Coming Home
After five years on the global MXGP circuit, Thomas Covington is finally back in America and ready for a new challenge in Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Coming Home
WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS
PHOTOS: RICH SHEPHERD, JEFF KARDAS & SIMON CUDBY
AS THE MINNESOTA winter swirls outside and temperatures are at a single digit at best, a group of seasoned veterans sit together in a narrow corridor beneath the grandstands of U.S. Bank Stadium. Forced to pit inside due to the elements and space constraints, they’re all waiting for practice to begin at the sixth round of 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross—also the opening round of the 250SX East Region. Each of these seasoned racers has arrived in Minneapolis via diverse career paths. The most senior among them, Chad Reed, grew up in Australia, had a two-year layover in Belgium, then came to America in 2002. Dean Wilson’s family emigrated from Scotland to Canada and then down into the U.S. before he turned pro in 2010. Alex Martin, who grew up in Minnesota, came through the privateer ranks, racing for a sundry of teams since 2008, though his stints with privateer squads like the notoriously lean Eleven-10 Mods were worlds away from where he is today with the JGRMX/Yoshimura Suzuki team.
After five years on the global MXGP circuit, Thomas Covington is finally back in America and ready for a new challenge in Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Coming Home
WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS
PHOTOS: RICH SHEPHERD, JEFF KARDAS & SIMON CUDBY
AS THE MINNESOTA winter swirls outside and temperatures are at a single digit at best, a group of seasoned veterans sit together in a narrow corridor beneath the grandstands of U.S. Bank Stadium. Forced to pit inside due to the elements and space constraints, they’re all waiting for practice to begin at the sixth round of 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross—also the opening round of the 250SX East Region. Each of these seasoned racers has arrived in Minneapolis via diverse career paths. The most senior among them, Chad Reed, grew up in Australia, had a two-year layover in Belgium, then came to America in 2002. Dean Wilson’s family emigrated from Scotland to Canada and then down into the U.S. before he turned pro in 2010. Alex Martin, who grew up in Minnesota, came through the privateer ranks, racing for a sundry of teams since 2008, though his stints with privateer squads like the notoriously lean Eleven-10 Mods were worlds away from where he is today with the JGRMX/Yoshimura Suzuki team.
I’ve left some teeth out there, a good bit of blood on the track. I’ve been having a tough couple of months, just trying to learn as quick as I can.”
THOMAS COVINGTON
J

ust across the hallway, sitting on a folding chair in front of a glass refrigerator, is another veteran, though this one is brand new to supercross. Thomas Covington grew up in Alabama, doing all the big amateur races across America. He had some success, winning three times at Loretta Lynn’s, but when he turned pro in 2014, there were no good rides waiting for him. So he packed his bags and headed to Europe that spring to try a couple of MX2 Grand Prix races with a French-based Kawasaki team. They were impressed enough to sign him for the rest of the season. Two years later, Covington won the Mexican Grand Prix, then moved to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna in Belgium, where he added more wins. Covington stayed on the FIM World Championship circuit for five years with decent success before finally inking a deal to return this season with the AMA version of Husqvarna’s factory team. Now here he is, 22 years old and probably the most seasoned and well-traveled rookie in the history of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, ready to finally make his debut.

“This actually feels like one of our fly-away races in MXGP,” Covington says as he sits in next to his British girlfriend, Amy Lou. “You pack everything in a box and it gets shipped somewhere, and then you work out of it all weekend next to everyone else. . . . But at the same time, this is all just so different.”

“It feels kind of strange, really, to be at a race inside a stadium in America, watching Thomas race without having to travel across an ocean, wondering what weird thing I’m going to eat tonight for dinner,” jokes Mitch Covington, Thomas’ father (and an executive at the Monster Energy Beverage Corporation), while waiting for practice to start. “Supercross is just such a different style even than we’ve done the last five or six years. We’ve never raced inside a stadium like this before, or had a one-day event where it all happens so quickly. This is a whole different experience. So we’re just looking forward to just learning the MO of the day, the routine and all the things you have to deal with. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to be in his shoes, being in a big stadium in front of all these people on a real supercross track. It’s just so much different than what he’s used to.”

