Wow, another day race this past weekend in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and, the penultimate race in the series. I’m always down to use the word penultimate in a story, and I’m also so happy to talk about Denver this past weekend.
Well, maybe not. You see Denver this past weekend was weird. It was a very early daytime program (Keefer said the vibe was high though) and the track was something like you’d see at the Corona, CA, SX test tracks at 2 in the afternoon. In other words, it wasn’t much fun. The track crew had built a small, very basic design and lost the window in which to try and have the track keep some moisture in. First practices were a bit muddy which was fine, and then there was water put on but at some point, the water stopped, the sun was in full effect, and we had concrete-cross happening out there. It didn’t look like much fun for anyone. The whoops were like concrete, you couldn’t push very hard because it was so slippery, and the obstacles weren’t hard at all.
I got a report from the pits on the track from one rider: “It’s absolute dog shit, I will cast my vote that way without a shadow of a doubt. F**ks sake.”
So, yeah, the less said about a Denver race that featured an injury-depleted field on a poop track, the better. It is what it is. Let’s get one more race in here and move on to the great outdoors! Ok then, onto more general topics!
Jason Anderson got his third win in a row in dominating fashion. With Eli Tomac hurt, Anderson’s on another level than the other guys and he’s fully rolling right now. Seeing as how well he’s riding and seeing as how SLC is at elevation this weekend, and Jason’s been riding at elevation in New Mexico, I like his chances to make it four in a row this weekend. I’ve written all year long about how well he’s ridden and how this is amazing so I’m not going to say the following to shit on him, okay?
I just want to point out that if Jason wins this weekend, that’ll tie him for wins on the season with Tomac at seven and also pull him to just nine points back of Tomac in the standings (Tomac is sitting this weekend out with a knee injury, more on that in a minute). He’ll also have led more laps than ET and yeah, years from now historians of the sport like Lane Weigandt will be looking at the vault and think, ‘Wow, Jason Anderson and Eli Tomac had a hell of a battle in 2022’. And it will look like that on paper, but watching the whole thing, Tomac was the man to me. He was better than Jason most weekends when it mattered, he didn’t crash out, he didn’t make some emotional mistakes and yeah, GREAT year by Anderson but give me Tomac’s season ten times out ten, you know?
But Jason’s been significantly better than anyone else out there this year.
Speaking of Tomac, it finally came out that he did suffer an MCL knee injury in the Atlanta heat race and that it’s been bothering him during the races. On the PulpMX Show he stated that later on in the race it starts to hurt him, and that was the reason he dropped back in Foxborough. And this week he again was leading, looking good, and went backward (partly due to the knee and I’m sure partly due to just wanting to ride it on home for the title). He said he’ll be ok for the nationals, but he needs to rest it. Gripping the bike and lack of strength are a couple of issues, so we’ll see.
He's sitting out this weekend (which also ends an incredible ironman streak for Eli) and although he sounded confident that he can race outdoors, count me in as being skeptical he makes all twelve rounds now that he’s got this title. He’s got a legit injury and can’t be where he wants to be. Hope I’m wrong though!
Eli also mentioned that he has not signed with Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha for 2023, but he hopes to figure that out soon. I mentioned that sometimes in these types of things, the rider has an auto-renewal for a bunch more money if they win a title, but he said that wasn’t the case. He said that he wasn’t sure he wanted to race another year if this gamble didn’t work. Also, I heard from another source that with the 2023 YZ450F being pretty new for next year, he wants to ride it before he commits, which makes sense.
Before we move on from Eli, it was very cool to see how crazy the crowd got for Eli out there. They were absolutely nuts and it must’ve been cool for Tomac to feel that. Even Justin Brayton, who’s seen and done it all, said on the PulpMX Show that when he was behind Eli in the first heat and the crowd was going nuts on whichever side of the stadium he was on, it was one of the coolest things he’d ever experienced in a race!
Look, there’s one more race and either Sexton or Anderson is probably gonna win it, and we’ll remember this year as the year of the Eli for sure. There’s still third overall in 450SX up for grabs and that’s a significant amount of money for the racers. Here is the points battle and the pros and cons of the guys involved getting third. I mean, it’s probably a 65K to 100K battle with fourth being worth nothing, so let’s take a look:
3-Malcolm Stewart 295 Points
4- Justin Barcia 291 points
5- Marvin Musquin 287
The PRO of Marv is that he’s been on the podium five out of the last six races and that’s including a win. He’s got serious momentum on his side and won at SLC just last year so yeah, that’s awesome. The CON for him is that he needs to beat Mookie by 9 points and Barcia by 5 so I don’t like his odds.
The PRO of Barcia getting third is, well, I’m not sure. The CONS for him is that he had a crappy Denver, he’s not been better than fifth for five weeks (his last five finishes are 5-5-6-5-7), and he’s not been very good at Salt Lake City with his horrific performance there at the seven races in 2020 and last year, on the GasGas, he went 14-7 in two races.
