250 Words: New Orleans

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The 450 class has been a wild one this year with several notables not even qualifying for the main event. Well, the 250 class was bit by the parity in the class this weekend as well when two of the riders who were on the podium at Daytona DNQ’d. Martin Davalos and Nico Izzi both failed to make the main, and that shock to the system is a reminder that in supercross anything can, and usually does, happen.

The winner of New Orleans knows all about this, as Austin Stroupe could very well be in the hunt for the championship if it wasn’t for a scary crash at Daytona last week. He’s probably also regretting his stall in Atlanta a few weeks back when he was checking out.  He got real lucky at the Speedway by landing on a tuff block, because if he hadn’t we might not even be talking about him this week. As it stands now he’s thirty one points down to his teammate Christophe Pourcel with three races left. Even when he’s not on his “A” game, Pourcel can put himself in a position to not lose too many points.

Stroupe and Pourcel are a study in contrasts. It’s the calculated, smooth, mistake-free Frenchman versus the aggressive, attacking, consequences-be-dammed American. With the bikes being equal it certainly looks like the passive approach might bring this title home, but you just never know.