Impressive last few laps of the race for Hunter Lawrence, I’ll admit I thought he was going to settle in for third as Roczen got a gap on him. But he found some speed, got by the Suzuki rider and then even attacked ET on the last couple of laps. He had great whoop speed the last couple of laps to get close and I think his attempt of a pass was not quite the right time to do that.

His manager, the always shy Lars Lindstrom, backed that up after the race when he told me “I think all of us on the team, even on the radio immediately, were saying "oh if we had a little more patience there..." But what he said was that he just felt like he was closer than he actually was. Then when he came barreling into the inside there or whatever, he’s like, ‘I don’t got it.’ Then that ruined his momentum to go two-three, and then that lost him right there.”

And the runner-up is more impressive when you consider Hunter’s qualifying time and he kind of got dropped in the heat race. Also, it sounds like Dazzy and the HRC guys have some work to do in getting the bike a bit better for Hunter.

Ken Roczen made a bike change!!!! After telling us all how he’s not touched his bike for a long time, I got manager Larry Brooks to admit that they did change something!

“We changed a clicker. But two clicks for him is a big deal. I think it was better, but we’re going to work on it a little more. He’s going to stay in California this week, so we’re going to fiddle around a little bit.”

There it is! A clicker change! Well, we got something. Roczen led laps, looked great (outside of going off the track twice which is weird for KR because his bike skill is so high) and got third. Nice night for Roczen and who knows, maybe they’ll find something this week in SoCal for the #94.

I do think if he had found a way around Lawrence earlier in the race, his odds to win would’ve shot up dramatically. He looked to have some better speed than Hunter on the early laps (his specialty) but once ET3 latched on, Roczen was unable to spring away like a little German bunny rabbit. 

“It was annoying to hit the gate.”

That was the quote from Chase Sexton afterwards to me about his race. By my count, he’s the only top rider to hit the gate that I can remember in recent years. And he’s done it three times!!! I suppose if you’re Kawasaki and Chase you can hang your hat on the fact that his heat race was great and he came from last to eighth in, like, one lap. And I suppose you can look at him catching all the leaders multiple laps in the main as a great thing. But I think Chase Sexton looks at it like he’s gone 8-4 to start the year and he’s 18 points down to Eli Tomac. That's likely all that matters to him, as he also told me after the race

“Now I feel like I have to claw my way back, which is annoying.”

Chase Sexton’s San Diego Race Report: “Annoying!”

Some more 450SX notes:

Yay for Joey Savatgy, he’s been really fast during the week riding with Roczen and Jason Anderson and finally, he brought some of that to the race. Good start, got fifth.

I asked Joe Dawg what separates those top guys from him and I thought his explanation was pretty good “I’m a little bit too on/off with everything. I’m either on the brakes or off the brakes, or on the throttle or off the throttle. It’s something that I’m consciously working on at home, but I need to have that ability to roll a little bit freer. I struggled last year maybe a little bit of PTSD with some front-end wash-outs years prior, but I need to trust my motorcycle more. I’m fighting the bike too much, whereas these guys are just able to let the momentum carry them.”

-Grant Harlan signed with Kevin Moranz’s team and in the LCQ they were running 2-3 and I was waiting to see if Har Dawg was going to T-bone his boss for a spot in the main. Love to see that but in the end, they both made it in and rode well.

-Vince Friese is back in 450SX and he’s two for two in the mains to start the year. He’s riding well but also; he got docked two SX license points for not respecting the blue flag. Both Savatgy and Aaron Plessinger were pissed at him after the race. If you had Vince Friese starting a controversy two races into his return to the SX season, congrats!

-RJ Hampshire’s had a rough start but he’s behind in his riding with the shoulder injury and also was behind in his testing. This led to running air forks at round one which didn’t work for him and now he’s got a new set-up going on. Also, he doesn’t like racing Prado as he told me after the race “Prado is really hard to race. He races a lot different than these guys. I almost teed him up like five times because he goes so high and cuts back and doesn’t even think about the guys behind him.

“So, we had about four moments and then where I crashed at, he was left, right, left, right, and then it was off the wall jump in the middle of the whoops. He came right, where we were kind of doing the wheel-tap out. So, I checked up and I didn’t make it all the way out, hit, tucked the front.”

250SX class

Haiden Deegan rode great all day, he answered any questions from a so-so A1 by being the dominant guy all day. But like in Seattle last year or who knows what else I’m forgetting, Deegan did something else that overshadowed his riding. His takedown of Max Anstie while going by wasn’t dirty per se but it was greasy.

In my opinion, he knew what he was doing with the brake and swing the rear wheel around to hit Max. Heck, he did the same thing to Julien Beaumer last year! He’s kind of patented this move already. Anstie was giving the spot to him, but Deegan didn’t just want that. It’s unfortunate to do that to a teammate but hey, that’s how he rolls, I guess.

Since Las Vegas SMX last year there’s been a noticeable dip in crowd love for Haiden. At Anaheim 1 the cheers were very much lower than in years past and he was outright booed after the main in San Diego. Look, this stuff doesn’t really matter- the public has a short memory a lot of the times - but for now Haiden’s unofficial popularity from the crowd has dipped.

He rode great, he got the red plate but it’s not what people are talking about and that’s too bad.

“Mentally I kind of went, ‘All right, you’re ripping. You’re fine go on. F**king take it. I don't know if I’ve got anything for you tonight.’ And just in that moment he slid the rear round, and I was like, f**k. Mate, what?”

That was Max Anstie talking to me about his moment with his teammate Deegs in the main. Got to think that last week when he said all was good between them, Deegan let him ride his track and everything was peachy keen. I’m thinking that’s out the window now?

That’s the thing with Deegan, he’s making too many enemies out there. I know McAdoo is not a fan after Anaheim 1, we know Levi Kitchen isn’t, Ryder D’s not a fan, add Max Anstie to the list now. The list adds up and all it takes is one of these dudes to decide that they don’t care about their own race and Deegan’s screwed.

Here's more from Max:

“There’s a lot of talk and it brings a lot of razzamatazz or whatever you want to call it to the sport. I want to race him. I want to beat him, of course. But tonight, he put me on the floor, and I’ve got to take it on the chin. I’m a big boy. I’ll be all right. I’ll figure it out and be back.”

Props to Max for bringing the word “razzamatazz” into my post-race interviews for the first time in my media career!

Cam McAdoo was on the box in second and rebounded nicely from his crash-induced last place at A1. McAdoo’s like that 90’s sitcom in that he’s not gonna change. The notes that make people laugh, they’re gonna feed them to you over and over. Mac’s had some serious injuries and missed a lot of time but when I watch him this year, he’s same as always. He’s loose, he’s pinning it and he’s going fast. Never change wild stallion, never change.

Some more 250SX notes:

-Two races in 250SX and two completely different podiums! Although Deegan took the red plate, I feel like this class is pretty wide open still.

-Michael Mosiman is riding pretty well two races in. He still crashed but hey, he’s improved for sure. A third in SD had to feel good for Michael Michael Motorcycle.

-Levi Kitchen told me he had fixed his starts with some changes to his clutch perch. Then he went out in his heat and got a last place start. In the words of Phil Nicoletti “That ain’t it” Levi. In the main it was better, but he fell. Like Sexton, he’s riding well and passing a lot of riders but that’s not what he’s paid to do. He’s got to start winning and like, now.

- Shoutout to the ClubMX guys for Hunter Yoder’s starts this year in the heats as well as Max Vohland winning his third career heat race. The little team that can has Chad Reed helping them out and even with Yoder’s knee injury and bike issue in San Diego and Vohland’s crash, the guys look pretty good to start the year!