ChapMoto Race Recap Week 13: What Happened In STL
This
is a new series in which we will look back at the past weekend's
Supercross race and give you our thoughts and perspectives on what
we saw. We've posed several questions based on the evening's events
to a motley crew of Chaparral Motorsports staff (and one outsider)
and provided you with their answers and insights.
A little background on the respondents in this series:
Dave Damron (DD): Chaparral Motorsports founder. Racer, team owner,
manufacturer, retailer. Dave has seen it all and done it all on two
wheels.
Travis Snyder (TS): Chaparral Motorsports Offroad Products and
Apparel Manager. Travis is one of our in-house moto racers. A Honda
guy, Travis is either at one of the local tracks or prepping his
bike for his next event.
Mike Medina (MM): Chaparral Motorsports Technical
Advisor/Communications Specialist. When Mike's not at the office
he's in the pits spinning wrenches for the Enticknap brothers, #722
Adam (The Seven Deuce Deuce) and #723 Tyler.
Eric Ellis (EE): Chaparral Motorsports Marketing/Social Media. Eric
is just a Harley guy who likes to watch Supercross.
The Outsider (TO): N/A. The outsider is not a Chaparral employee
but he is an industry veteran with a good perspective on the
inside.
Being that Chaparral Motorsport is part of the Monster Energy|
Yamalube| Yamaha Financial Services|
Yamaha Factory Racing team with two-time Supercross Champion
Chad Reed and two-time 250SX West Region Champion Cooper Webb
(making his debut in the 450 class this season) we focused a few
questions on the their performance. Also, we had the opportunity to
toss Reed and Webb a few questions in between their busy schedules
so you could get some perspective on the races directly from the
riders.
Let's start off with the questions we sent to Reed and Webb
first:
Webb:
What would you say is the skill that you excel at the most on
the track (e.g.: cornering, whoops, picking lines)?
CW: I would say cornering. My technique has always
allowed me to pick up time in the corners compared with everybody
else.
The next three races are moving back to open-air venues. Do you
have a preference between covered or uncovered tracks?
CW: Not really. The covered tracks just make the
weather not become a factor. I'm cool with some rain once in a
while, though. It switches things up!
Reed:
The next three races are moving back to open-air venues. Do you
have a preference between covered or uncovered tracks?
CR: The
last four races are all open stadiums. I prefer them, if only for
the fresher air. Other than that, I don't have a preference and
will race anywhere, anytime!
You had a good heat race but, unfortunately, you didn't seem to
get the jump you wanted at the start of the main. What are your
thoughts on the night?
CR: I wasn't 100% at St. Louis, which made for a
long weekend for me. But, I gave it my all, and I'm looking to
bounce back at Seattle this weekend.
What We Saw
General questions:
Did anyone surprise you on Saturday Night?
https://youtu.be/DuL9M4K-b44
DD: Dean Wilson. Finishing 15th in the main event.
Seems as if he had more fire inside when riding the Yamaha
him and his dad put together.
TS: Mookie! Running 5th place in the main event!
Until he didn't surprise me when he fell. He finished 9th and did
all 24 laps, so that's a step forward. Unfortunately he's learning
towards the end of the SX season, so lets see if Mookie has the
cojones to take on the Outdoors... Josh Grant surprised me as well,
taking 5th for the night!
MM: The #44 Jordon Smith of the TLD KTM team
is still continuing to impress me. I did not even have him as a top
5 guy in my preseason picks in the East Coast standings. He has
made me a believer and is making this chase to the title
extraordinary to watch.
EE: Jordon Smith backing up his first win last
week with another fist place finish was pretty cool. He now sits
only six points behind Savatgy for the overall lead.
TO: Dungey. He looked like he was going to put up
a fight until the Chad Reed incident. Dungey looked a lot more
aggressive than he has in a while.
Who had the best night?
DD: Jordon Smith. He showed that he has heart and
determination.
TS: Five in a row for Eli Tomac. The next best
thing is the Red plate.
MM:
The #44 of Jord0n Smith indeed had the best
night in St. Louis. He continues to surprise me with his speed and
grit and is very much in the title hunt for the 250 East Coast
Championship. Even with unrelenting heat coming from the green
machines of Pro
Circuit and Wacko Osborne of the Rockstar Husqvarna team,
Jordon seems to be as cool as a fan.
EE: Tomac by way of Dungey and Reed. All Tomac has
to do was ride his race the Dungey/Reed drama took care of the rest
for him.
TO: Tomac. He's on a whole different level.
