Carson Mumford has been having a standout summer so far in Pro Motocross, finishing consistently in the top ten. Then at Spring Creek he had his breakout moto, finishing third in the moto and even pressuring Levi Kitchen for second at one point. He went 11-3 for fifth overall. Carson was able to back it up this weekend at Washougal with 5-4 moto scores finishing fourth overall. Steve Matthes was able to catch up with Carson after the race this weekend to get his take on the race and his new found confidence.

Racer X: Fourth overall today, you got fifth overall last week. Are you good at Washougal because you’re a Cali kid or how do you feel about this place?
Carson Mumford: I guess I am okay here, but I don’t typically like the track. I’m normally kind of nervous on how high speed it is, the shadows and stuff like that. Today was pretty enjoyable, overcast there were no shadows.

It was the nicest Washougal I have ever been to.
Yeah, I would have to agree. It was an awesome day, went 5-4, really solid. Normally I feel like a 5-4 would land me on the podium but of course the guys ahead of me went 1-2-3, 1-2-3! [laughs] Of course that’s my luck, but it was an awesome day, I passed a lot of good guys. I was solid both motos, it was good.

At one point you were catching Hymas and he was catching Ryder D! Then Ryder D picked it back up but I thought it was going to be a little bit of a battle.
Yeah for sure it was, and I was aware that they got second and third in the first moto and I got fifth in the first moto so I was like, “Alright even if I pass them they’re gonna beat me in the overall so don’t do anything stupid and blow this.” But I was putting on a good charge and got close. It was just like, “Okay just hang onto these guys. It's easy to watch them and stay up there and that should give me a big gap on the guys behind me.” And that’s pretty much what happened.

It was a weird track, I know the overcast helped keep some of the moisture in, but some of those ruts were half a bike deep…
And chattery. There were so many times I would hit a rut and nearly fall off the back of my bike, but then I am like, “Well it's the smoothest line still, so I am still going to come back and hit it the next lap.” So it was pretty challenging, I did have some outside lines that were keeping me fresh, keeping my momentum up. But solid day. Track didn’t change too much from the first moto to the second moto, I basically ran the same lines both motos.

What tires did you run?
I ran the knobby tire all day. I maybe could have ran the paddle tire the first practice, but I was like, “I’m going to commit to this thing, I’m going to learn this tire.” Because I’ve been running the paddle tire all year. So, I did that and just committed to it all day.

You’ve got to learn those edges right?
Yeah exactly. And learn where I can make the time and use the power to my advantage out there. That was kind of my strategy. Team owner was like, “Man, I think you could’ve gotten away with the paddle in the first qualifying session.” But I was just like, “Ahhh, I’m just going to commit to it [knobby].”

After your third last week what was it like for your phone, your socials? Did you sell the Honda 125 yet? [Mumford has been building and selling bikes.]
I did sell the 125, I still have a CR 250. But I did sell a YZ250 from last weekend, one of the guys was just like, “That was so awesome, I want to help you out, I am just going to buy that bike.” I’m like, “You’re the man dude!” I made more money selling that than I did the race, I was stoked.

Yeah, my phone was melting for like a day. I had at least over 100 text messages. Which was cool. It's obviously great, and I did a lot of media stuff, and I am only home from Sunday afternoon until Thursday morning. So, all of that stuff was honestly stressful, but Tuesday I was like, “I am ready to just be back at the race, let’s talk about a different weekend.” Because it was just so much. It was great for me, it was great for the team.

On the flip side of that there’s times where your phone never rang right?
Exactly there’s been so many years where I get two text messages from family members like, “Hey, stick with it man.”

Last year at Quad Lock Honda I was like, “Hey where’s Carson” and they’re like “We don’t know.”
What’s that mean?

It was weird because I was like, “Is he alive, do we know?”
Exactly! So to go from struggles with that whole situation to where I am at now, it is awesome. I mean I had every single rider on the starting gate for practice be like, “Hey dude, awesome job last weekend." It was super cool. I race these guys all of the time and it's the first time I have seen some camaraderie. It's cool, definitely feel like I’m getting a little bit more respect from them. The AMA staff was like, “Hey dude, right on.” Like I never would have expected that, right? So I am definitely enjoying it, it's making these races a little more enjoyable with people being more friendly to me.

And there’s no, “Oh Mumfy got lucky” or whatever because the next weekend you get fourth, so suck it everybody.
So, I had a lot of people reach out and be super supportive, but I also had a lot of people not congratulate me and just say, “Better back it up.” And I was like, “Yikes! I’m going to try.”

But you have been really good all year so backing this up is even more impressive.
For sure and it just was like, so solid. I passed 14 guys the first moto to get to fifth. After the first turn pileup I came up the hill in 19^th. So, to go from that to fifth was pretty impressive. And the second moto I got an eighth-place start. I came around the first turn in eighth I was like, “This is going to be the easiest moto ever, I can for sure get fifth.” So that was really nice and I didn’t have to dig so deep and absolutely wreck my body. It was like a finesse style of track, there was a lot of times I was telling myself, “Focus on half-throttle.” Because you want to make traction. So, I am actually going to enjoy going to dinner. Last weekend I was cramping, like, “Just get me to the hotel! Get me on the plane home!” So, that is nice, I'm feeling good I can socialize with everyone. But yeah, it was an awesome weekend.