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Five rounds down in 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship and we’ve now had four different winners in the 450SX Class. We’re on track for an epic season, resulting in all of us finally getting the answer to #whosnext.
Or are we? I’ll dive into that a bit further down, but let me ask you guys this: Who’s going to be the next guy to win his first race this year? Chad Reed? Maybe. Justin Barcia? Not sure about that one right now. Davi Millsaps? Not with the way he’s riding now. There’s a very real chance that the four winners so far (Ryan Dungey, Trey Canard, Eli Tomac, and Kenny Roczen) might be the only winners we see all year. But for now, it’s four different guys in five races and let’s all enjoy that. But if we have a run of Dungey/Tomac/Canard/Roczen wins for the rest of the year, don’t blame me, bro.
I liked the A3 track. It was very technical and kept the riders busy but I imagine it was probably a bit hard to pass on. There were a few different rhythms that were a bit faster to do, but you couldn’t really set anyone up to pass by putting your balls out on the crossbar. You had to hope for a mistake but two whoops sections, some tricky tabletops and an elevated start equals a good track to me. No, the elevated start was not the game changer that the live announcing and TV crew made it out to be, but it was still cool and different. And “different” is always good when it comes to a sport that’s been DOING THE EXACT SAME STUFF FOR FORTY YEARS.
Well, well, well—look at who’s starting to come on here. It’s not the hot young German kid, nor the all-American kid whose dad is a cycling god, but good ol’ Ryan Dungey. Dungey won A3 in a walk to extend his points lead to 11 over Roczen, and it looked to me like you could’ve ran that race until everyone ran out of gas and Dungey would’ve been the last man standing. He was superb around the tricky track on what I think is a really good-looking new KTM 450SXF. There were a lot of really fast riders pushing really hard behind him, and Dungey, “The Diesel,” just looked to be cruising. He told me afterwards that he messed up the triple-triple before the finish one lap, but that was it.
Wouldn’t it be something if Dungey’s able to win this title? Definitely overlooked at times by the media (that’s me sheepishly raising my hand). If he were to win this title it would be a sure game-changer in my eyes. He’s a beast outdoors, but indoors has never come as easy to Ryan. Ryan Villopoto beat him four straight years, and to me, James Stewart’s a better supercross rider as well. But this year, fighting off the kids (although Dungey’s not exactly “old”) and winning a second 450SX title would be big. And I can’t help but think if he does do it, his new trainer Aldon Baker deserves some serious praise. Baker’s probably been telling Dungey all the things that he and RV knew he would do and where he was weak, and they’ve worked on these areas. Dungey reaching out to Baker was maybe one of his best moves he’s made. Also, that new KTM seems really good. They’re having to add weight to the thing to be legal for pete’s sake! Baker plus the new bike plus Ryan Dungey being so good already could equal a hard-to-beat combo.
There’s no doubt in my mind that had the hasty black flag not come out on Chad Reed two weeks ago, the 250SX Class restart we saw would have been ordered much sooner. A lot of people saw Zach Osborne’s gate not drop (I must confess I did not, but people on my Twitter feed did), but it took an astounding six laps for the red flag to come out signaling a restart.
I spoke with Bobby Hewitt of the Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna team and he said that he saw the gate failure right away. He happened to be looking at Osborne (he also had Zach Bell in the race) and saw it never move. He was right next to the AMA/FIM referee’s tower and told me he was telling them right from the start that they needed to restart the race. By his account it took them three laps and more and more curse words from him before they seemed to take him seriously. A review was ordered, and it took another three laps before it was determined that a restart was in order. Had the FIM not come under so much fire for not watching replays before making the Reed black-flag ruling, I think the logical decision would have been made much sooner. But I’m sure they were looking at the review like it was the Zapruder film to make sure they got it right because they absolutely could not get another decision wrong.
Watch the TV replay and you can see an AMA official in front of the gate (furthest away from Osborne)—I always thought there were two dudes on each end watching to see if the gate fell properly—staring forward. I think we’ll see two officials now watching the gate from here on out. Two things come to mind here: First,in the end, it was absolutely the right call, and second, it was only because Hewitt was blowing a gasket that it was reviewed. In my opinion, if that were Johnny Jelderda stuck at the start, a rider who doesn’t have a team owner up there to argue for three laps, that race wasn’t getting red-flagged.
Matt Bisceglia, Malcolm Stewart, and Tyler Bowers were all up front on the first start and were screwed by the restart (although Bowers’ demise was crash related and could’ve happened after the first start as well). Jessy Nelson and Josh Hansen benefited from the red flag, though.
