The old “Detroit” Supercross took place in the long-gone Pontiac Silverdome, a legendary old establishment. The roof was actually built like a balloon, with air circulating throughout the venue to keep it inflated. Detroit’s newer Ford Field is not built that way. However, you could indeed feel the air being let out of this Monster Energy AMA Supercross series last Saturday night. Jason Anderson, Chase Sexton and Cooper Webb were all down and out at nearly the same time, soon followed by Dylan Ferrandis. Bye bye, #deepfield.
Not quite! Watching Anderson tumble off the track, watching Webb try to do laps with one hand (!) and watching Sexton shredded by a crash (again), it looked unlikely that these boys would be back to work this weekend for Indy. Luckily, the news could have been worse. All three lost a ton of points in Detroit but all three are back in action.
Webb is now back working with his old trainer Aldon Baker. We asked Baker yesterday for an update.
“It was crazy (the crash), but he’s had a checkup,” said Baker: He has a small hairline fracture, but that’s more just discomfort. But he’s one tough dude. The hand issue, I thought we had a real problem there, but it’s more just all the bruising up the arm and up the shoulder. But he rode yesterday (Tuesday), and I think every day it will get better. We’re really hoping by Saturday he’s pretty much good to go and capable of putting in the (normal) performance he’s capable of.”
Sexton seems to take shots to the face and body like a boxer, always bouncing back.
“It was unfortunate, but thankfully I’m healthy apart from a few scrapes and bruises,” he said in a Honda HRC team statement. “I’m looking forward to Indianapolis, which I consider one of my home races, and I’m excited to get back out there and make up for it.”
Anderson took to social media earlier this week to say, "Sorry for the delay but we will be ready to rip this next weekend in Indianapolis! A little banged up and a little hit to my ego but nothing we can’t fix!"
We also heard from Kawasaki Racing boss Bruce Stjenstrom that Anderson was able to ride this week.
That’s good news for three top riders. Unfortunately, Ferrandis didn’t emerge quite so lucky.
“Unfortunately I will not line up at Indy this weekend," he said. "During the main event in Detroit I took a deep rut on the over on-off jump and landed too short on the front wheel, didn’t crash but my right wrist absorbed all the impact and I had to withdraw from the race, diagnosis show nothing’s broken just bone bruise luckily, but the pain and soreness will not allow me to ride at the level I am supposed to.”
“It’s been a tough first part of the season so far and I am very frustrated to have not been able to show yet what I am capable of," Ferrandis added. "But it’s part of racing, glad I have good team and people around me to be supportive in this difficult time.”
Supercross riders are some tough hombres, (including El Hombre) and it’s good to see most of them able to claw back into it this weekend. Of course, damage has been done in many ways, including a healthy Eli Tomac stretching his points advantage to nearly two full races. If anyone wants a shot at closing that gap, they’ve at least got to show up this weekend and hope luck bounces the right way. Attendance counts, and we’ll see how everything else unfolds.
