When the dust settled in Glendale we had a new 450SX class winner with Ken Roczen, trouble for Eli Tomac, another dominant 250SX ride from Haiden Deegan, and another bad start for Levi Kitchen. To get better insight into the how and why factors at Glendale, we fired off our questions to former pro and NBC on track analyst, Jason Thomas.
The track in Glendale is typically pretty hard and dry. Did that trend hold true on Saturday? And how did the condition of the track affect how the riders attacked things?
Yes, it was still Glendale in the end. They did a good job of keeping traction and moisture in the dirt but by the end of the evening, it had hardened to a familiar place. The berms were still relatively tacky but the flat corners became slippery. To offset the lack of traction riders have to consciously manage throttle application and also be mindful of body positioning. Techniques used were things like weighting the outside footpeg to add traction when turning, sliding up on the front of the bike to add weight to the front tire, and staying light on the bike entering the whoops.
The start was extremely long. How do the higher speeds coming into the first turn change a rider’s start strategy?
It’s a double edged sword. The upside is that a longer start creates more distance between riders simply because there is more time to create it. In theory, more distance between riders will lessen the chances of bars locking and contact happening in the first corner. The downside is if and when contact happens and chaos reigns, the speed is much higher and crashes are more violent.
The start straight was incorporated into the track, and guys were coming into the sand section extremely fast. How did their excessive speed affect the way they went into that turn?
Thankfully it wasn’t really a story. I do believe it was the longest normal-lap straightaway ever concocted on a stadium supercross track. It didn’t play a pivotal role other than adding some variety to some of the tighter, slower tracks we see at times.
There weren’t many people jumping through the whoops. Is that because the double before the whoops set them up with a lot of speed coming in?
Yes, and I spoke about this on the broadcast. The speed created from the big double disallowed jumping to be a viable option. It’s not that jumping was impossible, it’s just that jumping would have gotten you passed each and every lap. Jumping whoops is best set up by a slow corner prior to it. If riders simply can’t build speed on entry, that’s a whoop jumpers dream. This was the antithesis of that set up and everyone had to jump.
Levi Kitchen got another bad start on night when he had tremendous speed. Do you think he would have had something for Haiden Deegan had he started with him?
This is a tricky question. It is true that Kitchen was catching Haiden throughout the main event. The tough part, though, is to gauge how hard Deegan was trying. Surely he could have pushed harder if needed. I haven’t seen Kitchen be straight up faster than Haiden this season so I have to imagine Haiden could have picked it up significantly if needed.
Deegan waited for Kitchen to come over the line, and when he did he shot him with an imaginary bow and arrow. We see these kinds of things from him a lot. Do they make a difference or are guys like Kitchen just used to it by now?
I think Kitchen is past it. In 2024 and 2025, I do think it bothered Levi as they were battling and Deegs was relentless. If you have listened to Kitchen’s interviews lately, he doesn’t seem to care anymore. That’s likely just because Deegs has beaten Kitch into submission. If you can’t do anything to stop the winning, how can you be mad when he takes his shot afterward? The only way for Kitchen to fire back with any sort of impact is to go out and win. Period. Words are irrelevant if you can’t change the results.
Eli Tomac went down in the first turn of the 450SX main event. Were you able to catch what caused that mishap?
This was a bummer and not really his fault. The one thing he did to impact this was to not get the jump he needed. When you put yourself into the middle of the pack, you open yourself up to chaos. He even mentioned this in his postrace interview. Christian Craig went down and collected Tomac. He wouldn’t have had this problem had he started in front of CC28. It’s that simple. Not that easy, but it is that simple.
Ken Roczen made up a ton of ground on Hunter Lawrence by taking the inside of the sand section when Lawrence went wide. Is this a failure on Lawrence’s part to realize the disparity between the two lines, or is credit due to Roczen for figuring out something Lawrence didn’t see?
This has happened a couple of times in the main events this year. If you’ll remember Anaheim 2, Hunter got caught out in the main event by going inside in the sand. That inside was the good line in the heats but track workers had rebuilt the outside for the main. Hunter missed the change, missed the line, and got passed twice because of it. This is something that they will likely take notice of moving forward. This can be helped through team members and spotters relaying that info down to the starting line. It takes a team to succeed and simply sharing news of track changes prior to the hot lap can have a big impact on results.
Lawrence leaves Glendale with the red plate, leading Roczen by five points. Does he get on the plane happy that he’s got the points lead, or frustrated that he took second place for the fourth race in a row?
I think it’s more the latter. I believe he was frustrated at his first ten minutes of the main event with letting Kenny get by and build a gap. He mentioned it’s very early in the series so I don’t think he will be too giddy over his plate matching his other plastics. At least not yet. If this was April, that would be a different story. As for now, he is trying to figure out how to get his sprint speed up to par with the likes of Roczen.
Joey Savatgy broke his big toe last week in Houston, but he was still really good in Glendale, where he took sixth place. How impressive is that result, especially considering he did it injured?
I have done this exact thing, back in 2006. I didn’t get sixth the next weekend but I can tell you that it’s not any fun. Every upshift with that big toe was a painful reminder. Adrenaline helps and I’m sure medicine has improved in the 20 years since, but I do know that it’s painful and annoying. Practice during the week is affected and it’s just another hurdle in an already difficult dynamic. Kudos to Joey for overcoming adversity.
Chase Sexton had a horrific jump out of the gate. Was it just poor reaction time, or did something happen to ruin his launch? And after getting up to seventh his forward motion stalled out. Were you surprised he wasn’t able to keep charging forward?
I wish I knew what to make of Chase’s starts. He’s either too early or too late. It feels like he is guessing as to when the gate drops versus trusting his skill and equipment. He didn’t have a great day or night, honestly. Will Christien reported that he is still uncomfortable on the motorcycle and the team is desperate to accommodate him. This has been an all too common theme, unfortunately, and the points are slipping away. He can still win and will win, but the disparity between good and bad weekends is far too wide for comfort.
