24 replies to this topic

[nosecone]

We had an thread last year so i thought it might be a good idea to make a new one for this year. It is a little bit late, but better late than never.

 

The season is almost over as Ryan Dungey leads by more or less 20 points. It is now up to Tomac or Musquin to close the gap and make the season interesting again.

 

Ken Roczen who had a good start into the season after joining Honda is sadly out due to injury after he had a hefty crash. Get well soon Kenny.

 

Another noteworthy event during the season was the first win of Marvin Musquin. I feel really happy for him

 

 

Lets hope for some interesting races in the next few weeks

[chunder27]

It certainly is not over pal.

 

Tomac has been winning a fair bit recently and Musquin has also been getting the nod over Dunge a few times.

 

Tomac is the quicker man at the moment, but he has bad luck when he doesn't win!!

 

Roczen was faster than everyone but as usual lasted a few rounds before blowing himself to pieces!

 

MXGP wise the old Cairoli is back, so I hope the others can keep up, made Gajser look silly today

[nosecone]

For anything to happen in the title fight, Tomac and Musquin had to improve their starts

[chunder27]

I don't personally think Musquin has the consistency yet to win the title.

 

Dungey is a total machine, nearly always in the top 3 after the start, maybe not the quickest on track but you simply cannot fault his ability to put himself in the right place all the time.

 

Good ride by Baggett this weekend. Where are Suzuki!!

[nosecone]

It's getting closer and closer. Tomac seems to have the speed to beat Dungey on a regular basis. Dungey however seems to have lost some speed. Losing out to Musquin.

[chunder27]

Not sure what is going on with Dunge at the moment, he does not seem to have the same pace as last year, or maybe Tomac has just got a lot quicker.  Coz Roczen was super quick early on too.

 

No one else in it though really, Seeley has lost a little too and Anderson is so crap at starts he seems incapable of making a good one. Like Tomac last year.

 

Reed is doing what Reed does, I am impressed with Tickle this year, he has stepped up a bit last few weeks and Baggett has looked OK a few times too.

[Risil]

I remember Tomac winning both events on his pro debut in the 250cc outdoor series. The guy's got the talent.

[Frank Tuesday]

I'm glad to see Baggett doing so much better.  He's never looked this good in SX, not even in his 250 days.  He clearly loves the sport.  He's invested all his money in building a training facility in Florida, and it is clearly helping.  He owns the dirt moving equipment, and lives in a 5th wheel RV (caravan) with his fiance on the land.  

[chunder27]

Tomac I think has the talent of an RV, he is the one that often does things no-one else might like jumping a quad or mono-wheeling through a whoop section

 

As for Baggett, he has had injuries and he also has been in thr wrong teams now and then.

 

Great kid and one with massive talent. hope he can keep it up, but winning is going to be tricky, needs to get out front and go away I think

[nosecone]

So, i'm eating my words on the championship battle right now.

 

Anyway there is more to discuss: Chad Reed

 

He ruined a great battle for the lead. Just somehow came around to watch this video:

 

https://youtu.be/NwPI06AJRRo?t=9m6s

 

Reed really tried everything to ruin Dungeys day. This is immature, i agree with Dungey on this

[chunder27]

I am fairly unsure Reed knew what was going on, he doesn't really have a beef with Dungey and never has, and it might be a simple case of pride more than anything.

 

Dungey is getting his butt kicked at the moment and is bound to lash out on anyone, but if Chad ignore a bunch of flags fair enough he should get warned. But I doubt it was intentional, a simple glance over the shoulder should have been enough.

 

What the press should be talking about is how slow Reed and Webb were, not a lot else.

 

The racing at the moment is pretty poor in Supercross, too much one sided dominance.  250 class is better, as it usually is. Their race was far tighter and more interesting.

[Frank Tuesday]

Only Chad knows for sure, but I have no doubt he was intentionally not letting Dungey pass.  He may not have been "blocking", but he certainly wasn't getting out of the fast line.  Most likely retaliation for Dungey calling him immature after daring to race him hard in the first heat.  In a sport in which hard racing and contact are part of the game, it's best not to give anyone a reason to retaliate. When emotions are running high, people make rash decisions like the ones Chad made last weekend and at 2015 Anaheim 2. 

 

"I asked (Arenacross rider) Josh (Demuth) how he avoided all of the carnage that was so prevalent for all of his fiercest rivals. His answer was so simple yet genius. He explained that he never, ever gave anyone a reason to retaliate on him or cause undue trouble. He only passed cleanly, treated the other racers like gold, and greeted everyone with a smile no matter what the outcome of a race." http://racerxonline....akdown-st-louis

Edited by Frank Tuesday, 04 April 2017 - 18:02.

[racinggeek]

Well, the AMA hit Chad today, although it's really more a light tap on the wrist compared to the race bans it's levied on Jason Anderson and others. 

 

To me, as a racing fan, Reed can be so frustrating. He can be fairly personable, but then he goes hard-guy and executes blatantly punk maneuvers like this.