After five years of racing on the MXGP circuits, Rockstar Husqvarna’s Thomas Covington found himself spending the last six months learning how to master true supercross whoops for the first time as he prepared to make his Monster Energy AMA Supercross debut. Several crashes and two front teeth later, Covington was still trying to figure them out.
Thomas Covington
Thomas Covington
Covington was one of several promising minicycle riders (64) when he was growing up in Alabama, but he didn’t find a good ride here and went off to Europe instead. With steady improvement, he reached the point where he was winning MX2 Grand Prix races and was even chosen to ride for Team USA in the 2017 FIM Motocross of Nations (top), all before ever setting a wheel on an AMA Supercross track.
When asked what kind of advice he was able to offer his son, Mr. Covington replies, “Really just where he’s going to live once he came back, where he was going to ride and train—just that kind of stuff, because I’ve never ridden on a supercross track in my entire life. I know absolutely nothing about it. But he’s on a very high-level team, and I’m sure they can tell him better than I can.

“And I have absolutely no expectations,” he adds. “If he just makes the main, we’ll be the happiest family here, because we really don’t expect that much. He’s been banged up quite a bit trying to learn this sport, and he’s still learning. This is going to be a great experience for him. Regardless of how he comes out of this, he will walk away having learned a great deal from just having his first experience with supercross, because there’s no replacement from actually coming here and experiencing it yourself.”

W

hen anyone rides in a stadium for the first time, one of the first things they realize is how much narrower the racetrack feels than a practice track, where there aren’t wall-to-wall Tuff Blox, no overhead structures or scoreboards, and thus plenty of room to just ride off the sides of the track when mistakes are made. A true racetrack makes for a real fishbowl feeling for first-time competitors, and Covington is admittedly feeling it.

“Everything is a little tighter than I expected, even a little slower speed than I thought it was going to be,” he says, adding that the track he had been riding on in Florida was a little faster and easier. “Hence, this [is] a little more technical and the ground is just super sticky. There’s just no wheelspin out there right now. I’m hooking up everywhere, and that’s something that I’m not really used to.”

Thomas Covington
Covington was one of several promising minicycle riders (64) when he was growing up in Alabama, but he didn’t find a good ride here and went off to Europe instead. With steady improvement, he reached the point where he was winning MX2 Grand Prix races and was even chosen to ride for Team USA in the 2017 FIM Motocross of Nations (top), all before ever setting a wheel on an AMA Supercross track.
When asked what kind of advice he was able to offer his son, Mr. Covington replies, “Really just where he’s going to live once he came back, where he was going to ride and train—just that kind of stuff, because I’ve never ridden on a supercross track in my entire life. I know absolutely nothing about it. But he’s on a very high-level team, and I’m sure they can tell him better than I can.

“And I have absolutely no expectations,” he adds. “If he just makes the main, we’ll be the happiest family here, because we really don’t expect that much. He’s been banged up quite a bit trying to learn this sport, and he’s still learning. This is going to be a great experience for him. Regardless of how he comes out of this, he will walk away having learned a great deal from just having his first experience with supercross, because there’s no replacement from actually coming here and experiencing it yourself.”

W

hen anyone rides in a stadium for the first time, one of the first things they realize is how much narrower the racetrack feels than a practice track, where there aren’t wall-to-wall Tuff Blox, no overhead structures or scoreboards, and thus plenty of room to just ride off the sides of the track when mistakes are made. A true racetrack makes for a real fishbowl feeling for first-time competitors, and Covington is admittedly feeling it.

“Everything is a little tighter than I expected, even a little slower speed than I thought it was going to be,” he says, adding that the track he had been riding on in Florida was a little faster and easier. “Hence, this [is] a little more technical and the ground is just super sticky. There’s just no wheelspin out there right now. I’m hooking up everywhere, and that’s something that I’m not really used to.”

Covington’s first day as a supercross racer saw him garner a lot of attention from the media (below) as well as some serious competition and a quick education. After a few missteps in afternoon qualifying, he came to life when the starting gate dropped on his first heat race, qualifying directly to his first main event.

Thomas Covington
“The thing with Thomas is he grew up here watching and more than likely attending supercross races, but everything looks and feels so much different from the stands or even walking the track,” Reed offers from the JGRMX Suzuki section of the hallway. “Once you get your first chance at throwing on boots and a helmet, it’s such a different experience. . . . The track is typically way tighter than you ever imagined, they get beat down more than you anticipated, and the seasoned guys are better than you thought. It’s not easy out there.”

O

nly a week before the Minneapolis opener, Covington moved to Tallahassee, Florida, got a townhouse, and began training at the Carmichael GOAT Farm with Ricky’s mom, Jeannie Carmichael. Now he’s sporting a fat upper lip and two new front teeth after going down hard in the whoops that same week.

