We all saw what happened last week. Trey Canard went for the pass on Chad Reed and both guys went down in a heap. Reed retaliated for the move and got a black flag, Canard’s race was ruined, and grown men with families who weren’t affected by this were irate on the Internet. So the irony of Reed leading and Canard right behind him in Oakland was not lost on anyone. What was going to happen? Was Trey going to punt the #22 into the Black Hole? Was Reed going to whip out Jesse Ventura’s gun from Predator (Weege has no idea what I’m talking about) and finally finish the job? And then, of course, after Reed finished the job he would mercilessly go after Canard’s lifeless body again and again, because that’s what the FIM told us he might do if they didn’t pull him out of the race ASAP.

Anyway, there was no drama, no contact, no nothing this weekend. Canard, using more speed and some great lines, ducked to the inside of Reed in a gorgeous pass and took off for his first win since 2011. Yeah, I didn’t think it had been that long either.

And this happened after Canard was buried off the start. He came from outside the top ten to first place in seven laps. Think about that for a second. And lost in the #blackflaggate last week was that Canard was on the move fromsixteenth off the start to a probable podium finish.

Canard joins Tomac and Roczen as one of three winners in four races this year, and immediately vaults into title contention. As we saw last summer, you don’t want to give Trey confidence. Podiums are one thing for confidence, but wins are another. Canard’s clearly much happier with his motorcycle right now than he was last year, so let’s see what he can do.

Here’s where you should be right now in regards to this 450SX season:

“Oh yeah, he could definitely win this 450SX title. I can see him now in Vegas holding the #1 plate” — This group is Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Ryan Dungey, and Trey Canard.

“Oh yeah, he could definitely win a race this year.”— This group includes all of the above guys and Chad Reed, Jason Anderson, Cole Seely, and Justin Barcia (he’s in, but it’s a close call right now).

“Oh yeah, he’s definitely going to kill my Racer X Moto Dynasty League tonight.”— Josh Grant, Martin Davalos, and “Filthy” Phil Nicoletti.

“Oh yeah, he’s the best MCR 450 rider tonight.”— Mike Alessi

Chad Reed is basically Dracula at this point. You cannot kill him. Just when you want to write the guy off he goes out and does what he did at Oakland. Lost in the Canard brouhaha last week was that Chad was going backwards when Trey landed on him. Guys were stacked up behind him like the 405 on a Friday afternoon, and riders in front were pulling away. Not this week, though. He should’ve had second but went off the track late and Dungey got him. At one point Reed was catching Canard a bit and looked to be in position to, yes, win a race. Once again, you can never, ever, ever, ever count out Chad Reed.

Why was Reed so much better this week? Well, he told me that it was the testing he did on the motorcycle. Hey, who am I to say he’s wrong? But, yeah, in my opinion he’s not giving himself enough credit for his skill. The word “set-up” has been creeping into the pits more and more in the last five years, and as a former mechanic you would think I would be all about this. I think the amount of riders that place the blame on the motorcycle not having the right “set-up” is insane. I’ve personally seen riders drop lap times when they were told something was changed when it wasn’t. I’ve seen riders turn blazing fast laps on practice bikes that were hammered. If a bike isn’t working as well as a rider would like it to be, what are we talking about? A set-up that was installed by monkeys and is so backwards that the bike won’t run? Exactly. We’re talking millimeters here people—and millimeters are not the difference between a win and a fifth. 

Bottom line: This sport is about the rider—always has been and always will be. The mental make-up, talent, fearlessness, and determination of a human being are the reasons for race wins. The set-up? Not as much to do with winning as having the rider, in my opinion. All the top teams in the pits are good at what they do, and the bikes are close. Some bikes, like the first-gen backwards-motor YZ450F and the 2009 CRF450R, were definitely not as good as their competition, but James Stewart and Ivan Tedesco won on those bikes.