250 series, who do you predict will win the east/west
shootout?
https://youtu.be/Y833er3INzU
DD: I'm thinking Jordon Smith, he's been racing
well on the hard packed slick soil.
TS: Shane McElrath. Don't ask me why, it's just a
gut prediction cuz I like the guy, okay.
MM: Here it is ladies and gentlemen, write it down
so you remember, the winner of the 250 East/West Shootout in Las
Vegas, NV will be the Monster Energy Pro Circuit rider #46 Justin
Hill. West Coast - Best Coast, yuh dig.
EE: I am going with the West and Justin Hill on
his
Kawasaki KX 250F. That dude was on a four-win tear before the
break. If he can pick up where he left off he should be a shoe-in
for the shootout title.
TO: Hill
Who had the toughest night?
DD: Joey Savatgy. Throwing the win away then
getting involved with a lapper, he almost seems to lose focus as
the lap count goes up.
TS: Keith McCarty (Yamaha Motorsports Racing
Division Manager). Watching the whole Reed-Dungey "lapper"
incident, as well as watching Webb take 14th. Go
Team!
MM: The toughest night award has to go to our
friend #374 Cody " Happy " Gilmore. Cody had a bad crash off the
start of the 450 LCQ which resulted in him being carried out on the
stretcher. The latest is that he has suffered some fractured
vertebrae which may or may not need surgery but is expected to make
a full recovery. Get well soon Happy
Gilmore.
EE: Cody Gilmore. That crash he had at the start
of the 450 LCQ was nasty. It's good to hear from the updates that
he had full movement although suffering a non-displaced fracture of
his C3 and C7. Best of luck for a full and speedy recovery.
TO: Dungey. He was going for it!
Do you think the Red Bull/KTM team has had/ or will have "The
Talk" with Musquin in regards to making sure Dungey maximizes his
points?
DD: No.
TS: Nah. Maybe Dungey and Musquin have had the
talk with one another. Who knows what was said though, considering
Musquin is 50 points back but decided to passed Dungey to take 2nd
place in Indy AND Detroit. That's 4 points Dungey missed
out on. Thanks Teammate!
MM: I think the "talk" has already taken place
which seemed to be very evident in the riding of Marvin Musquin. I
saw plenty of spots where Musquin could have overtaken the Diesel
in their heat race and main event but relented. I am not saying it
was as bad as a "Let Brock Bye" performance, but with how Musquin
has been getting faster as the season winds down, I think he pulled
his punches. Now if Musquin holeshots the main and the Diesel has a
horrible start, then its fair game and Musquin needs to go for the
" W " for the orange brand.
EE: I don't know if t teams do that sort of thing
but seeing as how Musquin is 49 points down with only three races
left, I could see where they (or any team in this situation) would
want their leading rider to have the best opportunity to make the
most of each race. However, after watching the way Musquin was on
Dungey's ass at the start of the main (he nearly put his front tire
into Dungey's rear) that talk might not have happened before STL
but I'll bet it's been discussed now. I did notice that after
Musquin almost hit Dungey the gap between the two seemed to have
grown and Musquin did finish a bit off pace from Dungey, so it does
make me wonder.
TO: "Let Broc Bye"- I'm sure it is going to get to
that point. KTM has way too much invested.
After their heat race, Dungey made a comment about Reed's
riding, stating that Reed tried to cut across the track and take
him out, also saying "it's uncalled for" and "not very mature".
Were Dungey's comments after the heat race warranted?
DD: I feel that the comments made by Dungey
directly following the HEAT race were not warranted, they were
straight up racing in the heat and if Dungey didn't like being
behind Reed he should have started in front of him. Also in the
same heat race at one point Dungey cut across the track and almost
took out Musquin's front wheel.
TS: C'mon!! This is what started all the drama for
the night. If Dungey didn't cry to the cameras like a baby (over a
Heat Race!), then maybe Reed would have let him by in the main
event. I'm not agreeing with Reed's actions, but I'm sure he was
making up for the "immature" comment Dungey made to the nation. On
the flip side, the whole "lapper" incident was the perfect
opportunity for Dungey to slam the door on Reed and show who's
Boss. I'm sure Fox Racing was happy, they had some lengthy coverage
time ha.
MM: I think the Diesel was a little out of line
but he had a valid point stating Reed seems to be riding him a
little hard. I personally thought the heat race with the Diesel and
Reedy was excellent and it was just good hard racing. The best pass
of the night happened in the first lap of the heat race when Reed
railed his turn up against Dungey and made it stick, without any
contact mind you. I saw nothing wrong with how Reed raced for the
heat win. Now the main event? We will get to that in a
moment.