“I’ve left some teeth out there, a good bit of blood on the track,” he says. “I’ve been having a tough couple of months, just trying to learn as quick as I can. But I guess that’s part of it—you just have to push yourself a little bit to get comfortable.

“Jeannie has been pushing him really hard, which is great,” Mitch Covington says. “But Thomas is a very mature, methodical rider. I don’t expect him to push that much on the track, because the expectations are not that high. We just wanted to get through this thing healthy, gradually, instead of shocking the world tonight.”

Thomas himself admits, “I’m just glad I made it here healthy to the first one tonight, and I’m hoping to make it through the whole season that way.”

Covington isn’t the only MXGP rider who moved to America in 2019, but he is the only one racing in Minneapolis. Fellow GP winner Hunter Lawrence was set to make his debut with GEICO Honda in U.S. Bank Stadium, but he didn’t make it through the preseason, crashing hard and injuring his collarbone twice. The Australian and his team have already pivoted toward the start of the outdoors in May, though they do hope he can get a few SX races under his belt so he knows what to expect in 2020.

Thomas Covington

Covington’s first day as a supercross racer saw him garner a lot of attention from the media (below) as well as some serious competition and a quick education. After a few missteps in afternoon qualifying, he came to life when the starting gate dropped on his first heat race, qualifying directly to his first main event.

“The thing with Thomas is he grew up here watching and more than likely attending supercross races, but everything looks and feels so much different from the stands or even walking the track,” Reed offers from the JGRMX Suzuki section of the hallway. “Once you get your first chance at throwing on boots and a helmet, it’s such a different experience. . . . The track is typically way tighter than you ever imagined, they get beat down more than you anticipated, and the seasoned guys are better than you thought. It’s not easy out there.”

O

nly a week before the Minneapolis opener, Covington moved to Tallahassee, Florida, got a townhouse, and began training at the Carmichael GOAT Farm with Ricky’s mom, Jeannie Carmichael. Now he’s sporting a fat upper lip and two new front teeth after going down hard in the whoops that same week.

“I’ve left some teeth out there, a good bit of blood on the track,” he says. “I’ve been having a tough couple of months, just trying to learn as quick as I can. But I guess that’s part of it—you just have to push yourself a little bit to get comfortable.

“Jeannie has been pushing him really hard, which is great,” Mitch Covington says. “But Thomas is a very mature, methodical rider. I don’t expect him to push that much on the track, because the expectations are not that high. We just wanted to get through this thing healthy, gradually, instead of shocking the world tonight.”

Thomas himself admits, “I’m just glad I made it here healthy to the first one tonight, and I’m hoping to make it through the whole season that way.”

Covington isn’t the only MXGP rider who moved to America in 2019, but he is the only one racing in Minneapolis. Fellow GP winner Hunter Lawrence was set to make his debut with GEICO Honda in U.S. Bank Stadium, but he didn’t make it through the preseason, crashing hard and injuring his collarbone twice. The Australian and his team have already pivoted toward the start of the outdoors in May, though they do hope he can get a few SX races under his belt so he knows what to expect in 2020.

THE LONE AMERICAN
Darian Sanayei
When the 2019 FIM Motocross World Championship begins in March, there will be just one American rider in the mix. Like Thomas Covington, Washington’s Darian Sanayei’s career path has been much different than those of most young prospects. He also went to Europe to compete, first lining up a deal to race in the EMX2 development series, then moving up to MX2 in 2018, racing only three rounds before a knee injury ended his season. Still, Sanayei showed enough speed in those six motos—he was on the podium twice—to be offered an extension with the Bike It DRT Kawasaki team for 2019.

Like Covington, Sanayei is set up in Belgium—Europe’s epicenter for motocross racing—and working out with former GP contender Joel Roelants. They’ve been working together in the new year, despite what was a long and cold winter there.

“Everything is going pretty good so far, though I haven’t got a lot of time on the bike,” Sanayei told us in early February. “I’ve only rode one time thus far in ’19, and that was at Lommel and the track was frozen. I wouldn’t say that I’m behind or anything, but that lack of time on the bike, I think that in the long run that’ll help me because it’s such a long season.”

MXGP runs from early March through late September with 20 stops along the way, including flyaway races in Argentina, Indonesia, Russia, and, beginning this year, China. Sanayei is hoping to become the first American to win an FIM World Championship since Bob Moore in 1994. No matter how this season turns out, though, he has a big decision to make for 2020: Darian will soon be 23, and thus too old to stay in MX2.