Rant over and back to Reed. He was good because there was traction on the track. (I think he has been battling to get used to the Pirelli tires.) It was rutted and took a lot of skill to ride fast. And Reed has a lot of skill on a motorcycle in case you didn’t know. So, while some riders were checking up, hesitating when seeing ruts, or whatever, Reed was able to put the bike where he needed it to be. Softer dirt helps the tire issue for him, and the ruts and the track breaking down helped him rise above most of the other riders. He’s a great, great rider and Oakland showed us that he’s still got “it.”

So, yeah, Roczen. Remember when I said that one of his strongest attributes was that he avoids the big mistakes? Well, trust me, it usually is. But this weekend Roczen made a big boo-boo when he went for a triple after passing Reed—it got ugly. He wasn’t even close. Honestly, when he toppled over grabbing his wrist laying there, I thought his SX season was over. Somehow, amazingly, he got up and put in some laps. He salvaged Oakland the best way he could with a sore wrist and a beat-up face. It’s nice to see superstars can be just like all of us who have at one time or another come up short at Chicken Licks Raceway like that.

Big news in the pits is Roczen splitting with his trainer Aldon Baker. Baker’s basically won just about every big bike title that his rider has managed to stay healthy for, and Roczen just joined him last year. It’s a curious decision, but the split was amicable according to both sides. Kenny’s dad is involved with him again and is going to be taking over the training, and Roczen is still going to be riding at Baker’s new place in Florida.

I’m not as adamant as others that this is a terrible decision by Kenny, but it’s curious for sure. And we won’t know how it turns out until six months or longer from now, because Roczen’s base training, the work in the off-season, is already done. Some other trainers say Baker is too expensive and he works his guys too hard (although he gets proven results), but he only works with the best riders so of course he gets great results. I myself do not believe this, but some people in the pits do, and usually the people saying that have something to gain or lose by having Aldon there. Maybe someone got in Kenny’s ear and told him all this—I have no idea.

My take is that, with Roczen riding for Ricky Carmichael’s team, and with Baker and RC not ending their partnership well when Ricky retired (despite both guys having massive success together), RC was probably telling Kenny he may not need to be with Baker anymore. (Also, Baker’s guys all ride together, which is something RC didn’t like to do at all. That may be a part of it.) I don’t know for sure, but it’s just a theory I have.

I also have heard that Ryan Dungey, a new Baker client this year, will be spending more time down near Baker’s track, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Roczen moved up to RC’s place in Tallahassee and trained there. Stay tuned!

Well, Cooper Webb and Tyler Bowers got into it again this weekend and it wasn’t very good for Webb. Bowers came in hot under Webb and Webb turned down to get around Bell. This set off a chain reaction, with Bowers slamming into Webb, throwing an elbow into him (probably out of self-preservation, but I can’t be sure), and Webb crashing. Remember, last week Webb caught and passed Bowers with half a lap left and stole the win (Bowers says that pass cost him $30,000 in bonuses), and while there was nothing wrong with Webb’s pass, some people—okay a lot of people—thought it was Bowers trying to get Webb back.

I didn’t see it that way. I don’t think it was an awesome move by Bowers, but he didn’t know Webb was going to do that. However, the rider in front of you does have the right of way in a sense, because he can’t see you and you can see him. Anyway, after the race both riders were very heated with each other, and I get why Webb was pissed. I would be too! We’re four rounds down and Tyler Bowers, some of it his doing and some of it not, has provided excitement at three of the rounds. Let’s get him on the payroll, Feld!

After Webb dusted himself off he REALLY got on it. Like, he was amazing. He won round two with ease, he came from WAY back to win round three, and he came from fifteenth after the fall to finish second in round four. And, with one more lap, I believe he would’ve won. The kid was FLYING (notice the heavy use of all-caps). It was an amazing ride and there’s no doubt he’s got these guys covered in raw speed. He’s just got to work on main event starts.

