Unadilla man! That’s right, round nine of the Lucas AMA Oil Pro Motocross Championship is already in the books, and there’s plenty to talk about when it comes to this race, including a new points leader!
I first started heading to ‘Dilla in 1996 as a mechanic and I have to say, I was pretty let down by what I saw there. I went in hearing these, green-grass-as-tall-as-your-radiators-when-you-head-out-for-practice stories, and videos of past USGP’s of chocolate-colored dirt and old-school roughness. I expected a lot and when I showed up, I got a rocky, dry, blown-out track that wasn’t great.
This year it looked a little drier and looser than usual, although there’s a fine line between what we saw on Saturday and the rut-cross that happens when you throw a bunch of water on it or it rains. The riders I texted with all weren’t fans of the track this year and I’m not sure what was up with the prep.
But you know, like Hangtown, generally Unadilla has come a long way and is much better prepped now. The days of riders showing up with “U-NO-Dilla” on the back of their pants like RC did are over but something I’ve wondered, same as Washougal, why can’t you just move the track over to the fresher dirt? Same basic layout, just get some of that primo dirt going. Anyway, Unadilla is a pretty solid track and you gotta love the history of the place.
People just don’t do to Eli Tomac what Chase Sexton did to Tomac at Unadilla. Catching him from a ways back in moto one and dropping him, and then doing the same thing again in moto two to go 1-1, and take the points lead away? Yeah, wow! Look, we know Unadilla isn’t Tomac’s favorite track (he’s got one win there in the 250MX class in his career) but still. He’s Eli Tomac. Wow, what a ride by Sexton and after winning that last moto at Washougal (he told me that was his biggest career win in SX or MX ever but did someone check in with him after this weekend?) he’s certainly on a roll.
Unadilla is, despite the reputation it has, a new-school track in how you have to ride it. You’ve gotta pick lines, you’ve got to apply the throttle gently in spots, and you have to be able to carry speed. All things that Sexton’s good at, but Tomac, well he’s more of a bull-in-a-china-shop-type of dude but still, no one does to Tomac what we’ve seen just happen to Tomac.
As far as Tomac, it’s safe to say he’s not been pushed like this in any of his other three 450MX titles and he knows what we all know--Sexton is really good at Pala, the final round. So to me, and to Ricky Carmichael, who I was texting with after the race, the next two rounds are huge for Tomac. Obviously he’s pretty damn good everywhere (maybe except Unadilla) and that will help ET, but as we know, this sport is so mental that even if Eli rides better and is happier with the next two tracks, Sexton’s got to have so much confidence right now because, and I’m not sure if you read this earlier, but what Sexton did to Tomac doesn’t happen to Tomac.
Jo Shimoda’s first moto was pretty dominant right? Like the last national he won at RedBud, Shimoda took off and at times, had over a 12-second lead on second. It would’ve been interesting if Justin Cooper had stayed up, but he didn’t and Jo did. The second moto Shimoda moved up, battled hard with his teammate and grabbed third for the win. What a season for Jo and this comes after his underwhelming SX season. Now, he started working with Nick Wey around the middle of SX, I believe, and perhaps it took until outdoors to start clicking, but whatever is going on, these two are really opening some eyes. And look, I know no one is going to give him much sympathy because he’s won approximately 93 titles, but I’m happy for PC’s Mitch Payton because it’s been a while since he's had this much success outdoors. AC’s title season in 2019 was a blip and before that? YIKES!
I know Hunter Lawrence crashed in the second moto but before that he thought his bike was locking up so he gave up some valuable positions. It seems it was probably a rock in the rear brake that was causing issues but Hunter couldn’t have been be sure at that point. That’s gotta suck for him, it seems like he’s always had something (mechanical, crash, this thing) that stops him from winning an overall this year.
Justin Cooper was on the PulpMX Show after his win in the second moto at Washougal and he told us he would be better from here on out, his foot injury wasn’t an issue, and that he felt disrespected by not being thought about for Team USA at the MXoN. Well, a few weeks later, in front of his hometown fans, he backed up his words with another second-moto win. He was out front in moto one when he went down too, which is worth noting. And now, he’s in contention for the Team USA spot. If he keeps this form up (I believe they’ll name four guys this weekend, including him) and keeps beating Jett Lawrence and everyone else, he’ll be on USA for sure. The title is gone but at least he and Yamaha know he’s back to his old form. It took a while for sure, but here we are!
The Jett had a terrible day with three crashes (two of them looked like they hurt) and I would bet’s going to join the chorus of riders who didn’t “gel” with the track and after all that, he STILL almost landed on the podium and only lost two points to his brother, Hunter, in the title. Yeah, things break your way when you’re Jett Lawrence. He looked to be trying a bit hard out there and the track just wasn’t letting you do that.
Some other news and notes:
Alex Martin, after telling me that no one should pick him in PulpMX Fantasy, and that he was “just riding this out, Steve,” after Millville, has proceeded to have two of his best nationals since then. He’s showing a TON of speed and c’mon Troll, let’s run this back in 2023!!!!!!!!!!
No, I don’t know who Jorgen Talviku is, but nice work out there to top-twenty his first ever national in a tough class if you don’t have a factory machine.
Don’t look now but Max Vohland has gone 4-6-7-5-6-6 in his last six nationals and is riding pretty well at that. The hardest thing as a kid in this class is to be consistent each week and he’s doing that.
I don’t know what more to say about the live timing and scoring SNAFU’s that have been going on all summer. Like, I hear a different reason each week why it’s a mess. This week the 450LCQ guys didn’t have a gate pick order, it was a free-for-all down there, and one privateer, Nathen Laporte, appeared to have qualified with his times but was then not allowed in because of a timing issue. I don’t know man, it’s frustrating for me as well.
Battling for Team USA’s MX2 spot, Christian Craig sounds like he hit his head in a practice crash and had an off day.
Dylan Ferrandis came back! The #1 was out there and man, he went for it in the first moto. Not scared at all, but that’s Dylan right? I thought that it was a good debut considering it’s so late in the year and the second moto seemed like maybe that was about all he had fitness-wise, but he’ll get better. The track also made it hard to charge forward as well.
Malcolm Stewart raced a national!!! Eight years is a long time and so, to me, his results seem pretty good. Not amazing or great, but hey, outdoor motocross is a much different animal than SX and eight years is a long time. I mean, it was the year Captain America: Winter Soldier, was released! Come on, man. Cool to see him back.
Another weekend where Derek Kelley was the first guy in the 250MX class, in the results, without a factory bike. Just putting it out there. Too bad he won’t get a shot on a factory team and they’ll put some amateur kid on it. Once you’re not on the factory wagon wheel, you can’t get back on.
Nick Romano came back from injury to his home track and fought like hell out there in what might be his most impressive ride since early in the season. Hopefully the break helped him out a bit (I thought perhaps the grind of the season was getting to the rookie) and he comes out strong these last three. Unadilla was good!
Thanks for reading, send me an email if you want to chat about this race or anything else other than “claim-gate,” as I’ve had enough of that. It’s matthes@racerxonline.com. See ya’ at Budds Creek!
