Wheels Up: January
By Jason “Wheels” Todd
Introducing a new monthly feature where our man in the middle of America, Jason “Wheels” Todd, gives you his take on all of the happenings in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, beginning with January 2016.
The month of January has now expired, which means that the 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship has now been up and running for one month. Coming off a long off-season, the Anaheim 1 season opener breathed life into race fans yet again and made Saturdays relevant once more. (Yes, there are other sports out there, but it goes without saying, that they do not fill the void the time between the end of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship in August and the Anaheim SX opener in our adrenaline-fueled minds, bodies, and souls.)
Now that we have had the privilege of taking in four rounds of supercross, let’s take a moment to reflect on the season thus far:
Ryan Dungey is good, really, really good, and I’m just stating the really, really obvious! As a result, “the greatest 450 season we’ve ever seen,” which started out with thirteen riders on the podium at the pre-season press conference at Anaheim 1, on the verge of becoming a yawner. The fan in me wants to see a new winner each week, whereas the realist inside me is becoming a tad nervous that the most consistent man in supercross is, as it stands, the fastest as well. He’s going to be hard to beat if he keeps this up.
“El Hombre” Jason Anderson is one of the most stylish and fun guys to watch on the track. With his (shirt) tail-in-the-wind, give-‘er-the-spurs-style, he’s not only enjoyable to watch, he is really, really quick. As a rider who was once “benched” by his team early in his professional career, he now sits tied for second in points and has a main event win to his name. How’s that for “finding yourself” as a rider? After a podium last year at A1, backing it up with a win this season was not out of the realm of possibilities in my mind. Anderson is good and I would not be shocked to see him “light the candles” (as Ralph says) again in 2016, and be a true title contender come 2017. But like everyone else out there, I can’t figure out what’s going to with his teammate, Christophe Pourcel. To me he’s been as big a disappointment as I can ever remember for a rider that seemed to have a lot to race for, and finally a good team to do it with.
Never bet against Chad Reed. I haven’t, and I won’t. He continues to defy conventional race wisdom that this is a much younger man’s sport now, and the look of comfort and confidence he possesses on his trusty Yamaha has turned the clock back, what, a dozen years? Think for a moment: In 2005 he was battling with Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart; now he’s battling with kids who were running the Schoolboy Class at Loretta Lynn’s that very same year, with names like Dungey, Canard and Friese (yes, Vince Friese raced 125 Schoolboy at Loretta Lynn’s in a heavily-stacked division won by Austin Stroupe).
It’s no secret that Ken Roczen has struggled this season with starts. In Oakland, however, the Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/RCH Racing Suzuki rider looked a lot more like the “K-Roc” that I had expected to see this season. After his podium ride and a chance to go Dungey’s speed for a whole race, one could ask if the giant inside him has finally been awoken. My thoughts are, yes and he’s hungry. I expect him to be the next man to win a race—other than Dungey, that is! And wasn’t it cool to see him and Marvin Musquin, another former MX2 World Champion, finally battling for a podium?
The biggest story of the year to many was the return of Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart. Going into 2016, of all the many thoughts and expectations this particular rider generates, I’d venture to say that no one thought that we would see the man who pilots the number 7 bike end January with a total of two points and zero finishes. His concussion from Anaheim 1 has lingered for a month now, and even though he qualified in Oakland, blurry vision forced him out of the race before the halfway mark. Is it almost over for James Stewart?
Stewart is not the only one with problems. Trey Canard, Dean Wilson, Broc Tickle and more are hurt again, and Blake Baggett is just getting back on his bike.
And here’s a question: Where is the number 33? I really thought someone would pick Josh Grant up before Anaheim, but they didn’t. And then I thought surely someone would sign him as a fill-in or replacement rider, but that hasn’t happened yet either, despite several teams now having empty seats due to injury. For me, Grant has one of the best/most fun/“greasiest” styles on a motorcycle, and I personally hope to see him line up again soon.
Team Tedder, having watched top-ten rider Jake Weimer move over to RCH Racing Suzuki, seems like they could fit him under the tent right away.
One half of the races so far have begun with discussions of mud, but no actual mud races. A1 saw rain in the days prior to the event, and weather played a factory in Oakland as well, but the prep, planning and priceless experience that Dirt Wurx has in dealing with the elements and salvaging dry tracks from the soaked plastic that covers them when they even hint that there may be rain. And not only have they done a phenomenal job keeping it covered from the elements, I’ve also been super-impressed with how good the soil has been. Generally the California rounds tend to be more hard-packed and slippery; this season however, I feel as if Rich Winkler and his crew have done wonders when it comes to providing Grade A tracks to race on.
What to say about the kids in the 250 Class? (Well, kids and then veterans Zach Osborne and Christian Craig.) First, there’s Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb, whom we could sit and discuss all day. My favorite thing about Cooper is how he’s perfected the ability to ride really aggressive, while keeping it 100 percent clean. And his sound bytes are always good, like when he told Jenny Taft he remembered his KTM 65 suffering vapor lock and that’s why he decided to unscrew his gas cap in Oakland!
GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig. Two weeks in a row now he has ran up front, and I could have watched him and Webb stand one another up for a full 15 laps. I truly feel that there is a win in Christian’s future, and it’s pretty evident that he feels the same way. And speaking of wins, how about Joey Savatgy? Our friends of the interweb can snark all they want, but there are no such thing as “gifts” in the sport. I’d like to reference a mantra that a very impressionable man, in my professional life, has embedded into myself (as well as every rider that he works with), “Be ready for anything, and surprised by nothing.” Joey’s victory in Oakland was earned, let the kid enjoy it.
As I mentioned previously; Cooper Webb is really good at riding aggressively, while still being clean, in my opinion. I feel compelled to mention aggression in this piece for a couple of reasons. The first reason, I absolutely feel that supercross is a contact sport. Seriously. Imagine how boring it would be if dudes never ran each other high, nor put one another on the ground? Reason number two is more of a question (to which I have an opinion, but it will be more fun to omit that for now): Where is the line between riding aggressively and being someone so dangerously offensive that people do not want to race with you? I ask this because there are many conflicting opinions recently and double standards. Remember, I’m in favor of contact in racing, but as a person who’s been involved in the sport for 20-plus years, even I find myself scratching my head at times.
We all know and have covered “the incident” at Anaheim 1 time and again. We all know the two riders involved. So I’m going to mention it, without actually mentioning it. Personally I’m so over this incident and absolutely did not want to write about it. It seemed as if the horse was finally to be buried, then Oakland happened and here we are again. Was there retaliation in Oakland? I personally don’t think so, nor apparently did the AMA referee. Upon viewing it in slow-mo a number of times, everything looked kosher to me. Can we move on now? Because I’m guessing this duel within the pack has a few more rounds yet to be meted out.
Well, there you have it, dudes and dudettes. Random ramblings in regards to the 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season thus far, from just an ordinary guy who likes dirt bikes way too much. I’d like to quickly take this time to thank everyone at Racer X for the opportunity to pen this piece together and do a little bench racing with everyone. Here’s to hoping that you all enjoyed this, and that I’ll be invited back here in four weeks to ramble about what all happened in the month of February. Until then, thanks for reading!