Yeah, it’s Triple Crown time again this past weekend in Dallas at round 8 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and we certainly saw some great racing, yet again. Love the TC format, don’t want to see 17 of them in a year but love to have them thrown in here or there. It’s a real challenge for the racers, as well, with the 450SX racers doing 48 laps in the night! That’s a lot of work and as we saw with Chase Sexton last week, you have to be on your toes 100 percent of the time when you’re out on the track. I can imagine how mentally draining it must be for the riders when the night is all done.
Well, he didn’t win one damn race all night, but Eli Tomac did win the overall yet again. He’s got these Triple Crown things down pretty good. He didn’t get the start in the first one but worked his way up, got a break or two along the way, and then did what he had to in the next couple of races to bring it home. Also, he’s leading the Triple Crown Championship which no one cares or knows much about, but it will likely be another trophy Tomac can bring home. He also added three points to his series lead and he’s going into Daytona this weekend where, ICYWW, he's really good.
Tomac wasn’t the fastest guy in Dallas because that honor would go to Jason Anderson who continued his excellent season with 6-1-1 scores. He caught and passed Tomac in the third race which has to help with the ol’confidence but that sixth was due to yet another poor decision by Anderson to go for the pass on Malcolm Stewart in the first race. Look, it wasn’t that bad, there was room there and on the Vince Friese scale of passes, it was probably only a three or four, but he went down (as did Stewart) so the risk he took wasn’t a good one. Also, it’s the first race, he’s got two more and as good as Malcolm has been riding, Jason’s been better so if I’m him, I’m thinking, hey man a second is as good as a first here so let me be absolutely sure I can get by or it’s not worth the risk.
And also, as well, Malcolm Stewart is pissed at him now. So, if Mookie has a chance to tee him up down the road, he might not hesitate to make it happen. Jason is very loose on the track and sometimes that’s a good thing but in Dallas, it was not. Still though, if anyone wants to get him back, they have to catch him and right now that’s not easy. He’s been great.
By the way, if you’re Tomac and Star Yamaha you leave Dallas with three more points on Anderson and the overall win, so you’re stoked. Yeah, Jason passed you in the last race, but it was only ten minutes and Tomac rode right behind Jason the whole time. He looked ready to do that for thirty more minutes if need be. So, the Tomac camp feels pretty good. And if you’re Jason Anderson and Kawasaki, you know that you were one decision away from a 2-1-1 overall win and you also caught and passed Tomac in the last main. I think both sides leave Dallas with heads held high. This is how these teams and riders work. You take what you can get to make yourself feel good.
Cooper Webb got pretty fortunate to get that first race win with Stewart and Anderson going down but even still, he rode well to go 1-4-4 for third overall. Combine that with last weekend’s runner-up ride and the 8-8-8 Webb from a few races ago seems to be in the past. Webb’s gotten a bit fortunate the last couple of weeks, but he’ll take it. The good news is he’s better. The bad news is he’s over a race down in the points with two very fast riders to jump and the series is almost halfway done. Can Webb win a race this year? One would think so but so far, he’s had chances and hasn’t been able to get it done.
Malcolm Stewart has the most top five finishes in the 450SX class this year with seven and he’s third in points. And he was close to winning that first race before he was “Andersoned.” He’s third in points, he’s been so solid it’s not even funny. The dude looks great and the pro-Aldon Baker people have to be clinking wine glasses together at the work he’s done with Mookie.
The keyboard warriors thought he shouldn’t be allowed to race this weekend, but Chase Sexton had a quiet but solid night. His 4-3-5 finishes for him is fine just seven days after he took a pretty hard hit as well. As always with these Triple Crowns, one small thing changes the whole night. Sexton stalled late in the first race and Tomac got around him. If that doesn’t happen, Sexton is in the hunt for a podium and Tomac has to fight Anderson for the overall.
Shoutout to Dylan Ferrandis who’s the only rider in the 450SX class to qualify inside the top five at every round this year, showing that he’s damn fast. Also, shoutout to Ferrandis for having an average first lap position of 11th. Someone call Holeshot Hansen ASAP.
16-9-16. Those were Ken Roczen’s scores from Dallas. Kenny’s qualifying time, which indicated to me he was feeling it a bit compared to the last few weeks, didn’t really matter all that much in the race. He went down in the whoops as well which can’t be good for his confidence. Ken Roczen is having the worst stretch of racing since he landed on USA shores a while back. It’s bizarre and I don’t know what’s going on. His average finish since the surprise win at A1 is a ninth.
We had a question on the PulpMX Show on Monday about whether Ken would get another podium this year. Think about that for a bit! That’s insane! This is where we’re at. I can’t even hit the panic button for Ken because I broke it a few weeks ago.