EE: I didn't see Reed do anything that looked
malicious, maybe Dungey got a little intimidated because he has a
lot more on theline, but Reed wasn't being malicious. I think
Dungey is just on edge and as a guy that's known for being the calm
and collected nice guy, he isn't sure how to handle the feelings
he's experiencing and is looking for an outlet. The announcers
stated an interesting fact during the broadcast on Saturday night:
ahaead of 
St. Louis, Tomac had led
78 of the last 97 laps, Dungey hasn't led any in that same time
span (Tomac is now at 103 laps led Dungeystill has nill). That's
pretty crazy. Dungey had a great points lead and has been watching
it slowly slip away, he's got no one to blame but himself. Time to
buck up and get aggressive RD.
TO: Dungey was very upset with Reed. Decoster and
Ian got ahold of him and calmed Dungey down before he did the TV
interview.
Reed/Webb questions
Thoughts on Webb's night?
DD: I thought he would be more prepared than what
his results are showing. Seems like it takes him multiple rounds to
get back going again.
TS: Eh.. ↠Lets stop there. He needs to focus on
the Motocross season which is right around the corner. I didn't
think his "minor" shoulder injury was going to keep him out of
racing for so long.
MM: Coop had another "also ran" evening. He had a
good heat race but a horrible start to his main event and made
mistakes that should not have been made which aided in him
finishing a dismal 14th. It is hard to see the premier factory
Yamaha team finishing so far down line. This is not suppose to be
happening with a white hot two time 250 champion making his way to
the 450 class and a veteran two time 450 champion in Reed.
EE: Let's look towards next week.
TO: Not to good. Getting lapped isn't a good
night.
Let's address the elephant in the room? What do you think about
the Reed/Dungey blue flag situation in the main event?
https://youtu.be/0WGWkazzmbs
DD: It was a VERY poor decision on Reeds part, not
the way you would expect someone who has been some vocal in the
past about lappers. Now he's paying the consequences with a $5000
fine and a deduction of 5 points.
TS: Dungey's being a baby. He wasn't going to
catch Eli and if he really wanted to, he should have punted Reed
off the track. On the other hand, what Reed did wasn't necessary
and uncalled for. I can see where they're both coming from, but I
don't agree with either one.
MM: It was very evident that Reed held up the the
Diesel in his charge to give Eli Tomac a race for the checkers. I
have not seen such a blatant disregard for the blue flags like I
saw in the 450 main event. Everyone else moves out of the way for
the leaders when they are a lap down and are being overtaken, but I
guess Reed felt it did not apply to him. Reed should have been
black flagged from the main event. Reedy took, what could have been
an exciting finish to the checkers between the Diesel and ET3, away
from the St Louis crowd. I personally think his camp heard what
Dungey said on the broadcast after the heat race and Reed
remembered that during the main event.
***Update*** Chad Reed has been fined $5,000 and was stripped of
the 5 points he earned in St Louis by the AMA for his actions
during the evening and disregard for the blue flags.
EE: It appears there was some built up animosity.
Several outlets have said Reed was upset about his crash in Detroit
and felt it was Dungey's fault. And apparently Dungey felt that
Reed was coming into him during the heat race this past weekend and
publicly called Reed out on it. So there was definitely tension and
when it came to the main on Saturday night Reed wasn't about to do
Dungey any favors. Was it the right thing for him to do? No it
wasn't but Dungey spoke up and Reed reacted, what did Dungey
expect? It's unfortunate that one of the rare times that Dungey let
his emotions get the best of him publicly it comes back to bite him
later in the evening--racers would do themselves well to heed TO's
advice below. I guess the AMA/FIM saw Reed's actions were against
the rules seeing as how they announced a $5,000 fine and docked him
the 5 points he got from the race. But I do feel like the AMA/FIM
made the situation worse by not acting sooner, I mean it went on
for three laps, if they felt Reed was in the wrong they should have
pulled the black flag by the second lap at least. It states right
there in rule No.4: Riders disregarding the blue flag may be
black-flagged at the discretion of Race Director. I assume
this rule is implicating that the flag is to be thrown during the
race not penalizing a rider after the race, right? The other thing
is, Dungey sat behind Reed for three laps, THREE!!! If he couldn't
get around Reed because he was in the "fast line" how did Dungey
expect to get around Tomac in the fast
line?
TO: It reminded me of the famous Anaheim race
where Scott Burnsworth held up Ricky Johnson and David Bailey ended
up winning. It's better to have friends on the racetrack then
enemies!