I like Webb; he’s a breath of fresh air in the sport that has more than a few robots in it. Albeit multi-million dollar robots, but robots nevertheless. Webb’s not scared to give you an honest interview, he’s got a bit of a chip on that shoulder, and he’s cool as crap (most of the time). But I’m reminded of a conversation I had with then-Team Honda manager Erik Kehoe about Justin Barcia. Barcia had come into the 250SX East Region one year with absolutely NFG (look it up). He was slamming dudes in practice, getting into one thing or another with other riders (not always his fault), and coming in like a wrecking ball out there (I didn’t mean to start a war…).

Kehoe was telling me that he sat Justin down and told him that he was going to need allies to win the title. If every other rider, even the guys he’s way faster than, hated him they were going to make his life miserable for him. He needed to play nicer in the sandbox.

Where am I going with this? Bowers and Webb are not fans of each other. Webb and Jessy Nelson got into it in practice over…something and fingers were pointed at each other. Mookie Stewart was taken out by Webb last year and in the heat race in Oakland (I don’t believe this was Webb’s fault, but I can see where Mookie would be pissed). And I’m sure I’ve missed someone in this hit list of Webb’s.

Cooper might need to just try and stay drama free here if he wants to win this title. His speed is more than enough to make it happen, but he’s got to be careful or one of these dudes is going to make sure that even though they have no hope of winning the title, Webb’s not going to either. Maybe some flowers are in order?

Let’s take a look at the results, shall we?

250SX Results

1. 34 Malcolm Stewart; Haines City, FL; Honda CRF250R – I should’ve talked more about Mookie; I feel bad but I had things I had to get off my chest. Anyway, great job by Malcolm on the win, and great job by GEICO to get him so late in the season as well. It was amazing that Mookie had never gotten a podium until last year and he’s now better than ever.

 2. 17 Cooper Webb; Newport, NC; Yamaha YZ250F – Did I mention that Webb was amazing in Oakland?

3. 31 Alex Martin; Millville, MN; Yamaha YZ250F – Terrific job by Martin. He ran second for a long time in the main and was caught by Webb with a little over a lap to go. I don’t think there’s anyone in the pits who wasn’t happy for the Ewok Warrior. It’s pretty remarkable that  Martin, a veteran in the sport, has been able to improve his speed and skills over the last couple of years. Great job by A-Mart and I think this was no fluke, YOU WATCH.

4. 911 Tyler Bowers; Corona, CA; Kawasaki KX 250F – Bowers’ post-race tweets were pretty funny. Weston Peick still owns the best rider tweet ever with his in-between race poke at Seely, but Tyler’s rants at Webb after the main were great. Riders with Twitter are the gift that keeps on giving.

5. 44 Zachary Bell; Cairo, GA; Husqvarna FC250 – Pretty sure this is Bell’s best-ever finish in Supercross, and good for him. Him and Chris Alldredge coming together early in the main was sketchy.

6. 16 Zach Osborne; Chesterfield, SC; Husqvarna FC250 – I’m in a group text with Zach, and I bet he wishes I wasn’t in this group.

7. 157 Aaron Plessinger; Hamilton, OH; Yamaha YZ250F – Get a bad start? Check. Work your way through the pack while having some of the best lap times late in the race? Check. Typical night for the rook.

8. 100 Joshua Hansen; Elbert, CO; Kawasaki KX 250F – A quiet night for Hansen, but he rode well to get this finish. Many people, me included, are waiting for the speed he showed at A1 to surface. Hansen’s got to show us lap-leading speed here soon, right?

9. 32 Justin Hill; Yoncalla, OR; KTM 250 SX-F – Hill had this. He had it! He was all alone in first and dumped it in the sand. He even led six laps and—I thought it was over and he was going to get his first win. Then, for some reason, he fell back to fifth and ended up ninth. From hero to, well, not a hero, all in fifteen laps. 

10. 28 Jessy Nelson; Paso Robles, CA; KTM 250 SX-F – Nelson crashed on the first lap and was dead, dead last, so this finish isn’t too shabby. Nelson’s now third in the series points, 15 behind Webb.