Alex Martin crashed four times in one practice. One of the crashes was when he was just trying to ride around the whoops. I’m serious! And then after those four crashes, he set his fastest qualifying time. Not surprisingly when Weege and I went down to see if he was having a seizure or what out there, he commented he had a new front tire on his bike. Yeah, that’s it, Troll, it was the tire’s fault.
Just when we thought Marvin Musquin was fixed from his epic San Diego melt-down he went from leading the first race to eleventh. Without falling. Wow. That’s hard to do right? The next two races didn’t go any easier and it was so weird to see Musquin have issues out there. He was good for a few weeks, wow we’re back on the “What’s up with Marv?” narrative for the next week. He is good at Daytona generally, so we’ll see how that goes.
Well, one week after we thought that THE JETT was going to just be calm and steady on his way to the 250SX east title, this week he was all over the place with crashes, almost crashes, unforced errors and pure unadulterated raw speed. Taking out Austin Forkner wasn’t a good look at first, but then on the replay seeing him clip the Tuff Block, it made more sense. I talked to Jett after the race and he was seriously bummed at his move, he could’ve been seriously hurt and was lucky to get up and finish the race to get third overall. Forkner wasn’t so lucky. But look man, mistakes happen, and Jett will learn from this, to me the real story is his speed in the second race, easily taking the win and his balls out speed in going from last to fourth in the first race and last to third (before the crash) in the final race. It was seriously impressive. As the infamous Phil Nicoletti said, the racers aren’t cats, they don’t have nine lives but if they were, Jett used up one of them in Dallas.
All the talk of Jett from Dallas both good and bad means we’re overlooking that Cameron McAdoo won the whole thing. He, Forkner and Lawrence were tied for the overall going into the last race and even without the Jett/Forkner thing, McAdoo had the overall won. He came through when it counted and took the win and ties Jett for the points lead also. He won Daytona last year also, so you know he’s going to be licking his lips at that thought this weekend.
Also, McAdoo owes me for possibly saving his life after the race. Cameron and his finance, his mom and dad were all walking from the stadium to the rental car parking when they saw me coming the opposite way. I, like them, had taken a wrong turn walking out and guided them the right way. It’s a bit rough around the stadium and like a guardian angel, I got everyone headed in the right way.
We had Jeremy Martin on the PulpMX Show and he mentioned that when he saw Phil Nicoletti had better lap times in the first session of the day, he knew it was time to throw the whole tool-box at the bike. He said they changed from spring forks to air forks which, given how differently they feel and given that he’s been on spring all off-season, is a huge switch on a race day! Desperate times call for desperate measures, he said. He doesn’t wanna see Phil going faster than him out there! Martin got better every time he went out and was second overall on the night. Although Martin mentioned on the show that he was “gifted” that second more than a few times. He also has to be looking forward to Daytona this weekend.
Mitchell Oldenburg redeemed himself pretty well after a not-all-his-fault DNQ from last week with steady rides. At one point he was second overall before a late pass on him dropped him to fourth. Oldenburg looks great to start the year, I think he’ll be on the box at some point.
Filthy Phil is, somehow after not racing SX for four years, better at SX now? He had fifth overall on lock before he washed the front and dropped way back in the last race. Phil’s bike looks great, Twisted does the motors and KYB does the suspension- he was hammering the whoops all day and looked very comfortable. I don’t think he even got mad at anything this week either.
Well, the Rockstar Husky guys might be mad at Phil. He took out RJ Hampshire and Stilez Robertson both unintentionally but it definitely sucked for those guys, especially RJ as he basically fell from a 15-foot high jump onto the ground.
Speaking of falling, Pierce Brown deserves some credit for getting second in the final race as he had, up until that point, had a rough day with crashes. Like, I thought after his practice crash that he was not going to come back out, but he did. And then he kept crashing. Over and over. But again, he rode great to get second in the final race. I’m no riding expert but he can’t keep having days like Dallas and expect to make all the races. Ouch!
Enzo Lopes is probably the surprise of the series so far, he was sixth in Dallas and is fifth in points and soon to pass the injured Forkner. He’s also +11 in positive passes to start the year and hasn’t lost a spot. Lopes is also hoping to buck the trend of every rider running a PulpMX sticker sucking. So far, so good!
Henry Miller and Marshall Weltin are two total privateers out there and both are two for two to start the year, I did not have either guy looking this good to start the year. Awesome for both of them.
Rough start to the year for Coty Schock and now he’s going to be out for a while with some injuries. Through six practices and one main event, he’s not looked even close to the guy we saw last year. Heal up Coty!
The Chef (Levi Kitchen) crashed out this makes Mitchy The Kidd (who posts these stories on this website) very sad. I’m sorry Mitch, hopefully you breezed through this section and didn’t let it sink in. Plus, he should be good for Daytona though. Surprising how many dudes crashed hard in Arlington only to turn out okay, although Forkner wishes he were on that list.
Thanks for reading, send me an email at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this race or anything else, I won’t be at Daytona but don’t worry- I’ll have Observations from the couch!