Cooper Webb was probably going to win that race no matter how many times the gate was dropped. He stalked Nelson for a few laps before making a sweet pass and taking off with the win. Nelson actually got him right back, but Webb just stopped and squared up in the sand to pass him back again. He’s on fire right now and can seemingly put the bike wherever he needs to. He’s pushing down on the bike in between jumps to get it back down on the ground. He’s able to go anywhere he wants to, and everything is coming together for him. Great ride by Coop.
I don’t like how a legendary brand like Answer has gone to just “ANSR” on their gear, but what I do like is the red number Coop’s been running on his jersey to match the red plate. It’s a nice touch.
Cole Seely had a rough start to his season, but he’s starting to figure things out. He did show us a bit of his skills as he outright won a heat in Phoenix, but now he’s putting it together for the mains. In Oakland he was up early before getting shuffled back a bit, and this week he started well and held off everyone not named Ryan Dungey to get a career-best second place. As a fill-in for Honda last year he finished third at Indianapolis, which was great, but the track was so brutal that it was more of an endurance race than anything else. He earned this podium with his pure, raw speed, baby!
Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen did catch him, and Trey Canard was all over him before he went down. Catching someone is one thing, but passing them is another. Seely has decided to stick with the Showa suspension on his CRF450R despite Canard and Tomac going with the KYB stuff. Seely said it’s because he’s been so used to the Showa stuff from his TLD Honda 250 days, and that he’s more of a precise guy, not a charger like Tomac and Canard. For his style, which is more of a feather than a jackhammer, Showa works best.
Seely’s rise to a factory 450 Honda rider is an unlikely one (he quit the sport in his teens at one point), and it’s nice to see that you don’t have to be some sort of amateur sensation to make it in the sport like Seely and his buddy Justin Brayton.
Let’s look at the results, shall we?
250SX Results
1. 17 Cooper Webb; Newport, NC; Yamaha YZ250F – Remember when we all laughed at Star Racing’s program? Well, going back to last summer’s outdoors and now this SX season, it’s quite a turnaround for those guys.
2. 28 Jessy Nelson; Paso Robles, CA; KTM 250 SX-F – Nelson’s got to be thanking the moto gate gods for not doing their job, because he led for a bit and ended up second, which was way better than where he was on the first start.
3. 157 Aaron Plessinger; Hamilton, OH; Yamaha YZ250F – The rookie’s first podium of the year and definitely not his last. There was no one more excited to see two guys who have raced GNCCs before (Osborne and Plessinger) battling for a podium than Jason Weigandt. Again, remember when we all chuckled at Star Racing’s program?
4. 16 Zach Osborne; Chesterfield, SC; Husqvarna FC250 – Osborne was going to ride the 450 Husky on the East Coast here and there, but with his thumb injury it looks like those plans have been put on hold.
5. 38 Matthew Bisceglia; Weatherford, TX; Honda CRF250R- Matt’s first race back after missing two with a concussion and he had a solid podium locked up when the red flag came out. He wasn’t as high on the restart, but this is still a good finish for his first race back. This is a make-or-break year for Biscuit.
6. 40 Shane Mcelrath; Canton, NC; KTM 250 SX-F – Last couple of races McElrath hasn’t broken through and run up front like I thought a couple of heat race wins would’ve helped him do. I don’t think he’s been getting the main event starts he needs either.
7. 100 Joshua Hansen; Elbert, CO; Kawasaki KX 250F – Solid night from Hansen, but I’m still waiting for that A1 speed we saw. That raw, nasty speed has been absent for a few weeks.
8. 32 Justin Hill; Yoncalla, OR; KTM 250 SX-F – I know Justin crashed before the season and hit his head, and I know he’s been sick. But if you can say those things are to blame, then can you explain how he can win heat races with ease, set fast times, and then finish in this spot in a main event? He crashed early on the restart so that was a problem, but in general this year I can’t figure Hill out.
9. 31 Alex Martin; Millville, MN; Yamaha YZ250F – A-Mart started tenth, worked his way up to eighth, dropped back to tenth, got back to eighth, and then Hill got him late in the race.
10. 71 Cole Martinez; Rimrock, AZ; Yamaha YZ250F – Nice ride by the privateer who’s really opening up some eyes. He’s been having a nice series, and this is a season-best finish for him.
