The SuperMotocross World Championship Final has led to some wild moments in past years, and that was definitely a trend that held true on Saturday night. To help comprehend the madness, we shot off a bunch of questions to former pro and NBC on-track analyst, Jason Thomas.
It rained a little the night before the race, but it was pretty hot on race day. Did that heat negate any effect the rain had on the track?
I think any effects of rain from Thursday (heavier) or Friday were not apparent at race time. The dry air, desert terrain, and intense sunshine/heat on Saturday erased any of that. Conditions were about as good as Vegas could offer. That doesn’t mean awesome, it’s just grading on a curve here.
The soil had a lot of mulch mixed into it in most places. How did that affect the way the track shaped up on race day?
It helped in some areas but you could definitely tell where it was missing. The corner before the finish line was down to a blue-grooved base, for instance. I am a fan of the SMX track crew manufacturing traction, especially at a track like this. Some don’t like mulch as a concept, but I’m more open minded. It adds traction, holds moisture, and creates softer bumps than rock hard adobe.
Jordan Smith swapped hard in the first qualifier and went down, which resulted in a dislocated shoulder. They popped it back in right after, but he had to be in some serious pain. Yet he still went out and went 10-7 for sixth overall! Help us understand how Smith pulled that off!
The guy is just tough. I don’t really know how else to put it. Most mortals would never consider this being an option. If the risk of further injury is mitigated, pain is often mind over matter. Smith clearly is one tough dude mentally. I would bet he is awfully sore this morning, but he should be proud of the effort he put in.
Ryder DiFrancesco and Haiden Deegan had an unfortunate get-together in which Deegan’s wheels collided with DiFrancesco’s head. Take us through what happened with that crash.
This was scary and unfortunate, but also lucky it wasn’t worse. Deegan found a line that would increase his momentum in the sand. Even with Ryder D in the foreground, it was still doable under normal circumstances. The trouble is, Ryder D made a big mistake and was right in the pathway when he wasn’t supposed to be. This was similar to Cole Trickle’s big crash in Days of Thunder. When someone is already supposed to be out of the trajectory and is not, very bad things happen. Deegan (and all riders) was anticipating Ryder D’s movement and location. That’s a very normal and important aspect of racing. When a rider expects X and instead is given Y, Pandora’s Box is opened to chaos. Ryder D is extremely lucky to only have what appeared to be a concussion.
Later in that moto Deegan caught Tom Vialle, but had an extremely difficult time getting by him. But when he caught Seth Hammaker after that he whizzed right by. Was Vialle just riding a wide bike?
Not all passes or situations are created equal. Deegs caught fire and was riding on pure adrenalin late in the race. Also, I think Hammaker was likely suffering a bit with the various health difficulties he’s been battling. When Deegs goes into that full instinct mode, he’s tough to deal with for anyone on a 250.
We have a million questions on the Deegan and Jo Shimoda situation, but we’ll try to keep it concise. Deegan was doing everything he could to knock down Shimoda, but he was on probation for an incident with Cole Davies earlier in the year. Wouldn’t the AMA have just penalized him anyway?
They would have but I just don’t think Haiden gave a damn anymore. I think he just decided that if he couldn’t win it then no one would. It felt very “take my ball and go home” after he was wronged in St. Louis. Emotion plays a massive role in this type of decision making and I believe Deegan was seeing red and decided to choose violence.
Deegan’s final shot on Shimoda resulted in both of them going down, and a broken collarbone for Deegan. Deegan had plenty of time left to make something happen, were you surprised he went for it in a situation in which the takeout wasn’t a sure thing?
Surprised at that point? No. He declared war already. There wasn’t much left to surprise me. He wanted to create chaos, plain and simple.
Chase Sexton’s crash in the second moto was brutal. Can you walk us through the mechanics of what occurred?
Good lord, that was ugly. I only saw a social media clip of it and it looked like he endo’d into a single jump in that very fast back section. It’s becoming a thing for Sexton’s last ever appearance on an OEM to be a horrific crash. I hope the guy is okay. That was scary.
In the second moto Jett Lawrence needed to pass Eli Tomac for second to win the title, but it took him quite a while to start reeling Tomac in. Why didn’t Jett put on a charge earlier? He almost ran out of time!
He mentioned that he wasn’t jiving with the track and wasn’t comfortable. He also mentioned that he got to a place where it was either, up the risk and go win the title, or up the risk and crash. He had to make a conscious decision to push the envelope. I believe he was hoping his pace would get the job done automatically but Tomac and Hunter had picked up his first moto lines and now his advantage had been mitigated. He had to take more risk, press the limits of traction, and in a word, push. He decided it was worth the risk and got the job done. It’s really that simple.
When Jett finally did pass Tomac it almost looked like he feinted a move to the outside, causing Tomac to defensively drift wide, but then Jett knifed back inside and made a clean pass. Are we reading too much into the pass, or was it indeed a masterful display of race craft from Jett?
Tomac doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head so he’s trying to anticipate Jett’s move. Both of them are signaling one thing and trying to do the other thing. It’s chess happening at 40mph over doubles and triples. In reality, though, Jett was going to make the move. That was clear after how quickly he gapped Eli after the pass. If it was just about one move, Eli would have been all over Jett to the checkers. I have said this before and will say it again, if Jett decides he wants to be better than anyone on Earth that day, he is.
