Welcome to another week in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, where we're talking about the AMA's decisions and not the racing. I've been vocal in my praise for the revamped AMA discipline department with video review, a bit of a committee vote on things, some license points to be added, fines, gate picks, etc. We've cleaned up some things in the rule book, and generally, everything that the AMA has done has been a positive change. And I've said this over and over.
But lately, I don't know what is going on here. We saw the non-calls over the lights and medic flags in Texas, nothing done for lappers in Indy (when we HAD penalized lappers earlier this year for ignoring blue flags), but this week, well, this week we had ALL the calls.
It started with Evan Ferry (son of the greatest rider of all time, ICYWW), who cleaned out Pierce Brown with the white flag waving for the last transfer spot. It was a greasy pass; anytime you attempt a pass and you also go down, it probably wasn't there—but Evan was docked championship points, a fine, and then license points! All not long after the heat race itself, and according to the team, they found out about it on social media. Soooo, what happened to the film review or talking to anyone?
It's a pass we've seen multiple times this year, never mind in the past, with zero repercussions. Eli Tomac's pass on Justin Cooper wasn't the same, but to me, it's in the same neighborhood. Maybe ET should've gotten one of the three things Ferry did?
It gets better. Haiden Deegan lost the win because he crossed over on a split lane section. We all saw what he did, and ,yes, the riders are told that once you commit to a section, you can't cross over. Deegan deserved a penalty for sure, but the intent of the rule is that once you enter a split lane, you can't use a jump to go inside or outside or roll over a berm or whatever. It's not that you can't cut one or two stakes off (that gave you no advantage) and then get treated as if you cut the track (loss of one position). How the AMA turned that into Deegan getting an advantage is crazy. Two other riders were docked for the same thing, by the way.
Years ago, we took away a win after the race was over, and it was decided by everyone that it wasn't good. But here we are again.
Deegan and the others definitely needed to be punished; can we take some points away or give them all some license points? We need to take away positions for that? Really?
I mean, if it's SO important that riders don't cross over a split section, how about you run WAY more stakes there to really indicate that the lane has started? Why even leave big gaps between the stakes? Can we mark it better?
The Jo Shimoda Arlington lead-in light was not in the rulebook, so they could not do anything there to penalize Brown at the 250SX East opener. When the AMA didn't penalize Tomac, Cooper Webb, and Ken Roczen later that same night, they said that even though it was in the rule book, it was the lead-in lights' fault. So, couldn't go by the rule book there. In this case, it seems the split lane note is not in the rule book but something the AMA told riders about. What are we doing here lately? Is the AMA drunk? Has anyone checked in on this? Some bizarre non-calls and calls lately for sure.
Well, well, well—look what we have here. An honest-to-goodness breakout 450SX rider happening right in front of us. Hunter Lawrence's first win in Arlington was impressive; then he topped that with his third main in Indy, where he started right in front of Eli Tomac and held him off to take the overall. This week, Hunter grabbed the lead before the end of lap one and led every lap. That's three out of the last four weeks he's won; he closed to within a second of Tomac at the end in ET's house of Daytona (he did get passed by ET), and now this. I'd say each week has been more eye-opening for the #96.
Nine points clear of Tomac in the title fight now, and that's going to take a while for ET to make that up because Hunter Lawrence just doesn't beat himself. Great starter, good qualifier, steady riding—he's bought himself a few races here where he doesn't have to win. He's got some margin of error.
Impressive stuff from the Aussie!
Ken Roczen was great, 12th to second, and don't forget two weeks ago in Indy, he took off from everyone in the first main before disaster struck in main two. So, Roczen's been doing Roczen stuff out there lately but not necessarily getting rewarded for just how good he's been. Rewatching the race, and man, his corners were unreal. He was on rails, making yellow magic out there. Very impressive from the #94. He got to within two seconds of Lawrence!
The problem for Kenny is whether it's Indy or Birmingham this weekend, he needs to win races. He's more than a race back at this point, but hey, Roczen's gonna have rides like this one that make you remember just how great he is.
