Cole Seely

Cole Seely was born on March 10, 1990 and is from Newbury Park, California. He used to go to the motocross track with his father and grandfather, and began racing for fun with Trey Canard starting at age 12. He competed in a few BMX nationals, but preferred motorcycles and soon focused on motocross.

He began riding professionally in 2009, signing with the Honda-backed Troy Lee Designs team in 2010. With this team, he raced a CRF250R motorcycle. Also on the Troy Lee Designs Honda satellite squad, he had three appearances as a substitute rider on Team Muscle Milk in the premier class. Early in his career, Seely finished fourth overall in the 250cc Western Region Supercross and 14th in the 250cc AMA Motocross Championship in 2011 riding for HRC Honda.

In a 2012 crash, he lacerated his liver and damaged an artery leading to a kidney, missing the majority of the 2012 Supercross and Motocross seasons.{{cite news |last=Popkin |first=Bradley |date=May 21, 2018 |title=Life in the Fastlane |url=https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/life-fastlane-motocross-riders-cole-seely-and-trey-canard-talk-injuries-training |work=Men's Journal |publisher= |access-date=June 13, 2025}} He was off his bike for half a year, before returning in 2013. In March 2014, he filled in as injury replacement on the Honda team for Trey Canard, earning a career-best eighth place. He was the 2014 250SX Class Western Regional championship runner-up. He ultimately spent five years with Troy Lee Designs, with five 250SX wins.

He was signed to the Honda factory team on August 25, 2014, to ride a Honda CRF450R in both AMA Supercross championships and AMA Pro Motocross championships.{{cite news |date=August 25, 2014 |title=American Honda Signs Cole Seely to Factory Team |url=https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/release-293156d0de284accbc492938ca0dc12e-american-honda-signs-cole-seely-to-factory-team |work= |publisher=Honda |access-date=June 13, 2025}} Seely began his 450cc rookie season in 2015 riding for the factory Honda team.

In 2015, he became the first premier-class rookie to win a race in the 450SX series. It was his first 450SX win.{{cite news |date=April 12, 2025 |title=Ryan Dungey wraps up second AMA Supercross season title |url=https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/12672643/ryan-dungey-wraps-second-ama-supercross-season-title |work=Associated Press |access-date=June 13, 2025}} He was named 450SX Rookie of the Year in the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. It was his first full-time campaign in the premier division, where he earned 10 top-five finishes, along with his main event win, and had third place in the final points standings. He was the 2015 Monster Energy Cup Champion.

In the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, by March, he had finished no worse than sixth across 11 rounds, and he had placed second in Arlington, Texas, and placed third in Anaheim, California. He continued to ride the factory Honda CRF450R.{{cite news |last= Rousseau |first=Scott |date=March 22, 2017 |title=Video: Honda REDefined, Episode 3: Cole Seely |url=https://www.dirtbikes.com/video-honda-redefined-episode-3-cole-seely3/ |work=Dirt Bikes |publisher= |access-date=June 14, 2025}} Racing for Team Honda HRC, he finished sixth overall at Thunder Valley National in the third round of the 2017 AMA Pro Motocross Championship. At the time, he was dealing with two injuries, one from a crash in the first round, and the other a leg injury in supercross. After the event, he moved from his home in Costa Mesa, California to Claremont, Florida for the season.{{cite news |date=June 3, 2017 |title=Seely Sixth Overall at Thunder Valley National |url=https://ama.hondaracingcorporation.com/report/seely-sixth-overall-thunder-valley-national/ |publisher=Honda HRC Progressive |access-date=June 13, 2025}} In 2017 Seely finished seventh in Supercross and fifth in Motocross, earning him a position on the Motocross des Nations US team. He represented Team USA at the 2017 Motocross des Nations event.

On February 24, 2018, he ejected over his handlebar in a race, with his rear wheel landing on him. He was taken off the tracks at Tampa supercross after breaking his pelvis, which required surgery.{{cite news|date=February 25, 2018 |title=Cole Seely Undergoes Surgery After Breaking Pelvis at Tampa Supercross |url=https://motocrossactionmag.com/cole-seelys-crash-at-2018-tampa-supercross/ |work=Motocross Action Magazine |publisher= |access-date=June 14, 2025}} On April 6, 2019, he raced in the Nashville Supercross event at the Nissan Stadium. He raced with the Honda factory team until 2019, when he announced his retirement from the team and the sport. 29 at the time, Seely cited injuries, particularly a shoulder injury in 2018, as the reason.{{cite news |date=2019 |title=Cole Seely Announces His Retirement |url=https://www.mxpmag.com/cole-seely-announces-his-retirement/ |work=Motocross Performance |access-date=June 13, 2025}}

In 2019, he joined his relative Jeannie Seely performing at the Grand Ole Opry.{{cite news |last=Schmitt |first=Brad |date= |title=Jeannie Seely's motocross-racing great-nephew makes her 'just about have a heart attack' |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2019/03/19/jeannie-seelys-motocross-racing-great-nephew-makes-her-nervous/3213727002/ |work=The Tennessean |access-date=June 13, 2025}} According to Motocross Action Magazine, Seely is a car enthusiast and built his own drift car.{{cite news|date=May 11, 2018 |title=Cole Seely Biography |url=https://motocrossactionmag.com/cole-seely/ |work=Motocross Action Magazine |access-date=June 14, 2025}}

In 2022, he competed in the 2022 FIM Supercross World Championship in Melbourne, Australia.{{cite news |last= |first= |date=2022 |title=Australian GP Announced Alongside Global Australian Supercross Star |url=https://worldsupercrosschampionship.com/round-02-australian-gp-announced-alongside-global-australian-supercross-star/ |work= |publisher=World Supercross Championship |access-date=June 13, 2025}}

In 2023, he returned to World Supercross racing with the MotoConcepts Racing team, then racing WSX 450cc class.{{cite news |date= |title=Cole Seely Profile |url=https://worldsupercrosschampionship.com/riders/cole-seely/ |work= |publisher=World Supercross Championship |access-date=June 13, 2025}} He competed in the 2023 Supercross races in Seattle,{{cite news |date=2023 |title=2023 Seattle Supercross Results |url=https://dirtbikemagazine.com/2023-seattle-supercross-results/ |work=Dirt Bike Magazine|access-date=June 13, 2025}} racing for Honda and ultimately ranking 21 out of 22 in the 450 main event.{{cite news |date=2023 |title=2023 Seattle Supercross Results And Highlights |url=https://www.mxpmag.com/2023-seattle-supercross-results-and-highlights/ |work=Motocross Performance |access-date=June 13, 2025}} He was one of 24 riders from the United States competing in the 2023 FIM Supercross World Championship, racing in the premier WSX division for MotoConcepts.https://www.dirtrider.com/racing/riders-and-teams-fim-world-supercross-championship/

{{Portal|California}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.motoheadmag.com/cole-seely-explains-his-retirement/ MotoHead Magazine video interview of Seely explaining 2019 retirement] (August 15, 2019)

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Category:Living people

Category:1990 births

Category:Sportspeople from Westlake Village, California

Category:People from Newbury Park, California

Category:American motocross riders