing Team Principal (US):
“Considering where we were at the end of last week in Dallas, Jalek did really well and showed a lot of character. He did everything he needed to do in order to line up today and we got better as the day went along.
“These first three tracks – Detroit, Arlington, Daytona – are all very different and have told us a lot about the Triumph TF 250-X so far. We’ve got a few areas we’d like to improve and hopefully we’ll find a little more heading into Alabama. It’s a new venue and we don’t know what the dirt will be like. All in all, we’ll take seventh along with the info that we learned and we’ll be better next week.”
Results 250 Supercross East Main Event – Round 3, Florida
1st Tom Vialle (KTM)
2nd Cameron Mcadoo (Kawasaki)
3rd Seth Hammaker (Kawasaki)
7th Jalek Swoll (Triumph)
250 Supercross East Championship after Round 3 of 9
1st Max Anstie (Honda) – 52
2nd Cameron Mcadoo (Kawasaki) – 51
3rd Pierce Brown (GasGas) – 51
12th Jalek Swoll (Triumph) – 31
The 250 East Supercross championship returns to action for Round 4 of the series in Birmingham, Alabama at the Protective Stadium on March 9, 2024.