The PRO of Mookie getting his first ever top three in points is that, duh, he’s got four points on Barcia and nine on Musquin so that means he’s favored. You’re welcome for that. Another pro is that he just got a second on a dry and slippery Denver track, which bodes well for SLC this weekend. Another pro is that it seems that one of the things that was gonna be a CON is that his knee appears to be better. So scratch the knee from the CON list. As far as actual CONS, well there ain’t much. He went 3-5 in the two races at SLC last year and this is a better Malcolm in 2022 so, yeah, Mookie for third is a real thing that’s probably gonna happen.
We’re all sure Christian Craig is going to win this title, yeah? In Denver he stalked Hunter Lawrence for a few laps and then went down. He made it back to third which is a pretty good comeback, being as how you could only push so hard, and it was an easy track. Third is fine but Hunter Lawrence won again, his fourth win of the year, in impressive fashion. Hunter looked great all day and he’s really risen to the challenge of this title including, an impressive East/West Showdown win in the ATL.
Craig’s lead is big enough where he can cruise around this weekend in the showdown and not get caught up in any shenanigans and I would look for Hunter to again challenge for the win. But hey, we all thought a few riders with names like Damon Bradshaw and Adam Cianciarulo just had to cruise around and win titles. Hunter Lawrence has made this a lot more interesting than we all thought.
Coming into the season it was thought that Michael Mosiman and Jo Shimoda were low-key title threats and probably going to be in the hunt for podiums, wins and hey, if things break right, maybe a title. And with just one round to go, I’d say Mosiman had emerged as a potential title guy next year while I’m left wondering if Shimoda can take that next step. Jo’s ridden better lately but the beginning of the year was rough for him. I think although he’s healed up a bit from a crash, the pressure of him thinking he could win a title got to him. Mosiman started off as equal to Lawrence in that they could both beat Craig, but he’s been pretty consistent all season long while I’d argue that Lawrence stepped up his game. Either way, Shimoda and Mosiman are vets in this class and you’d like, I think anyways, to see them be a bit closer to Craig and Lawrence.
Another battle is for 20th in the points and the 10K Feld pays out for that spot. They pay exactly $0.00 for 21stso, yeah, it’s a big deal for these guys. Cade Clason was looking good for some of this cash but then he had a bike issue a couple weeks ago which allowed Justin Starling to really gap him and this week he logged a DNQ after Justin Rodbell cleaned him out (kind of not needed IMO but Privateer Island is not for the faint of heart) on the first lap of the LCQ. Cade’s chances for 20th aren’t good anymore. He’s 14 back. Sucks to be Cade BUT I did some investigative work, and it seems that Vince Friese isn’t racing 450’s this weekend, he’s staying in 250’s. That means, IF Cade gets second this weekend, he’ll pass Vince and get some cash. Also, with no Eli Tomac there that helps Cade a bit. I mean, there IS a way, right?
I notified Cade of this possibility on Twitter and he replied:
@cadeclason52
"Thank you. I will contact #94 and see if he will ride the #78 this weekend."
Some quick hitters here:
I heard from a good source that HEP Suzuki, with backing from Suzuki OEM, went hard after Adam Cianciarulo with a good offer. They didn’t get him, which isn’t a surprise, but the fact that they opened up the wallet and could make an offer with Suzuki America/Japan backing it up with bonuses and the like means that maybe, just maybe, we could see RM Army coming back hard?
I tweeted this the other day, but I’d look for Max Anstie to line up next to Jason Anderson for the 450 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross series. I have no idea what Shane McElrath is going to do but he’s out of his BBMX contract. Joey Savatgy was back riding from an ACL surgery until he got his bike taken back.
KTM has approached some guys like Anstie and apparently Musquin about riding a 250F alongside Max Vohland this summer. Neither of those are going to happen but it’s interesting that KTM is adding Ryan Dungey, Antonio Cairoli and now they want another 250F? For five riders?
Shout out to Marshal Weltin for making the 450SX main on a 250F. Not a shout out to Weltin for trying to wear Quick Straps out there. Oh, and not showing up with the right background colors. I mean, we ALMOST had a guy make a 450SX main with Quick Straps and homemade numbers…SMH.
Robbie Wageman rode very well in the main and the Wageman/Zombie [Chris] Blose/Friese/Nate Thrasher battle late in the race while going through lappers was insane. I don’t know how anyone didn’t die.
I heard Brandon Hartranft has one of those insurance policies on himself for finishes better than 12th in the 450SX mains. With the season he’s had, this means he’s cashing in and good for him!
Do I even need to mention that Kyle Chisholm just chizzed on all the other privateers out there, yet again?
Thanks for reading this week, one more to go and we’ll be here to document it. Want to chat about this or anything else? Hit me up at matthes@racerxonline.com please and thank you!