“It’s a little bit of a win-win for me: either I stay and I race in MXGP [450] in Europe in 2019 or I start my career in America,” he says. “If everything goes to plan, I want to kill it this year. Then, after this year, I’ll decide where I want to go.” In the meantime, Sanayei says he’s proud to be the lone American on the circuit, adding, “I think that’s going to help me a little bit and give me a little bit of a kick in the butt sometimes.”

Covington and his mechanic, Patrick Thrall, wait to roll out in Minneapolis for the 250SX East opener. Their night would end with an eleventh-place finish in the main event, a modest result for a former MXGP contender but a good start to his AMA Supercross career.
C

ovington’s first time on the track is Group A free practice, and he ends up 19th out of 21 riders, though his best lap is his last. He’s impressive in places, but only for a section or two at a time. When asked how it’s going, he gives a wincing smile.

“It’s going all right,” he says. “I’m still in one piece, haven’t hit the dirt yet, so that’s good! I’m just trying to shake out the nerves, maybe relax a little bit out there—that’s what I’m missing so far. I have all of the combinations down in the rhythm sections, and now I’m just trying to put it all together. I think I’m too focused on clearing everything just right, getting everything down. Now I need to put the whole track together.”

If Covington sounds uncertain, it’s because deep down he admittedly is. Supercross is not something he’s ever done—at least not in the true sense of the word. Nowhere else on earth will you find a track with teeth as sharp as Monster Energy AMA Supercross, nor will you find the spotlights shining brighter on the visor of your helmet. Sure, there are smaller versions around the world in supercross outposts like Australia and France, but nothing with the unforgiving intensity of the real deal. And despite having raced at the professional level for five years, in races as big as the Motocross of Nations, this is the first time he’s ever done it with a roof over his head in a U.S. stadium. “It’s a whole new world for me,” he says. “It’s going to take some time for me to learn it.”

Later in the afternoon, by the end of qualifying, when the A and B groups are combined, Covington actually moves up to 18th overall, though he’s two and a half seconds behind the fastest time of Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner.

“There is a whole different mindset here,” he says. “I mean, you have to be on it right from the start here, and the whole day too.”

T

he main event is relatively uneventful for Covington. While Forkner rides off with the win, Covington starts off in the top ten, slips back a few spots, then ends up right in the middle with 11th, one spot behind #55 Kyle Peters and one ahead of #56 Lorenzo Locurcio. He’s the last rider to finish on the lead lap, albeit 45 seconds behind the winner.

“All things considered, it was a decent weekend for Thomas,” Ricky Carmichael himself offers. “Not a lot of time on a supercross track ever, and not an ideal week leading up to the race, but he made the best of it and did well. Most importantly, it was a great learning weekend for him and he got out safe, and hopefully he’ll continue to build on the lessons learned.”

“I think Thomas did an amazing job on taking each session to progress and learn,” Reed says. “So close to a top-ten with no real major issues is a great starting point.”

“It was a solid first weekend for me,” a relieved Covington says when it’s all over, knowing he’s a week closer to making it to the outdoors healthy, where expectations will be much higher. “I was definitely a little bit nervous and tight throughout the whole day, but each session got a little bit better. In the main event, I just went out and had as much fun as I could out there, and it turned out pretty good. I was happy with how the bike was working and everything, just have to get back to work this week and hopefully progress next weekend.”

O

ne week after his baptism by fire in Minneapolis, Covington has a slow-motion train wreck of a night in Arlington. After qualifying 25th in the afternoon, he struggles in his heat race and goes a lap down. He starts up front in the LCQ but can’t find the speed or rhythm to stay ahead of a pack of hungry privateers. He drops back as far as eighth before finishing seventh, three spots shy of where he needs to be to qualify for the main event.

If the immensity of the challenge that Thomas Covington is undertaking—switching from the speed and flow of MXGP to the cutthroat, technical ballet of AMA Supercross—wasn’t fully in focus that first night in Minneapolis, it certainly is in Arlington. Austin Forkner wins again, only this time Covington isn’t out there racing with him. Still, it’s another lesson learned for the oldest, most seasoned rookie in supercross.

In Arlington one week later, Covington seemed to take a step backward, having trouble piecing together a tricky section that threw him off his rhythm. He struggled in both his heat race and LCQ and failed to make the main event, though he did call his second whack at supercross “another lesson learned.”
In Arlington one week later, Covington seemed to take a step backward, having trouble piecing together a tricky section that threw him off his rhythm. He struggled in both his heat race and LCQ and failed to make the main event, though he did call his second whack at supercross “another lesson learned.”