Jason Thomas: the 2005 Montreal Supercross winner.

By Jason. T. Griffiths
Photos by Allison Kenndy

With over 50,000 fans cheering on Quebec native and Canada’s champ Jean-Sébastien Roy, American Jason Thomas held him off to win the 2005 Montreal Supercross. Thomas has raced the Montreal event since 1999 and wanted the win badly. The result was one of the best MX1 mains in the recent history of the Montreal SX. We caught up with Thomas after his long-awaited Montreal win.

RXC: How many years have you raced the Montreal Supercross?

Jason Thomas: My first time was in 1999 and then in 2000 I finished second. Then I missed a few years because of 9/11 and then they didn’t bring a lot of Americans in 2001, and then I’ve been here for the last three years.

So it must mean something to you to win this event?
Oh yeah, this is huge for me. Since Glen Helen, I’ve been riding every day for this race. I have the U.S. Open in Vegas next week, but this is a big race for me. It’s one of the few races in the year that I have a chance to actually win. You know how the races are in the U.S., I am battling for tenth or 12^th or whatever.

Is it still tough competition here?

Oh absolutely, absolutely. But at least up here, I have the opportunity to run up front; that’s the thing for me. It makes it so much more motivating for me. I am a lot more willing to work my butt off if I have a chance of winning.

You definitely have the reputation of being one of the hardest working guys out there.

It’s getting to the point now where you have to be. There is so much money to be made and so many young guys coming up and up. If you don’t, you are just going to get bumped out.

Thomas with Quebec's Buddy Ford after his win.

What’s your U.S. ride looking like?

I’m going to stay with Subway/Coca Cola Honda again. It will be my fourth year. I’m happy there. We have a good program. Honda is really good at helping them. I’ll be there another year. We’ll be up in Canada again for the World Supercross rounds.

Who was helping you here this weekend?

Moto Ducharme. Last year I had some problems with my bike. Buddy Ford brings me here. I begged and pleaded with him to help me get a new bike and he came through for me and I came through for Moto Ducharme in the main. It’s just stock. I brought my exhaust, suspension, and a ton of stuff for it.

You set the fastest lap times in practice and people were talking about you being a factor in the main right away.

That was kind of my plan. First practice didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I kind of wanted to make a statement right off the bat—not get in everyone’s heads—but let them know that I was serious about it this year. Before every practice, I was really focused and I really wanted to get that top lap time.

Did you use this race as a warm-up for the season?

Yeah totally. You can practice at home, I’ve got a supercross track and stuff to train at, but you can’t mimic a race, the battle and the intensity. There’s no way to simulate that.

What did it feel like out there when you heard the fans cheering for JSR?

I was telling Buddy, it was like every time I passed someone, about ten second later the crowd would go nuts and I knew JSR had gotten by them too and he was coming. I just kept telling myself, ‘They are cheering for you, they’re just a little bit slow.’ I was trying not to worry about JSR. I knew he would be coming. I got a little gap when I got by Dement and I could see JSR. I knew if I could see him, I’d be alright. It was good.

Congratulations. It’s nice it could happen to a guy who has spent so much time in Montreal.

That’s what I was telling Jeff Dement. I’ve been coming here for so long and I got second that time. I’ve been killing myself up here trying to get a win and it finally happened.