With Ryan Dungey out and Ken Roczen grabbing gears and getting away, the collective motocross world hung hopes on Eli Tomac upping his game and giving Roczen a fight at High Point. This was a pivotal segment in the season, the first race after the first off weekend, the first race on the east, and the first live NBC broadcast of the season.
We wanted a battle!
And when Tomac, for the first time this year, shot into turn one with his #3 Monster Energy Kawasaki ahead of all the other bikes, it looked like it was on. Then he crashed while right behind Roczen; then was back to a bad start in moto two. Kenny once again led all the laps and won both of the motos.
Tomac gets a shot again this weekend. Roczen will be a bear to take down while he’s riding this well, but at least Tomac has done it before. The rest of the 450 field would have to log the races of their lives to stop all the Roczen rockin.
In contrast, a few minutes after the procedural 450 second moto was over, the 250s rolled out yet another absolute drama fest. The 250s are reaching an all-time high in terms of parity and personality. It seems every rider in that class is crossed up personally in some way both on and off the track. And on the track, the match ups are incredibly close. It’s simply amazing.
Joey Savatgy and his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team are like goalies trying to block all these attacks. I talked with Joey at the team truck after his win, but he wasn’t even really that happy. See, after the race, his third win in four rounds, Joey was immediately under investigation for potentially jumping through a wheels-on-the-ground flag. While that was going on, the anti-doping agents from USADA asked him to take a pee test.
So Joey was off to a room to wait for enough pee to enter his system—which is really difficult after a day of two 35-minute motos—while a USADA guy sat there watching him. That took forever, and when he was finally done, he found out he had officially been cleared of the flag deal, and had officially won the race. Still, he was suspicious of some other riders and teams that might be pointing out these flag violations.
“I’m not sure what they were reviewing but it seems to me that they tend to want to review what I do a lot,” said Joey in the post-race press conference. “I had the same problem in Vegas and the same outcome. Nothing happened. So if that’s what they go to do to try to take a win away from me then that’s what they got to do.”
Joey’s not talking about the race officials here. He’s talking about other riders and teams asking the officials to look into it in the first place.
Someone else came over to pour salt in that wound. According to some people at the Pro Circuit truck, Cooper Webb strolled past a little angry on his way to the post-race press conference and had some words to throw in their general direction regarding the wheels-on-the-ground flag. I’ve heard it was actually Zach Osborne that pointed out the potential violation in the first place, but Cooper is usually a magnet for this type of controversy. Cooper skipped the post-race press conferences after podiums at two other races earlier in the season, and was this time threatened with the fortieth gate pick for this weekend if he skipped again. So he went, but he wasn’t very happy and threw out one-sentence answers. He was also not happy because he felt he didn’t ride well.
“Yeah, I just rode like shit all day,” said Webb before giving one-sentence answers about his wrist and his teammates’ bike problems. “It’s nice to be up there but we got work to do. These guys are hauling. So, going to keep grinding.”
Cooper wasn’t happy. So while walking past the Pro Circuit rig, which was next to the press tent, he threw some shade. Savatgy wasn’t actually there because he was busy with USADA, but some others under the Pro Circuit tent heard it. Hey, this is the Cooper Webb personality we’ve come to know and love over the years. He is not afraid to let things spill off of the racetrack. In fact, he’ll pour it all out and use it to try to get in his competition’s head and pump himself up. Ask Marvin Musquin about that last year.
Although there could be drama enough under his own Star Racing tent. When Webb and Jeremy Martin were flying out of the blocks and running 1-2 consistently early in 2014, a little rivalry began to form. Now a strange deal is developing within that team since the Martin brothers chose to head to Minnesota together while the rest of the riders went riding and training in South Carolina. After Thunder Valley, there was a bit of push/pull over that. Alex Martin wanted to go to Minnesota with his brother, the team wanted him to head to South Carolina with his teammates (and trainer Gareth Swanepoel). So far, Alex has won that battle and got to go to Minnesota.
By the way, it’s looking likely that both Martins are headed to new teams and bike brands next year. Now, that doesn’t always mean anything (Ken Roczen was leaving KTM after 2014 but he and the team gave it their all right to the end, and Roczen’s in the same spot now with RCH Suzuki and kicking ass) but if things start to go sideways, well, this is something to look out for. Now both Martins had bike problems while the other riders made it through the weekend without a problem. That’s probably nothing more than sheer coincidence, but perceptions are reality in the minds of motocross riders. People start connecting strange dots when things like this happen.
You’d think Savatgy is free from all of this but he and Jeremy Martin have some background. In 2015 they were both training at Ricky Carmichael’s farm in Florida, and also having some heated battles in supercross. During the week, schedules were kept pretty separate as these two merely shared the same facility—they were certainly not training partners. JMart has left, Savatgy has stayed.
There have been no signs of public disrespect between Savatgy and Jeremy, but I’ve been around long enough to know how these things work behind the scenes. Savatgy and company want to prove their program works by beating Martin. That’s how people motivate themselves at this level. Much like Webb inserting himself into situations he could smooth over, this entire situation is based on competition. You’ve got a pack of young, hungry dudes seeing their chance to win—a first chance for many of them. That makes them say, think and do things differently from people working a 9-5. Osborne was about to cry after winning the first moto last week. These dudes are putting their heart, soul and guts out there and we’re all getting to see it.
Meanwhile, look at Pro Circuit getting on top of the pile again. Long way to go, but this mighty team has clawed back using Mitch Payton’s old formula. Savatgy is a work horse guy who was in the ranks for a bit, Payton and company got hold of him, molded him, and now he’s putting in his best races ever. Some day amateur phenoms like Adam Cianciarulo and Austin Forkner might carry the team, but right now it’s a classic Mitch Payton project on top. You’ve got a lot of guys who are hell bent on taking that combo down. It’s making for some of the most compelling racing we’ve seen in a while.
