ChapMoto Race Recap Week 15: What Went Down In SLC
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:
Did the elevation have any effect on you? Did you do anything
differently to train for Salt Lake
City?
CW: "I didn't really notice it at all. I thought I
would, but it didn't bother me one bit. I didn't do anything
different to prepare for it because, in my past experiences, the
higher elevation hasn't given me any problems."
There's still talk about possible changes to the series format.
Are you happy with how things are? Is there anything you'd like to
see change?
CW: "I think changes would be cool. The format has
been the same for so many years. I think in order for our sport to
grow and attract more fans, we need some change."
Reed:
Did the elevation have any effect on
you? Did you do anything differently to train for Salt Lake
City?
CR:
"I didn't do anything different as the rider. The bike is the issue
with the altitude change. It runs much slower, so changes are
needed to compensate."
What We Saw
General questions:
Who had the best night?
DD: Eli Tomac had the best night, putting on a
Supercross clinic for every rider out there.
TS: I'd have to say Justin Hill along with Mitch
Peyton. It's been some time now since the Pro Circuit Kawasaki Team
has won a championship. Congrats to Justin and the Team!
[caption id="attachment_62945" align="alignright"
width="300"]
Image Source: Kawasaki USA[/caption]
MM: The best night award goes to the the #46
Justin Hill of the Monster Energy Pro Circuit team. Justin
sealed the deal on the 2017 West region title with his 3rd place
win. It is good to see Pro Circuit at the top again after some long
years against Factory Connection Honda and Star Racing Yamaha. Now
it is up to Joey Savatgy to bring home the East Regional title for
a Pro Circuit sweep.
EE: By far, the night belonged to Eli. Even if he
doesn't go on to win the championship, by taking over the point
lead this late in the season he's accomplished what seed nearly
impossible.
TO: Kawasaki-Justin
Hill winning his first Supercross championship and Eli Tomac
continuing to come closer to his First 450 SX Championship.
Who impressed you the most?
https://youtu.be/b-XK7fqmNWU
DD: Shane McElrath showed he's still got it after
injury.
TS: Freckle! AKA Mitch Oldenburg impressed me
finishing 2nd behind his teammate Shane Mcelrath.
MM: Eli Tomac impressed me the most with his come
from behind win in SLC. This had to be soul crushing for the
Diesel. This dude is on another level and if Kawasaki can keep the
bike under him, he will be the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross
champion when the dust settles in Las Vegas.
EE: Tomac. He was on point all night. Sure he had
a few slight bobbles like at the start and then the first time he
passed Dungey in the corner and nearly lost it, but he remained
focused and determined and cut through the competition from way
back in the pack like it was nothing. And man, watching him fly
across those whoops, that was beautiful.
TO: Eli Tomac coming from 19th to 1st. Eli put on
a riding clinic!
Who had the toughest night?
DD:
Aaron Plessinger crashed while leading the
main event, handing the championship title to Justin Hill.
TS: Aaron Plessinger had a tough night. He was
leading the main event until those nasty whoops took him to the
ground. It seemed like those were the type of whoops you were happy
to get through each lap, but didn't look forward to hitting them 45
sec later.
MM: Aaron Plessinger of the Star Yamaha team had a
tough night by letting the 250 main event win slip away from him
when he crashed in the whoop section while leading. If AP23 would
have went on to the win, he would have kept Pro Circuit's Justin
Hill from locking up the title and keep his title hopes alive. He
will be a top pick for most to win the 250 shootout in Las Vegas if
he races it.
EE: Plessinger. He, even though he was down 18
points to Hill for the 250 West title, there was still a glimmer of
hope in sight, and then in an instant it all disappeared. Tough
break. At least he wasn't seriously injured.
TO: Dungey, to be out front and getting a pitboard
that says Tomac is 10th / 12th after the first lap and still
getting passed by him.
What was the better race the 250 main or the 450 Main?
https://youtu.be/DPtJ8pHv5zA
DD: The 450 Main.
TS: The 450 main. Eli Tomac showed the world he's
going to be the 2017 SX Champion. The beginning scenario of the
race couldn't have been any more perfect for Dungey. He showed that
he will never override the bike and only races a certain speed that
Dungey is comfortable with. Do you think each and every lap Tomac
wanted to click it up a gear and grab a hand full of throttle right
before those treacherous whoops? No, he probably didn't. But he
knew that was a solid passing point if you wicked it into those
every lap on such a short track.
[caption id="attachment_62946" align="alignright"
width="300"]
Image Source: Kawasaki USA[/caption]
MM: The 450 main event was more exciting to watch
if ET3 was going to catch the Diesel for the win. Along the way,
other riders were not making it easy for ET3 since his bad start
put him in 12th after the first turn. ET3 was not given anything,
he earned this victory and is that much closer to the
title.
EE: In my opinion the 450 main had lot more
excitement as you had the drama of not knowing if Tomac could catch
Dungey and then once he did it was whether or not he'd get around
Dungey. It was the heads up racing between the two people had been
dying to see.
TO: Both races had me on the edge of my seat. very
exciting for both main events!
How does this 450 series rank in the history of
Supercross?
DD: It's up there with the best. Don't forget
about 2011 when Villopoto barely beat Reed by 4 points. Not to
mention, Dungey was only 6 point behind Reed at the end of the
season as well.
TS: It's up there as one of the best. We'll see
what New Jersey and Vegas has to offer.
MM: Although one of the key players in the series
retired from the season with an injury, Ken Roczen, the series
still had enough excitement to keep it interesting. I think the
2006 Supercross series was one of the best in a long time when
Suzuki's #4 Ricky Carmichael, Kawasaki's #7 James Stewart, and
Yamaha's #22 Chad Reed went into the final race almost in a three
way tie in points. The title could have went to any of those three
guys.
EE: As a fairly new fan of Supercross my depth on
the history is pretty shallow. I've only paid attention to the last
few seasons where the series was usually wrapped up by now by
either Villopoto or Dungey. So this season is near the top for me.
I know there were seasons in the past with riders like Reed,
Stewart, Carmichael, and McGrath, to name a few, that were really
exciting but I didn't follow any of those seasons so I gotta go
with what I know.
TO: One of the best comebacks with Eli Tomac
making up such a big points gap. Very impressive.
Reed/Webb questions
Thoughts on Webb's night?
DD: He rode well in the Semi, but fell flat in the
Main.
TS: Considering he got a horrible start, 9th was a
decent finish. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I
think Cooper has his mind set on outdoors already. You can thank
the shoulder injury he had half way through the SX season for
that.
MM: Webb had an OK night, not a great night. The
Outdoor series is what he is looking forward to and so is the
spectating world.
EE: It was a tough one in Utah. We all know Webb
is fast, so I'm hoping that with these last two races he can put
something together and end the season with a bang.
TO: Cooper is probably looking forward to the
outdoors.
Thoughts on Reed's night?
DD: He had some good battles with Baggett and
Millsaps. 6th was a good finish for the
night.
TS: He finished better than I expected. I don't
know what to say about Reed. Is he planning to race SX in 2018?
MM: Reed's night, as I would expect from Reed
himself, was not up to par. Although a 6th in the main event is
pretty good for how his season has gone, he expects top 5's or
better out of himself. I would expect his mindset is towards the
Outdoor series which starts in less than a month.
EE: With everything that was on the line between
Dungey and Tomac and all the energy they were generating, a
6th place finish for the night isn't too bad. Reed was
up in the mix in the main running in 5th during the
first few laps and held a consistent pace to maintain his position.
Just like with Webb, we know what he's capable of so I'm looking
forward to these last two races.
TO: Reed is probably looking forward to next
year.
