The Philadelphia Supercross was last weekend, and yup, another one that could’ve turned out to be a bad mudder, but we were spared. The rain basically fell all day Friday and into early Saturday morning. The AMA cut one practice out, moved the other two qualifying sessions back a bit, and crossed their fingers.
And hey, what do you know? It worked! We had some puddles, some ruts, and all that, but man, the track was actually pretty good. We had one “Unadilla” corner out there, but I saw dust! The Dirt Jerks at Dirt Wurx did a great job with the track, and we had ourselves some good racing all day long. Now, it was cold as balls for sure, but man, I was prepping for the worst and got something that was very good. Yay for us and the Monster Energy AMA Supercross!
Chase Sexton just can’t lose any more points at this point. There are four races in the series, and Cooper Webb is not going to collapse at all. He’s as much of a sure thing as we have in this sport, and after some hijinks off the start that pushed Aaron Plessinger (who is pretty much the new Donnie “Holeshot” Hansen now), Sexton, Webb, and others wide in the first turn, Sexton ripped through the pack to catch a “no practicing, racing only” Ken Roczen and take the win. Sexton did all the Sexton things out there; he nailed the quad consistently, jumped three into the turn after the whoops, and ripped the ruts like no other.
The only problem for Sexton is that Webb did the same thing behind him! Sexton was hoping Roczen would put up more of a fight, but nope, Webb was right there three seconds back of Sexton, passing Mitchell Harrison, Joey Savatgy, Malcolm Stewart, and Roczen soon after the number #4 got ’em. Webb wasn’t happy after the main because I would bet (and I was thinking it to be honest) that he thought he could slowly whittle away at Sexton’s lead late in the race, like he has so many other times, and perhaps pull off the win. But nope, Sexton didn’t make any mistakes and took the win. It’s now 12 points with four rounds to go, and yes, IF Sexton wins the rest of the races outright, he wins the title no matter what Webb does. That’s really the only math that Sexton needs to focus on here because he actually CAN win outright if he wins all the races.
Roczen’s limping to the finish line, like I said, by not being able to practice during the week due to his shoulder and ankle injuries. By the way, his “limping to the finish” was a third. That’s what Ken Roczen does, people.
I will be interested to see if Kenny, who put himself into a great spot with the first turn carnage, can hold off AP and Justin Cooper if they can start with him. Both guys have been riding much better, and Roczen, one would think, will get worse and worse by not practicing.
Cole Davies is super impressive this year, his first as a professional. The kid ran second in the main event and was going for the lead when the red flag was waved. On the restart, he passed Haiden Deegan, Seth Hammaker, and RJ Hampshire to secure the win—his second career victory and second in a row. And he’s just 17 years old! I remember Ernesto Fonseca wearing #100, riding a Yamaha in blue gear, coming out of nowhere in his rookie season to dominate the East Coast and win the title. Aside from the number, gear, and bike brand, Davies reminds me of Fonseca in his precision. He rides like a surgeon hitting downsides, being smooth, and placing the bike exactly where he wants it—much like Fonseca did. It's super impressive and I’m eager to see how he performs outdoors. From talking to those who know him well, it seems his motocross skills might be a bit behind, but one would think he’ll figure it out. Then again, Fonseca never really did, right? He had good to very good results in motocross, but Fonseca's supercross results always outdid his motocross results.
Is Davies the best supercross rider ever from New Zealand? There’s not much competition, but Josh Coppins made some mains, Shayne King struggled, and Ben Townley won three mains on his way to the 250SX East title back in the day. So yes, with two main event wins already, it’s reasonable to think Davies will surpass his fellow countrymen’s supercross stats, right?
With this latest win, Davies became the second rider to win more than one main event this year, joining his teammate Haiden Deegan, who finished as the runner-up in Philly. Deegan closed in at the end but couldn’t get the job done. He lost a few points to Davies in the title chase (Davies moved ahead of Julien Beaumer in the standings, and the early-season Beaumer Bandwagon has a busted wheel at the moment, in case you were wondering), but Deegan has two races left to clinch his first 250SX indoor title. True to form, Deegan couldn’t just congratulate his teammate without adding that he thought there were five more minutes left in the race. Deegan will always be Deegan, and I’d say, barring injury, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing will have these two racing on opposite coasts next year, where they will be among the top favorites for the titles.
RJ Hampshire went down in the first turn on the initial start, and things didn’t look good. His two rivals for the 250SX East title, Tom Vialle and Seth Hammaker, were up front. It seemed like a disaster for RJ until the red flag came out, and the second time around he got the holeshot! Oh, how the tables turned! Though he was passed by the two Star Yamaha kids, he still managed to beat his other two rivals and is now tied for the red plate with Hammaker. Afterward, in typical RJ fashion, he talked about how he thought he rebroke his just-healed broken wrist in the first turn, how the cold makes his wrist hurt badly, how he rode poorly, and doesn’t know how he finished third. Hampshire also almost looped out in the whoops. His foot slipped off in the next rhythm section and he went for a wild ride. Despite all that, he still scored third place. Being RJ Hampshire must be quite a lot, and I don’t think I could handle it.