11. 57 Jackson Richardson; Wildomar, CA; Honda CRF250R
12. 130 Thomas Hahn; Decatur, TX; Honda CRF250R
13. 86 Zackery Freeberg; Riverview, FL; Yamaha YZ250F
14. 66 Chris Alldredge; Powell Butte, OR; Kawasaki KX 250F – Yet another rough night for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider. I haven’t really asked Mitch Payton about Chris and his season yet, but I’ll do that soon and then I’ll stand back as he channels the 1994 Mitch Payton.
15. 911 Tyler Bowers; Corona, CA; Kawasaki KX 250F – Bowers had a crappy night, but he gets the “Big Balls Award” for the 250SX Class, as he was the only guy I saw try to skip from tabletop to tabletop in practice. It was fast, but sketchy.
16. 148 Trevor Reis; Alpine, CA; Yamaha YZ250F
17. 34 Malcolm Stewart; Haines City, FL; Honda CRF250R- Mookie crashed twice in the main and was probably really hating that red flag.
18. 217 Ryan Breece; Athol, ID; Yamaha YZ250F
19. 981 Austin Politelli; Menifee, CA; Yamaha YZ250F – Austin was up there in the top ten but fell in the sand. I don’t know why he took so long to get going, but then again, I don’t know what’s going on with his season this year either.
20. 138 Blake Lilly; Wildomar, CA; KTM 250 SX-F
21. 44 Zachary Bell; Cairo, GA; Husqvarna FC250 – Rough night for Bell. I watched him pick his bike up before the second set of whoops, ride three feet, hit the first whoop, and fall over again.
22. 275 Johnny Jelderda; Menifee, CA Honda CRF250R- Much like Jean Carlos Ramos, “Johnny Jelderda” just sounds cool, y’know?
450SX Results
1. 5 Ryan Dungey; Tallahassee, FL; KTM 450 SX-F – I interviewed Ryan after the race, and he was definitely in a good mood as he signed autographs and posed for photos with fans. Hey, wouldn’t you be?
2. 14 Cole Seely; Laguna Beach, CA; Honda CRF450R – The TLD gear is often hit or miss for me (please keep in mind my gear “evaluations” come with the fact I still think the JT Bad Bones stuff from like 1988 is cool), but Seely’s A3 stuff was on point. Simple, clean, straight lines and cool.
3. 3 Eli Tomac; Cortez, CO; Honda CRF450R- Tomac busted out the tabletop-to-tabletop-and-then-off combo on the rhythm lane and it was fast. In fact, he was the fastest rider in that segment when he did it, but he said it got too sketchy to do in the night show because the main line was chewed up from the other riders using it as a landing. I was surprised that Eli didn’t go two-three then three-three before the finish when he was right behind Seely because it was working for him, and after the race he told me that if he could do it again, he would’ve done that also. I don’t know if he would’ve made the pass, but it did give him a better shot than just following Seely around the inside.
4. 94 Ken Roczen; Clermont, FL; Suzuki RM-Z450 – After his Oakland crash I was thinking the #94 might have an off-night in Anaheim, but more because he had a sore wrist and face from the crash and probably didn’t ride all week. But checking in with the peeps at RCH, it was a normal week for Kenny and he got some practice in.
5. 41 Trey Canard; Edmond, OK; Honda CRF450R – I don’t think there’s any doubt that Trey had a podium spot locked up if he didn’t go down in the sand. Afterwards, he admitted that before the crash, when he was all over Seely, he wasn’t as aggressive as he could’ve been because it was his teammate.
6. 22 Chad Reed; Dade City, FL; Kawasaki KX 450F – Reed was very good at A3. He came from outside the top ten to this spot in a nice ride. Also, in practice he pulled the Tomac move on those tabletops. It was fast, but Reed also told me it was sketchy.
7. 4 Blake Baggett; Grand Terrace, CA; Suzuki RM-Z450 – Yeah, Baggett! He pulled the holeshot and led some laps, which is good. He’s avoided the crashes that we saw him have on the 250F. It’s pretty weird that the bigger bike would smooth the smaller Baggett out, but that’s what’s happening.
8. 51 Justin Barcia; Greenville, FL; Yamaha YZ450F – Barcia was fast in practice, but had a get-off near the end of the third practice. Hard to say if that affected him or not, but he started twelfth, passed a few dudes, got passed by Reed, and got eighthon the night.