[Frank Tuesday]

Seattle was a great race.  I was surprised how much the track had broken down after the first 250 heat.  Lots of deep ruts meant lots of different lines for the mains.  Plessinger looked so smooth and was able to hit lines that no-one else in 250, and only Tomac in the 450 was able to do.  He's got another year in 250s, but so do most of his competitors.  Savatgy has pointed out, and the two title winners will have to move up.  I think Davalos is the only other possibility.     

 

Davalos is getting close to pointing out.  He has three races left, and 6 more points means he has to move up to 450s.  I was really expecting him to be too injured after his off in the heat to finish the season.  I guess he's a free agent after this year, and he's got to do something to make himself marketable.  I can't see him getting anything factory or pseudo-factory in 450s.  12 years on the little bikes and only 4 wins.  To put it in perspective, he went pro the same time as Villapoto.  Does Davalos retire or does he run as a privateer?  Maybe Team Tedder needs a rider.  I'm betting on a testing crash next week, and he tries to get onto Geico Honda next year.  He's ridden every other brand in 250s, so maybe he can complete the deck.

 

Watching Eli was a beautiful thing last night.  Triple-triple-triple through the rhythm section was great.  Tripling onto the tables.  Tripling into the 180 before the whoops.  He missed a few times and lost time, but the confidence he had to go after it lap after lap was stunning.  His fastest lap was more than a second up on anyone else, and he was running 2 seconds faster than anyone else for quite a few laps.  

 

I always like to see Dungey at the back.  Not because I don't like him, but because it's the only time we see him really going for it.  If he had started in near the front, he probably would have finished 4th anyway.  This way we got to see how great of a rider he can be when he isn't riding conservative for the sake of the championship.  There's no hiding from it anymore, Eli is owning him this year.  I hope this means we get to see hard charging Dungey for the rest of the year, because I don't think we'll see him at all next year.       

[Frank Tuesday]

If you haven't seen the MXGP race from Maggiora, watch it.  Quite a display of race craft.   

[Frank Tuesday]

That was a clinic on how to ride a Supercross bike. He was doing the same rhythms as the other riders, just doing it faster. He stayed calm, and made clean passes.

[chunder27]

Being in the UK the coverage here is utterly atrocious. Rarely on at good times and you can never find repeats.

 

I think the media holders are trying very hard to force you into paying for their package, even the dodgy streams don't work very well and I have yet to find a youtuber who has uploaded the races, I imagine MXGPtv are hunting them down fairly hard.

[nosecone]

What an end to the season. Exciting races in both classes. The 250 championship fight was huge.

 

I would really like to know what Formula 1 fans would think of this pass for the championship

 

https://youtu.be/9MuTIhg3PxM?t=17m46s

[chunder27]

250 was staggering, an the 450 too.

 

Team riding by Baggett and Anderson, especially taking Reed out which was about as cheap as it gets.

 

Tomac was a little silly, but the crowd got their revenge on Dungey when he mentioned it in the post race by booing him, something he is not at all used to!

 

 

Tp win a title you do anything, as Osborne proved, Savagty was useless all race and would have whimpered over the line, Osborne deserved the title.

 

And for me Tomac deserved 450, but it was not to be, he was playing games all race trying tog et people to pass Dunge, that's all you can ask him to do.

[Frank Tuesday]

Zach was undoubtedly the fastest rider over the season in 250W.  He had a couple bits of bad luck at the start of the mains made the championship way more interesting than it should have.  I have to admit, I was kind of hoping that they'd both go down in the pass, and Cianciarulo would come out champ.  Ultimately, Savatgy and Smith crumbled, and Osborne put his head down and put in the performance he had to.  

 

I didn't like the KTM gift last week, and I didn't like Tomac's games this week.  I realize that there is big money in winning championships, but when it ceases to be sporting, racing isn't as fun anymore.  All season long, RD and ET raced hard but fair.  Then in the last two races, fair went out the window.  Disappointing end to an otherwise good season. 

[MasterOfCoin]

250 was staggering, an the 450 too.

 

Team riding by Baggett and Anderson, especially taking Reed out which was about as cheap as it gets.

 

Tomac was a little silly, but the crowd got their revenge on Dungey when he mentioned it in the post race by booing him, something he is not at all used to!

 

 

Tp win a title you do anything, as Osborne proved, Savagty was useless all race and would have whimpered over the line, Osborne deserved the title.

 

And for me Tomac deserved 450, but it was not to be, he was playing games all race trying tog et people to pass Dunge, that's all you can ask him to do.

Reminded me a lot of Lewis and Nico in Abu Dhabi last year, trying to slow the pace so other cars might overtake Nico......

[shotcaller]

Looking forward to the Monster Energy Cup from Vegas tonight.  Boy, I would like to see Jeffrey Herlings try Supercross.  I'm so impressed with him.

[chunder27]

I think Gajser is there is he not?

 

No idea where to get it streamign free!!

[shotcaller]

Gajser is on the provisional entry list, so I think he will be there.  Don't know about live streaming, probably some sites where you can see it after the fact.

[chunder27]

Managed to watch a couple of heats, was a great layout this time.

 

Not going to mention the winner, but not a pick everyone would choose!  But he rode magnificently and for me is now a big fave for the Supercross title