Some other news and notes:
Shane McElrath has been nailing his starts lately and is riding pretty well. Of course, the mud helped him get that second last week, but hey, regardless, he’s been good. I think he will get some ribbing or more from some of his buddies for his move in starting that chaos in the first turn though. Shane really held it on there when there wasn’t much room and sent AP, Cooper, and more to the ground. I heard Plessinger did have some words with McElrath afterward about his move. Shane, for his part, didn’t really deny it after the race. Oops, his bad for sure.
Jason Anderson has gone missing from the series, and Monster Energy Kawasaki has stated he will be back for the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. We know he left Seattle for a family issue after track walk and then didn’t ride all week before we got the PR that he’s dealing with some health issues. No one around the team had said anything about Anderson having health issues in the preceding weeks before he pulled out of the series. The whole thing is weird for sure, and from what I hear, this is more of a mental health thing with Anderson, and we definitely need to be more understanding of this stuff these days. I wish him the best, and when I tried to bet someone who knows him well that he will not be showing up at Pala (just my opinion), like the Kawasaki PR said, they wouldn’t take that bet. I hope he does, but there’s more than a small chance that we don’t see Anderson again this year, I think.
Funny how this sport works, right? One week after not qualifying for the main event (first time that’s ever happened to him), Joey Savatgy runs third for a bit in the main and takes a season-best fifth. Yup, this sport’s a roller coaster sometimes. We had Joey on the PulpMX Show, and he really got honest about how sometimes he can go faster than his practice partner Ken Roczen during the week, and then on the weekend, Roczen is checked out. I’ve seen a lot of this in my career as a mechanic; the great ones turn it up when the lights come on.
Daxton Bennick was the cause of the red flag in the 250SX main event when he went down hard after Coty Schock crossed in front of him. He took a shot to the head, and only a few weeks after he was KO’d at the practice track. Rough second year for Dax after a rough first year, and if I were him and the team, I would be sitting out for a while and making sure he’s 100 percent ready to get back. Head injuries get worse when you don’t make sure you’re completely recovered from them.
Justin Barcia is in a bad spot. He's without a contract for next year and unlike other guys without a contract, like Stewart and Plessinger (AP is going back to KTM though), he doesn’t have a win. Or, unlike Justin Cooper (expected to re-sign with Star), he doesn’t have a podium. And now he’s got a busted finger after a mid-week crash that he showed me, and it looked gross. Barcia was briefly leading before sailing off the track with a rear brake issue that he says has happened to him a few times before. This year, Barcia hasn’t had that ride to reminded us of how good he can be, but as usual with Bam, it’s not for lack of trying. He seems like a great fit for Ducati next year with the Troy Lee connection, with Rick Zielfelder over there helping the Italians, plus Barcia will go and do some MXGPs if needed, etc. I’d put good money on this happening—it’s a great fit.
In the battle of the Betas, it’s getting tight! Benny Bloss has been putting in work lately, getting some top tens, while Mitchell Oldenburg has had a few tough races. Just two points separate the guys for the best Beta SX rider in the world! My money was on Freckle, and he was walking away with this thing early, but Beta Benny said, ‘Hold my beer,’ and is making up ground fast. This week in Philly, it was Oldenburg who passed a bunch of dudes and looked great for half the main before arm pump set in and he went backward, while Bloss figured out a couple of jumps later and zoomed up into the top ten. Stay tuned, folks, things are heating up!
Years from now people will study Nate Thrasher’s career and wonder what was up. I get last week because it was a mud race disaster, but this week, he just never, ever looked like, well, a guy who could win or top three in a 250SX. A few races ago, he won. The race before that he got 14th. Welcome to the Nate Thrasher experience, everyone.
People who would know and wouldn’t lie to me tell me Austin Forkner is fast during the week, so that’s good. What’s not good is what Forkner is doing out there on Saturdays. A long offseason, serious injury, and a new bike all add up to maybe Forkner not being his old self, sure, but what we’re seeing is very far off from what his usual level is. Shocking to see him back there each week for sure, and I’m sure Triumph is hoping he figures it all out soon. Up in the 450s, I thought Christian Craig would be better too, but to be fair, he hasn’t had a normal SX track yet. I dunno, man.
Thanks for reading OBS from Philly; we’re on to New Jersey or New York or whatever this weekend. Let’s hope it warms up! Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or anything else.
