Round ten of Monster Energy AMA Supercross took place over the weekend in Indianapolis, and with the Triple Crown format, soft dirt, another 250SX lead change, there’s plenty to get into. To help us better understand it, we tapped former pro, Jason Thomas.
The dirt looked like it broke down and got gnarly in Indianapolis. How deep were those ruts, and how did they compare to last week’s track in Birmingham?
It was brutal, indeed. The track was built for normal supercross, which was the key difference between this week and Birmingham. The difficult table-to-table stuff, and executing triples through rhythm sections, got harder and harder as each race wears long. The whoops were also in full effect and if you look back on the majority of the action, it was mostly in the whoops and those two rhythm sections. Every interview I did throughout the day and night, the level of technicality to put those sections together was front and center.
What’s it like having a slight turn right before the whoops like they had in Indy? Does it make getting set up for the whoops any different or more difficult?
More than anything, it just slowed things down a bit. With the way the whoops were deteriorating, though, speeds would have likely been slow anyway. There wasn’t anyone looking to enter with a lot of speed after the first lap or two. The ruts were simply too wonky for consistent high speed. Could a rider make a hero run and get through? Sure, but trying to do that consistently would likely end up with a broken visor and bent handlebars.
Speaking of the whoops, what’d you think of Jett Lawrence’s line, jumping into them?
The jump line was used by many riders throughout the day. Haiden Deegan was the first rider to utilize it in timed qualifying and many others tried it later. The tough part was, the margin for error was virtually nil. Landing in a rut and needing to triple the next three whoops immediately upon said landing created a high risk/high reward scenario. The fact that Jett executed this nearly flawlessly speaks to the talent and bike skill the kid has. It’s impossible to overstate the effectiveness of that line in race three.
Ken Roczen is known for being dangerous with a lead. Were you surprised he didn’t hang on to win any of those races?
Kenny is dangerous, yes, but he needs to build his preferred gap in that early blitz. If a rider hangs around during that onslaught, whether it be Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac, Jett, etc., they have withstood the most critical part of the race. When Kenny can put 5+ seconds on the field in those early laps, he almost always hangs onto it. If he has riders on his rear wheel after that opening salvo, it’s a very different scenario.
Lawrence spent quite a while on Roczen’s rear fender in the second 450SX race. Was he studying his lines, or was he simply not able to get by him?
I think Jett was simply remaining patient. He was able to get by in the first race with this gameplan and he also knows the above dynamic I spoke of. Sometimes simply staying with Kenny in the opening laps wins the battle. Few riders think that the time to pounce on Ken Roczen is early in any race. Kenny’s ability to put in his best laps immediately is not common. His peers know that, so they're not going to try to beat him at that game.
Chase Sexton has had, for him, somewhat of a quiet year, but he seemed to have some extra spark in Indianapolis. Was there something about the track that agreed with him?
I think the improvement comes from his hand injury healing and getting back to practicing throughout the week. He still has this “pass and beat Jett” stigma to overcome, but he certainly looked spicier on Saturday. I could see him winning another race before the season is out, especially if Jett goes to management mode in the final couple of rounds.
Eli Tomac is usually pretty good in Triple Crown races, but he went 4-7-10 in Indianapolis for seventh overall. Did you see anything in his riding that would suggest he was struggling?
This makes two tough weekends in a row for Tomac. It feels as if he is very start dependent right now. Prime Tomac could overcome a bad start and charge through (a la Arlington 2024), but now that next gear seems fleeting. He mentioned that he’s still working on regaining his best form. I mentioned many times in the off-season that I expected a difficult road to get back to his old self. Reaching that level is so hard to attain and some would argue it’s even harder to regain when lost.
In the final 250SX race Cameron McAdoo’s mechanic let him know he didn’t need to pass Pierce Brown for second to get the overall win. Can info like that interfere with a rider’s focus, especially on a track as treacherous as Indianapolis was?
It’s great information to receive. Riders often wonder about how much risk to take while the overall is in limbo. If he needed to pass Brown to win, you would have seen him up the pace significantly. That rise in pace comes with higher likelihood of mistakes and crashes, though. Notifying him that he didn’t need the pass allows him to assess the situation with much more caution. It doesn’t mean he completely backs out of it, he just changes his risk ratio a bit. If he is a little cross-rutted, he won’t go for a triple. Instead, he would just double and live to see another lap. It’s a subtle change but for a rider, it’s such a relief to have that cushion. I would bet his heart rate dropped 3-5 beats a minute when he read that. He can go to race management versus win-at-all-costs mode.
Coty Schock raced with a broken collarbone and took fifth. Were you surprised he was able to race as hard as he did, or did you notice him laying off at all out there?
I was surprised by every aspect of this. Why did he do all these media interviews after the race in Birmingham and not even mention he was hurt? Why did I see him wearing a backpack Sunday morning after Birmingham? How was he doing push-ups an hour after surgery? How did he finish fifth? How did he crash in practice and not have any ill effects? I will be honest and say that I don’t understand any of this whatsoever. He’s either the toughest man alive or I am missing a part of the story. **shrugs shoulders**