I'm sure that Eli Tomac, having survived his air filter coming out after his ill-begotten pass attempt on Justin Cooper, having survived having to race the LCQ—where he probably couldn't name half the riders in it—knew that after Roczen got by him and took off, that he just didn't have it on this night. ET3 settled into third, which is...fine, I guess? He lost five points to Lawrence, and again, I'm sure he's cruising out there, so whether it's 0.5 seconds or 35 seconds (which it was), third is third.
But to me, when these things are mano a mano for title fights, when it comes down to the mental part of the game, I'm not sure you want to be giving your main competition any confidence. Because even though Tomac was cruising out there, in Hunter Lawrence's mind, he put the smack down on Tomac in grabbing another win. That's another chip for Hunter to stack; he's not only beating the great Eli Tomac, he's walking him.
So, yeah, it's just one race; this thing is far from over, but confidence is huge in this sport, and to me, Hunter just got a shit ton of it after this race.
I was on some of my dumb shows last week saying that although Haiden Deegan's starts have been better this year, he cannot get a start outside the top five and think he's going to rip through the pack at a showdown.
I'd like to get that thought back if possible. But hey, Alex Ray and Zach Osborne agreed with me!
Deegs rode great in Alabama. He won the race with really fast dirt bike riding. I know that's a simple way to say it, but that's because to me, watching it, there wasn't one area where he really stood out. He was just fast everywhere, and it took him a few laps to get going at that. His roll speed, scrubs, and ability to put the bike wherever he needs to all added up to a great ride.
His race win streak is over because of the AMA's incompetence, but either way, everyone in the stadium and watching it knows who the best 250 rider is right now.
Cole Davies got credited with the win, but to me, he looked a bit flat out there. Levi Kitchen caught and passed him, he was caught by Jo Shimoda, Seth Hammaker made up ground on him, and overall, it wasn't the best showing by the 250SX East Division red plate holder. But with the penalty, he won the race! That's living right for sure.
Oh, Jo Shimoda! The Jo Show went from second to fourth in like a lap! His ill-fated pass attempts have been something we've been joking about this year; it's like he's 75 percent committed to the pass, or even if he does make the pass, he gives it back the next few turns with a mistake or by getting spooked. Shimoda was an AMA decision away from winning the race, and instead, he's fourth. What is going on, Jo?
Shimoda is turning into an "IDK man" every week.
I'm sure Levi Kitchen wasn't happy; he looked great early on in grabbing the lead, but drifting back to fifth isn't ideal for the Chef. I heard he had a back issue and will be getting it looked at, so stay tuned. That wasn't a 100 percent Levi Kitchen out there.
Some other news and notes:
-Huge bummer for Triumph and Jalek Swoll when he, we think, tore his Achilles tendon again. He had just come back from that and was rounding into form when disaster struck again. Gotta feel for the guy, and he's got a long road ahead of him. Sounds like Triumph will get Gage Linville to fill in for a bit.
-Also, speaking of Triumph, after a tough start, Jordon Smith is rounding into form in the 450 class with a top ten.
-Malcolm Stewart got a season-best fifth in Alabama and mentioned on the PulpMX Show that the good start was everything on a track like that. He could just string together the obstacles and stay in the same spot. It's been a tough year for Malc, but he's coming around here lately.
-Grant Harlan has been riding better as well; I know we have injuries, but still, to me, he's been faster than he was at the start of the year. Harlan mentioned on the show that he's been working with a mental coach this year, and it's paying off.
-ClubMX guys had a strong showing with all four guys in the top 12 and beating a bunch of factory guys. Both sets of riders had good starts in their heats and held it together. Impressive.
-Super bummer for Pierce Brown, who dislocated a wrist and broke a collarbone in a crash. But we had him on the show after his opening round win, and as I said then, his comeback after basically a year off was already successful with the win. He'll be back from this, but to me, he's shown enough to stay there.
Thanks for reading; we're onto Detroit this weekend, where the series will just have six to go after that. Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or anything else.
