The third round of the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season has come and gone. Both classes provided several talking points from passes, crashes, winners to losers. As such, we fired off some questions to 16-year professional racer Jason Thomas to get his take on all things San Diego.
What did you think of this track? There was only one set of whoops this weekend, but they were long—13 of them!
Without the whoops, this track would have been a real snoozer. The whoops were brutally tough and the main separator between the elites and the rest of the field. They provided the main passing opportunity and also saw crashes every time bikes hit the track. If you were able to get a good start and hit the whoops well, your night likely turned out nicely.
The track was also slick, which saw riders’ rear ends sliding around on the exit of a lot of turns. How challenging is it to hit a slick track, especially after for riders who train on rutty tracks in the East?
I think most of the riders have experience with low traction environments. Practicing supercross in California will certainly provide exposure to a slippery surface, as well as many supercross tracks in general. Even some of the softer, ruttier tracks mentioned can get slippery as the sun bakes them into the afternoon. Is it challenging? Yes. Are some riders better at a slippery surface than others? Also, yes. But I think most have plenty of experience with it.
The pileup at the the start of the 250SX main event. Is there anyone to blame there or was this purely just a racing incident?
It was mostly a racing incident but I would also say that Hunter Lawrence put a squeeze on the inside group, as well. Securing position on that inside was critical to not only getting a good start but also controlling one’s own destiny. If Hunter allowed Christian Craig, Jo Shimoda, and others to push the pack wide, he would lose the ability to control his own apex. He could also end up a casualty of a first turn pileup as those typically roll up anyone to the outside of the chaos. Hunter’s pinch to the left likely had a hand in the incident but I also think it was a move that he’s supposed to make. Pardon the hyperbole but that move is in the “kill or be killed” category.
Michael Mosiman had an impressive ride holding off Hunter Lawrence. Does this win give him a boost to "championship contender"?
I think it very well might. Mosiman has every ingredient needed to become a champion in this class. His bugaboo has been untimely mistakes (although it’s fair to say any mistake is untimely). He finally made good on the promise that we all saw in his riding. Now that he has finally hurdled the hump, can he make it a habit? He is going to need to win more races if he wants to win the title. The champion of this class will have multiple wins, there is not enough depth to simply be consistent and hope to win it.
Christian Craig’s comeback was impressive. Is his race experience—and simply ability to crush the whoops—what helped propel him onto a podium finish?
Yes, the whoops were critical, but he also showed poise in the face of serious adversity as well. It would have been very easy to make a bad situation much worse. Instead, he focused on making smart decisions, patience where needed, and utilized his whoop speed to make uncontested moves.
Chase Sexton did it! He got that win. Are there more to come? Is he a title contender here or is he still too inexperienced to fight with some of these veterans?
I think Sexton has the ability to win every time he lines up behind the gate. He’s that good. The question is can he consistently avoid mistakes. Veterans like Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac don’t typically give big points away via catastrophic mistake. That’s what makes their approach so lethal over the course of 17 races. They win a few, podium a bunch, and minimize the damage on bad nights. If Sexton can smooth out the variance on those tougher nights, the sky is the limit for #23.
Eli Tomac and Dylan Ferrandis had much better starts, and they landed on the podium. Is this something we will see more off (better starts) now that they know they are capable of starting and finishing up front?
Great question and there’s really no way to know. My guess is that we will still see inconsistency. It’s going to take more than one round to change what we have seen for the past few years. I would guess there is a lot happening behind the scenes to help these guys get better starts. Everyone can see it’s the weakest link in their arsenal so the kitchen sink is probably being tossed at it.
Yes, Jason Anderson’s freak bike issue hindered his results at round three (and Barcia hindered his round one finish), talk about his start to the season. He has been impressive!
He’s been incredible! There’s really no other way to say it. He is on the same championship level he found in 2018, or maybe even better. I have nothing but superlatives to hurl in his direction. He is arguably the best rider in the class thus far in 2022.
Who else has impressed you to start this season?
I think Cooper Webb has been sneaky good. He hasn’t grabbed headlines, hasn’t won a race, and only has one podium. Nothing flashy, no reason to really talk about him on podcasts. Yet he’s only one point out of the lead. He’s my pick to win this championship and nothing I have seen thus far is deterring that sentiment.
Who do you believe has been underperforming compared to where they could/should be?
I would like to see more from Dean Wilson. He has so much talent and so much ability and it’s just not showing up in the results column. I don’t want this to come across as criticism because it’s truly not. It is much more about wanting to see the real Dean Wilson show himself. Deano spent years going toe to toe with Tomac and Barcia. Those two are swapping red plates. Dean can ride with that group and I would love to see him get back there.