11. 40 Shane McElrath; Canton, NC; KTM 250 SX-F

12. 86 Zackery Freeberg; Riverview, FL; Yamaha YZ250F – Freeberg’s had two good races in a row now.

13. 65 Scott Champion; Wildomar, CA; Yamaha YZ250 

14. 57 Jackson Richardson; Wildomar, CA; Honda CRF250R – Richardson is as privateer as privateer comes, and he’s solid, bro.

15. 71 Cole Martinez; Rimrock, AZ; Yamaha YZ250 

16. 130 Thomas Hahn; Decatur, TX; Honda CRF250R

17. 981 Austin Politelli; Menifee, CA; Yamaha YZ250F – This guy is too good to not figure it out soon.   

18. 148 Trevor Reis; Alpine, CA; Yamaha YZ250F

19. 397 Brandon Scharer; Gardena, CA; Suzuki RM-Z250 

20. 341 Nico Izzi; Murrieta, CA; Yamaha YZ250F – Izzi was back this week and it didn’t go that well. Hopefully he gets a good finish soon so he doesn’t start believing that he can’t get his old results and gets discouraged.  

21. 66 Chris Alldredge; Powell Butte, OR; Kawasaki KX 250F – Alldredge showed some speed but also once again showed us that supercross is hard. DNQ-15-DNF-DNF is hard to look at when you’re a Pro Circuit rider.

22. 360 Aaron Siminoe; Reno, NV; Kawasaki KX 250F

450SX Results

1. 41 Trey Canard; Edmond, OK; Honda CRF450R- The only thing I didn’t like about Canard’s night was the throwing down of the motorcycle after the win. That bike worked great! Trey and the CRF450R were clearly making sweet love out there, so why toss is down and try to hurt it? As a former wrench, I can’t condone this action.

2. 5 Ryan Dungey; Tallahassee, FL; KTM 450 SX-F – Dungey was right there. Like, right there. But he played it safe and took second place. Can’t say I disagree with his strategy because his thinking got him a second when it should have been a third. Guess what, folks—he’s the new points leader! I’m serious, go look and see for yourself. 

3. 22 Chad Reed; Dade City, FL; Kawasaki KX 450F – Reed, Michael Byrne, JT, and I had a post-practice meeting and we discussed the fast way through the rhythm lane before the finish. I’m not saying my advice was great, but I told him that seeing him get out front in practice and aggressively attack the practice session was good to see. 

4. 3 Eli Tomac; Cortez, CO; Honda CRF450R – Tomac was okay at Oakland, just like he was okay last week. Nothing wrong with that, but I expect to see a win from Eli really soon.

5. 14 Cole Seely; Laguna Beach, CA; Honda CRF450R – I thought Seely had a great race. Even though he dropped back to this position and settled in after making some big mistakes, he maintained a good pace and snagged a top-five. That’s three Hondas in the top five in case you’re counting.

6. 51 Justin Barcia; Greenville, FL; Yamaha YZ450F – If you had told the JGR guys that Barcia’s first four finishes would be 11-6-4-6, would they be pumped? Probably not, but there’s no panic button being pushed yet.  

7. 18 David Millsaps; Murrieta, CA; Kawasaki KX 450F – Despite the Kawasaki guys filling in for injured riders EVERY OTHER TIME they had an injury, they swear they’re not filling Wil Hahn’s spot anytime soon. 

8. 29 Andrew Short; Smithville, TX; KTM 450 SX-F – Shorty holeshot and led a couple of laps, which is awesome. By the way, have you noticed Short’s holeshots are back on the new KTM? Remember when he was on the Honda and holeshotting everything that one summer? We might be seeing that again this week. Also, he had on those ridiculous two different flo-colors A-Star boots again. 

