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It was a triumphant stage experienced by Triumph Racing and Jalek Swoll at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. In fact, during the eighth round of the Monster Energy AMA 250SX East Championship, the American rider gave the team its first historic victory in the Heat Race, before confirming the competitiveness of the Triumph TF 250-X, fighting for second place in the Main Event.
Appearing in great form at the penultimate round of the series, held on a very demanding track but with multiple racing lines and combinations of jumps, the 23-year-old from Belleview, Florida, finished 5th overall in the 250 class qualifying, and then arrived at the Heat Race fully aware of his own potential and the one of his Triumph 250-X. Competitiveness that allowed him to lead all eight laps of the race after an excellent start, and thus take his first career win, as well as Triumph's first success, in a Supercross Heat Race.
With the advantage of his choice of starting gate, Swoll lined up for the Main Event aiming for his first podium finish of the year, narrowly missing his third holeshot of the season. Long in third, the Triumph rider had to kiss his podium hopes goodbye in the closing stages of the Main Event when he ran off the track with Seth Hammaker, in an attempt to snatch second place from the latter. Rejoining his opponent on the track, Jalek was able to make a comeback to finish 8th and pick up 14 points for the championship, which will be decided next May 11 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Overall it was a good day. Just to be back winning anything is a big step as it’s been a long time since I won something", Swoll said . "I had a good Main, sitting in a podium position the entire time and with two laps to go I went for a pass on second. The pass I feel was 50/50 and could have gone both ways. I didn’t think it was too rough and felt like he could have seen me. But hey, it’s just a racing thing. We’ve been in the mix all day and I’m proud of myself for that. We’ll keep grinding and try to bring it to Salt Lake!"
Also excited was Bobby Hewitt, Team Principal of Triumph Racing (USA): "Today was great. We made history by winning a Heat Race. Everything Jalek and I talked about working on our intensity throughout qualifying came good. We qualified the best we had all year, won our first Heat Race, and was battling for the podium the entire Main, keeping with the leader. I told Jalek to stop racing to finish fifth but start racing to win, and don’t worry about the results. I’m not upset on any level, he did everything I asked him to do this week. The results were much better and I’m really proud of the work put in by him and the team."
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