Houston 's Press Day featured a couple of riders from a new team based out of the west called Wyvern Motorsports.  Cole Sielber is the team's veteran, and the second of the 450 supercross riders is a 4-stroke national champion that went right to 450s after just one season in Lites, Leighton Lillie.

Siebler and Lillie spent the day riding for TV and newspaper cameras and talking about supercross to curious local media, and one that flew in from St Louis just to learn about the sport.

Cole Siebler

Q: What's going on at press today?

A: I'm Cole Siebler, at supercross press day for Wyvern Motorsports. It's a new team for 2007.

Q: Supercross only?

A: We are working on it and it sounds positive to race outdoors too. Our team is Leighton Lillie, SX, and Daryl Ecklund, Lites East. Daryl was going to ride west regional but he hurt his knee before the first so he moved to east coast.

Our season is up and down. The Canadian rounds went really well, with good finishes up there. Then in the main event in Phoenix I broke my finger, and ripped my fingernail off and messed things up a little bit.  At Anaheim  the next Anaheim I had one of my best rides of the year, I got third in my heat race. I was pretty pumped about that, and 13th overall.

I want to get inside the top ten for sure.

Q: Who is Wyvern?

A: That's the team name.  It means, well, I'm not sure what it means.  

Q: We will have to look it up.

A: Yeah! The owner is Scott Price of Mirada Petroleum. We like coming to press day. We are a new team and want to get our name out there. A little time on the track is always nice. We did the same at Anaheim 3 last weekend. It helped. Chad was out there. We got a rhythm section down before practice so that was good. It was an important part of the track. Hopefully it will help in Houston too.

Q: Are you the team's veteran?

A: Yeah, not the oldest but I'm the most experienced in supercross. Lillie did east coast supercross last year. Daryl Ecklund did west coast Lites last year.

Q: You started as a pro on a reality show right?

A: Yeah! I was on the first Samsung/Radio Shack team back in the day, 2004.

Q: Do you miss being on TV?

A: I don't miss it too much. It was cool. My first year, I was young, living in Texas , part of a TV show. It was cool to do but, whatever. 

Q: Is Houston  a supercross you look forward to?

A: I love Houston . The dirt here makes it one of the best places to race.  The dirt is loamy and tacky. I like Texas . Dallas and Houston are always good to me. I am excited about the weekend.

Q: Riders sure do make a lot of positive comments about racing on the dirt here. 

A: It's really good. It's loamy. There are no rocks. It's probably the best dirt of the year.

Q: What do you race, and are you sold permanently on the switch to 450 4-strokes?

A: It doesn't matter to me. Right now, it wouldn't make sense to ride a 2-stroke because the 450s are such an advantage. They could change the rules to make it making a 300 or something that would be better. I miss the sound of the 2-stroke.

Q: Are the 450s too much for these tracks?

A: You can definitely make it too much. Tom Morgan makes our engines and we tell him how we want them built. That's how he builds them. I think they are perfect.  It makes sense to run a 4-stroke on a supercross track.

Q: Before round 1 in Canada , what were your goals for the year?

A: Top 15 in overall points for the year and some top 10 finishes. I haven't got a top ten yet. I am in the top 20 in points. I struggled a couple of races and in the main at San Francisco . Hopefully in the next couple races I will be up there.

Q: Does racing around the world do you any good?

A: Yeah they do. That is pretty much my whole off season. I went to Germany and did three races over there. I rode the US Open, McGrath's race. I kept busy. I didn't want to get out of the swing of things. The world SX rounds are good to get a couple races in like a warmup. That part went well for our new team.


Leighton Lillie

Q: Is this your first year in Supercross?

A: This is my first year full time on a 450. Last year was my supercross debut and I rode East coast Lites. I took the summer off after supercross and here I am in my first full year.

Q: How did you land the deal with Wyvern?

A: Last year they had a track and the owner said we need to start a team. I said I wanted to ride in the East and had no support at the time. They are nice people. They hooked me up and kept me on for this year. I am very thankful for that.

Q: How's the season going? Been making all the mains?

A: No I haven't made all the mains. It's been a learning experience. It's tough out there in the supercross class. I am chipping away at it and getting better results every weekend.

Q: What motivated to get out of Lites after just one season?

A: If you want to be competitive in the Lites class, you have to have a really competitive motorcycle. Me being 180 pounds and not having a budget to make a bike that great, and I'm 23 years old, I am just more comfortable on a bigger bike and I feel I can get somewhere faster on a bigger bike.

Q: Where are you from?

A: I grew up in a small town named Lewiston in Idaho . I have been in California for the last 5 years. I grew up racing the amateur stuff. I would get a 5th here and there. I rode in the 4-stroke national series that Paul Carpenter and all of those guys rode. I did pretty decent and won the AMA 4-stroke championship in 2005. That was my deal. Now I am trying the supercross thing.  

Q: So that's a lot different than sitting on the line to race Lites when you were 16 for sure.

A: That wasn't the path that I took. I have been kind of the underdog. It makes me more motivated to do well. A lot of people don't know about me and hopefully I can change that.

Q: Do you feel like a privateer? Even the poor guys are in semis!

A: Yeah, I do. We have a semi and the team is great. We have great equipment. It is still a privateer lifestyle. We all share a house and ride together. We carpool. It's the privateer lifestyle but we have a great team.  As of right now it's supercross only, but we are looking for a sponsor for outdoors.

The team owner bought 650 acres by Piru Lake . We have a full-on supercross track there; it's very nice, and an outdoor track. There is a freestyle park. It's a full on facility.

Q: What's it like being out there with RC and Stewart, do you get up close to them on a line or something and elbow them a little and say "Hey, I'm here?"   

A: It's a dream come true to be on the track with those guys. I grew up idolizing them and to race them is the greatest experience. I just give them props because I see how good they actually are. The tracks are so challenging and they just make it look easy.   

They are just so confident. It seems like they have no fear of anything going wrong. I am working more on that and it's fun. We watch the tapes and see what we are doing wrong. It's a full time deal and I like. I am really excited about the race here in Houston.