Supercross is usually great. Triple Crown races make the usually great supercross races even greater. It’s a proven recipe for smiles, year after year, people. So, when we were going to Glendale, AZ for round 12 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series, complete with Glendale’s big floor, usual great track, AND a Triple Crown? Well sign me up because I knew I was going to be in for a damn good time.
Well, look, they can’t all be Picassos, right? For whatever reason, track layout, dirt, the economy, world trade deficit, the sun, moon and stars....whatever it was, this race didn’t provide much for the excitement level. The track was fast, the dirt was hard, and it prevented the guys from really charging too hard due to lack of traction. Then, with the SX Futures back in the building, it just wasn’t a very tough track, either. Many of the races saw the riders all grouped together jumping through the air, yet unable to make up much time. You needed a mistake by someone to get by. Tough to do much out there and the entertainment level suffered as well.
But there was still a race to be had, and there was a big swing in the 450SX points as well!
Eli Tomac is really good at these Triple Crown things, as we’ve seen over the years. He won this weekend with great starts, and he didn’t really have a mistake to be seen anywhere. His whoop speed right from the start was impressive. In the final session he wasn’t as quick and didn’t look as good in the whoops, but I figure maybe they tried something a bit different, and it didn’t work. In the second main, or race, or moto, or whatever the hell we call these things, the whoops cost him a bit as he stuck to the left side and Chase Sexton was eating him up on the right. For the next race, he switched to the right, and all was better.
ET put seven points on Cooper Webb after it was all said and done, which is huge. You have to figure it’s going to narrow that margin of error for Webb at this point. Yeah, we’ve seen Tomac have a few of those bad races this year but one of them was physical with his neck. So hopefully he doesn’t change his pillows or whatever going forward. Two wins in a row, seven on the season, and five to go. Tomac’s answered the bell here after his crappy Indianapolis neck-induced ride.
Chase Sexton won the 2023 Triple Crown Championship. Yay for him and his team, I suppose. I know Feld wants this to be a thing, I get it, but yeah, none of these guys care if you’re just going to hand out a trophy. Put some money behind it or a points bonus and you’ll see a lot more caring out of the teams and riders. Anyway, Sexton was one guy (not surprising) who could make up time in Glendale seemingly at ease. He was leading the second race, or main, or moto, or whatever by 2.5 seconds. He stalled it, they caught up to Eli again and he pulled out a four-second lead rather easily on his way to the win. This guy makes it look so damn easy at times. Solid second place on the night.
Justin Barcia had another good night as he landed on the podium again. Just like Indianapolis, I think the type of dirt and how hard a rider can push it helps Barcia out a bit. I know, Indy and Glendale were totally different conditions, obviously. And obviously, we know Barcia is wide open all the time pushing as hard as he can with lots of energy expended. I think when he’s forced to adapt to trickier conditions than usual, maybe he rides a bit calmer out there, which results in faster lap times? So maybe extreme ruts or extreme hard pack help him. I don’t know, it’s just a theory I have and Barcia himself didn’t deny it when I spoke with him about it.
He's been really good lately, staying out of any controversies, and this is a cool story developing. He mentioned on the PulpMX Show couple weeks ago that he was re-signing with the TLD GasGas guys and word is, it’s a two-year contract.
These whoops in Glendale were the type of whoops that Cooper Webb usually isn’t good at. They’re big, they don’t break down, and it’s hard-pack dirt. But to me, I thought he was pretty good in them. Was he the best guy? No way but I’d say he held his own through that section even though there were a couple close calls. But I saw some close calls from a lot of guys there. They were tough! Webb couldn’t get the start (outside of the first main, or race, or moto) and then like I said up top, couldn’t make up much time on this track. He drove it into a couple of guys to force the issue (his slam on Jason Anderson was a good one!), but he couldn’t get close to the guy he needed to get close to, which was Tomac. Seven points was a tough blow for Webb.
The Jett broke his Triple Crown jinx in Glendale. I myself didn’t think this was much of a jinx on him—it was just happenstance that he couldn’t get it done. But in Glendale he was one point down to RJ Hampshire going into the last race, or main, or moto, and he nailed it exactly. THE JETT took off for the win after he got by Levi Kitchen and rode flawlessly the rest of the way. His third in race two wasn’t too bad either since he was buried off the start his work was cut out for him from there. Look, he’s the best guy in this class. We’ve all known this and as I wrote about it to start the year, he shouldn’t be in here. This is his fourth year in the class, he’s the defending champion, and he needed to challenge himself some more.
