1. So did Kenny just get some momentum or is Dungey's eleventh-to-second charge proof that nothing has changed?
Jason Thomas: I think Kenny has been building towards this for a while. He was riding great weeks ago, even at Anaheim 2 he was on the pace, but his starts and early laps have held him back. It will be key as they enter San Diego for both riders to try to establish themselves as the lead dog.
Dungey has a nice points lead but the last thing he wants is for Roczen to get on any sort of hot streak. He will be out to squash the Roczen uprising and leave no doubt why he has a big #1 on his back.
For Roczen, he must strike while the iron is hot. If he can get into Dungey's head and regain that mental edge he had just two short years ago, that may be a game changer for the landscape of this entire 2016 season.
Steve Matthes: Would it make me an a-hole if I said nothing's changed? I hope I'm wrong but Dungey showed me with his charge that he's still very much capable of ripping off a bunch of wins and building on his points lead. For excitement's sake I hope I'm wrong. Roczen's ridden very well the last few weeks, but Dungey was again brilliant on Saturday. Confidence is almost everything in this sport so Kenny's going to need some of that, but I need to see a mano-v-mano battle with Dungey where Roczen comes out on top to change my mind.
Jason Weigandt: It's a change, but not a massive change. Dungey's competitors just need to get something, anything, going, and this is definitely something. But Dungey's level is scary right now. I used to laugh when people would get on Dungey and say, "He needs to just be faster and more aggressive and sprint more off the start—oh but don't lose any of the consistency." Oh, so just go a lot faster but never crash? How easy!
Well, somehow Dungey has done that. He's upped his game in several areas but there hasn’t been any increase in mistakes or crashes. This is simply amazing.
Kenny was so modest after the race that he gave Dungey credit for going faster in the whoops. Looking at the times and the footage, I think Kenny actually matched him through there. But I think in general, all of these guys just know Dungey is a darned machine right now and they have to respect that. It’s going to take a massive change to upset all of this.
2. Similar note: Tomac gets his first podium, but admits Dungey "ate me up." So was the night a positive or negative?
Thomas: I think it was still a positive overall. Sure, he lost the pace and couldn't maintain that sprint level speed that he showed for the first ten laps. He was able to reel Kenny in for a bit, though, and that was the first time we have really seen him challenge for the lead in any main event this year. Coming off of the injuries that Eli has, keeping focus on small improvements is very important. He has improved in some way each and every weekend as of late, yet he still wants better results than what he has gotten. He is going to put the whole puzzle together here soon and make the other riders' racing lives much more complicated.
Matthes: Can it be both? A podium is a podium and something to be happy about and the way Eli rode in the opening ten laps was great. He reeled in the 94 and I thought he was going to win to be honest, but then the last ten he tired a bit, got squirrley in the whoops and lost his mojo. So like a lot of races this year, there were some ups and some downs for Tomac in Glendale. I've been on these teams and what you want to do is completely ignore the negative and just focus on and talk about the positives from the race.
Weigandt: Definitely good. Eli just needs to get his own stuff right before he can worry about anyone else. He made some real progress with his bike and his fitness and strength will surely come around with time. He rode better than he did at any other race this year. That's all that matters.
3. Cooper Webb took out Chris Alldredge hard in practice. Fair or foul?
Thomas: This was purely a case of Cooper letting his temper get the best of him. For all of the ways Cooper has shown maturity this season, this is proof that he still has growing left to do. He has had issues with Alldredge this season and surely felt that Alldredge was getting in his way during timed qualifying. I have also had this happen many times both here in the USA and while abroad chasing European championships. It is infuriating and I have voiced my frustration more than once, but taking it to the level that Cooper did is simply counter productive. Being in the title fight that he finds himself in, he must rise above that pettiness and keep his eye on the prize. Chris Alldredge means nothing in Cooper's big picture, but one silly move like this can ruin an entire season. Maturity is shown in many ways and Cooper has been good in that category most of the time. Slowly catching Jessy Nelson at A1 on his own timeframe, being patient with his passes on Christian Craig, and keeping his cool while in the face of a DNF are all signs that he is working hard to become a smarter, wiser racer. Moves like we saw with Alldredge are a reminder that the process is still underway, though.
Matthes: Way foul. As I wrote in my Observations column, it's a silly move to park some dude because you felt he got in your way in practice. Alldredge probably did jack with Webb on purpose, but it's stemming from Cooper flipping him off a few weeks ago. As someone in the pits told me, "Chris is probably getting into Webb's way because he's just not nearly as good as Webb" which could also be true. Webb's got to be a bigger guy here and accept that he's got a target on his back, but he's going for a higher purpose here. There's plenty of time to get fast laps in and even Webb's "poor" laps are inside the top five so just calm down out there.
Weigandt: Dude, it was scary. When you dump the clutch into someone and end up crashing yourself, there's always the chance something will get torn up. Can you imagine if Cooper hurt his thumb like Justin Barcia did? I'm not the moral police so I don't know if this is okay from an etiquette angle, but I think it's a risk not worth taking. Personally, I think all this youthful enthusiasm makes for must-see-TV and I love it, but if I was writing the checks, I'd be a little worried.
