ChapMoto SX Race ReCap Week 14: What We Saw In Seattle
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 Webb a few
questions in between his busy schedule so you could get some
perspective on the race directly from him.
Let's start off with the questions we sent to Cooper Webb
first.
Cooper Webb:
It didn't look like the track conditions in Seattle bothered
you too much and you were able to deal with it pretty well. What's
the key to staying focused and finding the right lines on a track
like that?
CW: I just felt really comfortable right from the
get-go. I've been riding a lot of outdoors back home in North
Carolina, and the conditions in Seattle resembled an outdoor track
so I felt at home right away. My bike was working great, as well.
There really wasn't a secret to being focused. I was just relaxed
and felt comfortable all day, so it came natural to me.
How would you sum up your night?
CW: Overall, I would consider the night a success.
The crash was obviously a bummer, but that's part of it when you're
pushing and trying to be on the podium. I felt great all day,
qualified first, won my heat race, and I was in a great position
for a podium until that crash happened. I gained valuable
confidence, and I'm looking forward to better days ahead.
What We Saw
General questions:
Who had the best night?
[caption id="attachment_62797" align="alignright"
width="200"] Image: Vital
MX[/caption]
DD: Marvin Musquin and Aaron Plessinger.
Plessinger looked good on a tough track. Marvin always rides good
on technical rough tracks like that. He might want to work on his
post race celebration though.
TS: Aaron Plessinger! I don't know about you, but
I expected AP to pull a Win a little sooner than Seattle. Don't
forget the 250 class received a red flag three laps into the main,
which led to a re-start.
MM: The Yamalube/Star Racing rider #23 Aaron
Plessinger had the best night in Seattle. AP23 finally tacked on a
250 main event win this year, and he had to do it with two gate
drops in the main event due to the red flag restart. I expected
more wins from AP23 and he was also my pick for the 250 West title
earlier in December. I think AP23 practiced a million starts during
his break when the 250 series headed East. LOL!
EE: I'd say Dungey made the best out of what could
have been his worst night. He was good in the heat race coming in
second behind his KTM
teammate Musquin but that Main event started out super ugly. First
he stalled out after getting mixed up with the tuff block in the
first turn and ended up dead last once he got going again. However,
that wasn't the end of his tuff block affair for the evening, just
under a minute later he was squeezed into the tuff block in a right
hand corner by Bogle which caused him to lose some precious time.
But man that dude charged like a mad man and picked up every single
point he could to stay elbow to elbow with Tomac in overall points.
If the main had gone the full time instead of being cut short who
knows how close the end of the race could have been between those
two. But either way it was amazing to see him get 4th and now the
points gap between him and Tomac is at zero as they lead the series
in a tie for first, crazy how that worked out! I'm gonna follow
Travis' lead in previous recaps and throw in a hashtag for Dungey:
#thankgodforelectricstart
https://youtu.be/hIIVdPtqHXk
TO: Kawasaki- one step closer in both classes to
Championships!
Who impressed you most?
DD: Ryan Dungey, coming from a dead last start
then finishing 4th.
TS: Mitch Oldenburg from the TLD KTM team
impressed me! His previous SX race was in January San Diego (collar
bone injury) and now he comes out and throws down a 3rd place
finish. The podium has been missing a true ginger over the past
couple years!
https://youtu.be/CXYT-MnDUgI
MM: Mitchell Oldenberg of the TLD KTM team landed
on the podium for 3rd place in the 250 main event after his long
layoff from his injury he sustained earlier in the West coast swing
of the season. I did not see any ring rust on this dude. Bravo.
EE: I really enjoyed watching Aaron Plessinger
grab the win in the 250 main. Seeing him triple-triple-triple his
Yamaha YZ 250F through that rhythm section and pass up Davalos
for the lead was Sa-Weet!
TO: Tomac and Dungey. Both could have had
disastrous nights as far as the championship goes and both did a
great job of damage control.
Who had the toughest night?
DD: Not only did he impress me, but I thought Ryan
Dungey had a tough night losing the points lead.
TS: Ryan Dungey. Unfortunately the rookie Webb
kicked the teflon block out from underneath his Yamaha heading into
the first corner which took the #1 out, leaving him with a dead
last start. Thank God no lappers got in his way! RD finished 4th
behind Jason Anderson. I hope you like sharing Dungey, because the
#3 will have a red behind it in Salt Lake City.
MM: The toughest night award goes to the whole
250/450 rider field. The track was as treacherous as a track can
get and it was to be expected. The Seattle loam or sponge cake as I
experienced before, is a tough animal in itself. The dirt ruts up
bad as soon as you look at it and the transitions cause extreme
G-outs, as Josh Grant had the pleasure of experiencing in practice
which ended his night. The track claimed quite a few riders which
led to many trips to the hospital. Ouch.
EE: Although it wasn't during the night time show,
Chris Alldredge by far had it the toughest. That hit he took from
McElrath in qualifying was so gnarly to watch. He ended up with a
laundry list of internal and rough injuries but man it looked like
it could have been so much worse. Despite his pain and suffering he
showed a world of class by posting to social media an apology to
McElrath for crashing in front of him, that's amazing
sportsmanship. Get well soon Chris.