Props to RJ Hampshire. He won the second race and he really, really needed to get the start in the third gate drop, which he didn’t do. He was forced to ride up from around fifth or sixth, but I do wonder, if he had gotten the holeshot, and knew he needed to keep Jett behind him for the overall, what kind of bloodbath would we have seen from Hampshire? Now THAT could’ve spiced the night up!
Levi Kitchen was leading in two of the mains and got passed for the lead. With these types of guys that’s never a good thing but to me it was fine, as Kitchen has a ton less experience than Hampshire and Lawrence. He’ll be a title threat next year, one would think. But still, that stuff doesn’t always resonate with these types of riders. They just don't like getting passed if they're leading, no excuses. So I asked Levi about it afterward, saying I thought he had a good night, despite being passed for the lead twice. And he agreed with me! Whew!
Where we at with Ken Roczen’s night? He was third in the first race but got passed and put into fifth. That’s not good. Second race he got third. That’s good. Third race he didn’t get the start and worked up into fifth. That’s just, ehhhh. So, one good, one bad, and one ehhhh. TRIPLE CROWN FEVER EVERYONE!!!!
I was a bit surprised that Adam Cianciarulo didn’t lead a lap or two in any of the three mains. He has been good lately and has been showing more of that AC speed—in Glendale he was third quickest in qualifying. He was rather steady all night, he caught, passed, and dropped Aaron Plessinger in one of the races, and considering AP was a lap away from winning a 450SX a couple weeks ago, that had to feel good. He did seem like he rode a lot by himself out there, just out of touch of the lead pack but better than the Plessinger/Nichols group of dudes. 7-7-7 for the kid who’s not a kid anymore, BTW.
Colt Nichols was back this weekend and ran as high as second, I believe, off the start of the first race before getting dropped rather quickly. I think an 8-8-8 is rather consistent and a nice place for him to be after missing so much time, yeah?
Some other news and notes:
We haven’t seen much of Answer Racing this year, but the Bar-X Suzuki guys wear it and it’s good to see the iconic brand still around. But this weekend, I don’t know what exactly the guys there were wearing. Ouch, Answer! Bring back the Gator print, please.
Benny Bloss going 11-22-11 is such a Benny Bloss move. He’s a great rider and although he’s been better lately, consistency has eluded Benji the last few years. On the PulpMX Show Monday he outlined his program as a privateer, and I think it’s a pretty enlightening conversation on just how much he makes and how he survives being on Privateer Island.
Hunter Yoder has had a good year with the PRMX guys in the 250SX west series and has pulled some great starts. Also, in related news, Yoder’s motor was the subject of a “random” teardown from the AMA that seems anything but random. The team was found in compliance.
Poor Stilez Robertson. I thought he’d have a breakout year on Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, but it just hasn’t happened. A couple of good rides but for some reason, his starts on the faster Yamaha haven’t been there. He had already gotten banged up here and there and this week he got run over and broke his leg.
Poor Christian Craig. He’s been getting a bit better here lately but went down in the whoops in practice (Craig crash in the whoops???) and broke his elbow and dislocated his hip. Ouch! So now Rockstar Husky has no 450 riders for the next little while. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. I imagine RJ Hampshire will jump up again at some point but both Malcolm Stewart and Craig are gonna be out a while.
Kyle Chisholm was much better this weekend. He attributed it to the rest he got from the off weekend (he is 47 years old or something), and also a new fork setting he got this past week. Whatever it was, whether it was qualifying or the race, Chiz was back to Chizzing all over people again.
Enzo Lopes had to be thinking podium going into the race with Cam McAdoo out for a while and his great ride in Seattle still lingering in the air. I was talking to his team owner, Brandon Haas, before the race and he mentioned that Lopes was better at the softer, beat down type of Seattle dirt than Glendale, which proved to be right. However, a fifth is good for Enzo. He’s gone 6-4-13-6-4-5 and is one point out of third overall in the series. He’s attracting some factory teams’ attention for next year also, BTW.
Thanks for reading OBS from Glendale. Let’s all hope this weekend down at the Speedway in the A-T-L will be a barn burner! Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or anything else.