9. 21 Jason Anderson; Edgewood, NM; Husqvarna FC450 – Anderson and Barcia had a duel to the death for most of the main event while I’m sure both guys were thinking that they’d rather not be in that position
10. 75 Joshua Hill; Yoncalla, OR; Yamaha YZ450F – Hill’s had some crashes and bad starts to hold him out of three straight main events in a row, but he also wasn’t riding that well. At A3 he was a different man all day long. He was out front in practice, looked aggressive, and by far had his best weekend in 2015. Whatever he did in terms of practice and attitude leading into A3, he really needs to do again.
11. 18 David Millsaps; Murrieta, CA; Kawasaki KX 450F – Something’s up with the #18; we can all agree on that, right?
12. 29 Andrew Short; Smithville, TX; KTM 450 SX-F – Shorty had to go to the LCQ! With his crashes and the appearance in the LCQ, it was not a great night for the #29, although he still got some good starts by using third gear on the elevated start. During track walk he was looking at this triple in awe at how big it was. He really needs to start skipping track walk and giving himself some more credit.
13. 45 Vince Friese; Cape Girardeau, MO; Honda CRF250R – Solid result for Friese, who’s looking to make some serious noise in the 250SX East Region in two weeks. He’s not sure if he’s going to race this weekend or not.
14. 11 Kyle Chisholm; Valrico, FL; Kawasaki KX 450F – In talking to Chiz, he’s fighting the ultimate privateer battle in getting enough bikes and parts to have two bikes at the same. He did say that Kawasaki is now helping him out a bit. He’s raced three out of the five mains and is seventeenth in the points, which isn’t too shabby.
15. 12 Jacob Weimer; Wildomar, CA; Kawasaki KX 450F – I’m coming around on that Seven gear that Weimer’s been wearing.
16. 53 Jimmy Albertson; Shawnee, OK; Yamaha YZ450F – Albertson has Kyle Partridge tweeting that he’s going to come after him after a hard pass did the #199 in. Afterwards, Albertson admitted that he hit him pretty hard, but he thought it was for the last transfer spot, which at that point, anything short of breaking your mom’s leg is fair game.
17. 800 Mike Alessi; Hilliard, FL; Suzuki RM-Z450 – Alessi missed last week’s race after he had some knee surgery done, and he’s probably going to struggle going forward here as he tries to deal with a wonky knee and can’t hang it out like he’s used to. Still, he qualified right out of the heat in a nice ride.
18. 24 Brett Metcalfe; Lake Elsinore, CA; Suzuki RM-Z450 – One more race for Metcalfe in his comeback to supercross with the Dirt Candy guys. Although this race didn’t go well, overall I think he’s been fine.
19. 42 Ben Lamay; Forney, TX; Yamaha YZ450F – Benjamin made his second main of the year and looked great in the process. Once he got to the main it didn’t go stellar, but if he can keep up the good starts, he can start putting it in these things regularly because he’s got the skills.
20. 46 Phillip Nicoletti; Bethel, NY; Yamaha YZ450F –Filthy crashed on the first lap and was twenty-second. Then he fought to make it up to twentieth, and I believe he crashed again at some point. Not a banner night for Phil. After the main event he sent me a video with him still wearing his team shirt at what looked like In-N-Out Burger telling me to “Suck It,” which I’m pretty sure is a violation of his JGR contract in terms of treating the media properly.
21. 70 Nicholas Schmidt; Riverside, CA; Suzuki RM-Z450 – The privateer surprise from last year gets into his first main event of the year. I spoke to Nick during track walk, where he explained that he got a really late start switching to Suzukis, and it’s taken him some time to get used to them after being on Hondas for so long.
22. 33 Joshua Grant; Wildomar, CA; Kawasaki KX 450F – Well, the good news is that Grant didn’t crash out this week. The bad news is he still DNF’d with bike problems. When it rains, it pours.
Some news and notes:
- I like looking at which riders wear jackets for the 450 main event parade lap and which don’t. I don’t know why I care—something about who’s a bad ass in (mostly) cold weather and who’s not, I guess. Anyway, Tomac, Roczen, and Dungey were the only three riders with jackets on during the parade lap this week and they were first, third, and fourth. What does it mean? I DON’T KNOW!
- Of course, we all know THE Tim Ferry is helping out Trey Canard with his program, but you want to know how dedicated the man is to helping Trey achieve excellence? We were talking after practice about the track and I asked him what he thought about jumping into those two tabletops, and he asked if anyone did it. I said that I saw Tomac and Reed do it, and that it looked great. He immediately said, “Oh, really?” and just walked off to tell Trey and talk about it. That’s commitment, people!
Thanks for reading. E-mail me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this column or really anything at all.