9. 4 Blake Baggett; Grand Terrace, CA; Suzuki RM-Z450 – Blake was seventh, which is great, but was docked after the race for jumping on a red. That’s a bummer, but again, this is a good finish for BB. I spoke with his manager Mike Webb, and he indicated that he called the great Rick Johnson to help out Baggett during the week and that Baggett’s been very receptive to the help.

10. 21 Jason Anderson; Edgewood, NM; Husqvarna FC450 – Anderson’s the real deal, folks. He came from eighth to fourth in the main before he crashed hard and dropped back to tenth. I don’t even know how he got up. I would have been crying like a baby. Don’t sleep on this dude; he and his untucked jersey are coming to a stadium near you.  

11. 12 Jacob Weimer; Wildomar, CA; Kawasaki KX 450F – I think Jake and I are friends, but every time we see each other it just turns into an argument about something or another; he calls me an idiot and walks away.   

12. 24 Brett Metcalfe; Lake Elsinore, CA; Suzuki RM-Z450 – Metty is indeed just doing the first six, and in talking to him after the race he admitted that the Dirt Candy team asking to ride Suzukis was “weird” after his kind-of bitter parting with factory Suzuki when he was injured a few years ago.  

13. 11 Kyle Chisholm; Valrico, FL; Kawasaki KX 450F – Chisholm’s been solid, man. He’s gotten crap starts the last two weeks and has been slowly moving up to spots around here. We could call him the new Ben LaMay, but the old Ben LaMay is still racing. Chisholm should just get better and better from here. 

14. 46 Phil Nicoletti; Bethel, NY; Yamaha YZ450F – Filthy is back filling in for Peick for the next six weeks or so, and I imagine he’ll get better as the races go on. I have to make a confession here: I didn’t pick Filthy for the main event. Whew, that feels better.  

15. 94 Ken Roczen; Clermont, FL; Suzuki RM-Z450 – Another reason Roczen is cool is because, as a dog guy myself (my wife and I work with the basset rescue locally), Roczen seems to really love his dog Rocky on social media. I’m down with that. 

16. 45 Vince Friese; Cape Girardeau, MO; Honda CRF450R – With Alessi out, Friese stepped in on the 450 (he’s riding 250SX East Region this year) and performed pretty well for his first time out. There was never a time when he was out there where I wasn’t 100 percent confident he was a main event guy, and when you see the guys that have missed mains this year, that’s saying something.

17. 39 Fredrik Noren; Moreno Valley, CA; Honda CRF450R – I love Fast Freddie. He’s about as nice of a guy as it comes, and he’s fast as poop outdoors. Supercross, however, is another deal and there have been plenty of cover-your-eyes moments with Freddie. But he’s doing what he does—learning and working hard—and he was rewarded with a main event. Nick Wey and Jimmy Albertson watched the main while Noren was in it.  

18. 199 Kyle Partridge; Canyon Lake, CA; Honda CRF450R – KP was back in the main this week after missing the last two after some crashes.   

19. 58 Killian Rusk; Temecula, CA; Yamaha YZ450F – I have some info on Rusk and his first main of the year from one of Killy's supporters:

“1-Only guy in main pitting out of pickup.

2-Road same bike he beat on all last summer during the Nationals.

3-Drove himself to Oakland raced then drove back to SoCal that night after the race.

4-*Drilled a holeshot over a 700hp JGR bike.

5-Raced all day on Pop-Tarts and bananas.”

20. 47 Martin Davalos; Cairo, GA; Husqvarna FC450 – Davalos is in the same boat as Friese; he’s way good enough to make a main in this stacked field because he’s Martin Davalos.

21. 33 Joshua Grant; Wildomar, CA; Kawasaki KX 450F – This is getting ugly. Grant went down hard in the main again and DNF’d.   

22. 20 Broc Tickle; Holly, MI; Suzuki RM-Z450 – Tickle came up short on that same triple as Roczen in the main and hurt his already tender back. That’s too bad. The Tick made the main right out of the heat and had been riding really well so far. Looks like he’ll miss this weekend but be back for San Diego.