TO:
Cooper Webb. He had a podium in him and threw
it away.
Did you every think with three races left we would have a tie
for the point lead?
DD: We haven't had a championship points race this
close in a while. Should be exciting going into Vegas.
TS: If they decided to go through with that
"points chase format" the AMA was talking about, we'd basically be
in the same situation. Supercross 2017 is going down as a nail
bitter for Kawasaki & KTM.
MM: In January, I expected a
three way battle with K-Roc, Dungey, and Tomac. After K-Roc ended
his season in A2 and Tomac had the horrible Dallas race, I expected
the points gap between the Dunge and ET3 to be tied going in to
Vegas. I was right about the insane win streak ET3 unleashed to
erase the Diesel's points lead. It just happened earlier. It is now
a three race series for the 450 title.
EE: Absolutely not! Honestly after Roczen went
down I thought we were going to see Dungey click off a bunch of
wins. I didn't expect him to win every race but I also didn't think
that lead he had would get chewed up by Tomac. Not to doubt Eli,
but after his issues with arm pump I didn't think he'd be able to
swing it around like he did.
TO: It makes it much more exciting instead of the
championship being clinched with a round or two to go.
How about Dungey battling back from 19th in the first lap of
the main to 4th place?
DD: That's who impressed me the most. I wonder
what he would have finished if they ran the full 20 minutes?
TS: Where was that intensity last weekend when he
got behind Reed? Yeah yeah... I know, different track and different
situation. Well here's a fact: In St. Louis last weekend, Dungey
had slower lap times trying to get around the Millsaps / Barcia
battle, compared to the three laps he was behind Reed. Hmmm and who
was the one fined again??
MM: I understand as a racer, the inside line is
the shortest distance and usually the quickest way around the first
turn of a race. But, the tuff block Dungey ran over is the same
tuff block that got ran over in every race that night. Dungey had
to have known this and if he knew he did not get the greatest of
jumps out of the gate, he should have laid up and took the safe way
around instead of getting caught up and having to carve his way
through the pack on the toughest, rutted out track of the year. It
was a great ride to get back to where he ended up, but the first
turn pile up could have been avoided.
EE: It was pretty crazy. I am not a huge Dungey
fan, I respect him, his championships, his consistency, and
everything he's done for the industry-he's a perfect ambassador for
the sport-he's just too calm and reserved most of the time for me.
But to watch his drive and determination to squeeze out every point
possible from what could have been a disastrous main event on
Saturday night, you have to respect and admire that.
TO: Great riding. That is why Dungey is always in
championship contention.
Reed/Webb questions
What did you think of Reed's night?
DD: Reed's night was just ho hum, he got a bad
start but then had to stop and get a rock out of his rear brake so
his results aren't what they should have been.
TS: He seemed fairly comfortable on the bike. I'd
say he made progress throughout the night. Nothing terrific
though.
MM: Reedy did not start off the day as well as I
would have expected being the 16th fastest in qualifying and 3
seconds off of Cooper Webb's qualifying pace. It looked like he
made some changes and had a better evening finishing in the 9th
spot, but I am sure he was expecting more. This upcoming Easter
weekend off from racing should do him some good and recharge the
batteries for the last leg of the season.
EE: I am bummed for the guy, has so much fight and
desire to ride to the best of his abilities and win but this season
just isn't going as hoped. I know he's extremely frustrated with
this season but not every season can be a great season. It's
unfortunate because he is a multi-time champion so people have
higher expectations for him, but they seem to forget that he's
still in the top ten in overall points right now--or they just
don't care to recognize that, and that's some BS! He is competing
at an age and level that few riders have been able to and I really
want to see him make a huge comeback next year and put any
naysayers to rest.
TO: 9th place isn't where I thought Chad Reed
would be. He should be top five. Nothing against Millsaps, Tickle,
or Baggett, but Chad Reed should be top five!
What did you think of Webb's night?
DD: Webb looked good in his heat and
started out good in the main and when Tomac passed him the first
time he fought back but then he stalled out on his drive and when
Anderson passed him he seemed to lose focus and hit the ground but
got back up to salvage an 8th place finish.
TS: The heat race was awesome! As far as the main
event goes; I don't know if it was his foot or peg that pulled the
Suzuki block out from underneath him, but that moment put a stop to
Ryan Dungey's points lead. Webb was running a solid race up until
Anderson passed him then he took a digger and went down.
MM: Coop had an excellent qualifying time and heat
race but threw away a great night when he crashed in his main event
and ending up in 8th place. Coop looked better than he did last
week, just a small error cost him a nice finish. With three more
rounds to go, he needs to have some solid finishes under his belt
to carry some momentum and good mojo into the upcoming Outdoor
season.
EE: He was having a great night aboard the the
Monster Energy/Yamalube/Chaparral/Yamaha Financial Services/Yamaha
Factory Racing Team YZ450F. It was good to see him bounce back
after a rough return from his injury. It looked like his confidence
was back and he was on his way to a podium finish in the main. Just
looks like he cross-rutted and ended up on the ground. It was good
to see him pop right up and get back on the bike to finish out in
the top ten though.
TO: Cooper has his race speed back. He looked good
until the crash. Hopefully he can carry some of the momentum
outdoors.