ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 1

Last year we started a new
series called the ChapMoto Supercross Race Recap, where several
Chaparral Motorsports employees gave their thoughts on the past
weekend's Supercross event. That series was so fun and popular that
we decided to keep it going. It's a pretty simple concept; we pose
about 8-10 questions to the group regarding the evening's
activities, highlights, and lowlights and they reply with their
thoughts. This is meant to be a casual, fun, and lighthearted
series.
The Chaparral Motorsports staff (and one outsider) consist of:
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.
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.
Kyle Bradshaw (KB): Chaparral Motorsports Marketing Department. The
newest team member, Kyle is a highly experienced offroad/ADV/dual
sport rider who splits his seat time between his stable of KTMs and
his custom Honda VTX1300.
Eric Ellis (EE): Chaparral Motorsports Marketing Department/Social
Media. Eric is just a Harley guy who likes to watch Supercross.
Who had the best the night?

DD
: McElrath and Musquin had the best night by the
shear fact that they won but I think that the title really belongs
to Barcia and Roczen. It as great to see Barcia lead and ride the
race at a pace he could do for 20-plus minutes. I had expected him
to start fading by lap 10 but he just kept his pace and didn't over
ride and road a very consistent race to finish 3rd. Roczen didn't
get the start but he put his head down and rode a very strong race
and left no doubt that he's back.
TS: I think Shane Mcelrath had the best night. He
took the holeshot in the 250 main event and checked out for the
Win!
TO: KTM. KTM wins both classes. Ten years ago if
you said KTM would
win both classes at A1 people would have laughed at you. Now KTM is
on top of the World!
MM: The best night has to go to the #25 KTM Red
Bull rider Marvin Musquin. Marv is keeping the freight train going
with his off season wins and starting his 2018 campaign with
maximum points earned.
KB: Shane McElrath 28 had the best night as far as
mains are concerned. He launched out of the gate, set his cruise
control... 15 minutes plus 1 lap and launched over the finish line.
Pretty effortless so it appeared.
EE: First question of the season and it seems to
be the toughest. I can't decide between Shane McElrath, Justin
Barcia, or ken Roczen. For the 25o guys McElrath looked incredible.
He nailed everything Saturday night. He led his entire heat race
and qualified first for the main. Then he hit the holeshot in the
main and was gone, comfortably leading the entire field for all 18
laps. Very impressive start for the KTM/TLD/Red Bull rider. Justin
Barcia surprised everyone Saturday night-even himself I bet. He was
probably on Craig's List looking up Sprinter vans a few weeks ago
and now look at him! A couple more races like Saturday night's and
he'll turn is his six-race factory ride into a full season. As for
Ken Roczen, he amazed a lot of people just by lining up; and then
to go out and nearly podium in the main, that dude is a
beast!!!
Who had the toughest night?
DD
: The toughest night must go to Dean Wilson
coming up short in his heat race and smacking his shoulder which
has been a problem in the past. I hope it's nothing that will
sideline him.
TS: The last time Kawasaki won the opening round
in Anaheim was in 2012 (RV2). I'd say Factory Kawasaki had a tough
night, considering Eli Tomac grabbed the holeshot and lead 7 laps
until he wanted to make-out with dirt and take his pants off.
TO: Tomac's pants. If Eli loses the championship
because of a wardrobe malfunction, that will be Sad.
MM: The toughest night had to go to #15 Rockstar
Husqvarna's Dean Wilson. Deano had a gnarly crash going over the
handlebars while up front in his heat race which ended his evening.
It's a shame after getting through a full season last year injury
free, which is a miracle considering his track record.
KB: Tomac for sure. Wiped out, rung his bell, hurt
his shoulder and then the wardrobe malfunction mid-race... Stopping
quickly to fix the fly and presto, there it is on the Jumbo
Tron.... you struggling to get your junk zipped up and put away. No
fun! And a DNF? Not being able to finish the race, even in LAST was
a bummer.
EE: Hands down (or should I say nearly pants down)
Eli Tomac. Dude had it in the bag! Now he has to dig himself out of
a huge hole. Not where I expected him to be after week one, but if
anyone can pull off a comeback I think he can as long as he can
maintain his composure.
Did anyone surprise you?
Best caption wins a Jersey from A1 I will ship it out in the next week or two and DM the winner A post shared by justinbarcia (@justinbarcia) on
DD
: Again the big surprise was Barcia
TS: -Just after Tomac took his pants off, Justin
Barcia took the lead! Wait..What? Who? Yup- Justin 'BamBam' Barcia
is back! He definitely surprised me m/
TO: Barcia. Barcia has had a tough few years. For
him to podium at A1 was impressive.
MM: The surprise of the night has to be #51 Justin
Barcia of the Factory Yamaha effort. He had won his heat race to
start his evening and I do not think anyone on earth had him coming
close to landing on the podium for 3rd best on the night. He showed
excellent speed throughout the day and was racing with more grit
and conviction than we have seen in a long while. Could this be the
triumphant return of "Bam Bam"?
KB: I was really rooting for the old man underdog
CR22. I really like Reed and was hoping to see him do better than
he did. 56 seconds was his best lap time and the top seven riders
were 52/53 seconds. I was surprised he didn't finish a little
higher. Come on Reed, pick it up man!
EE: Barcia. I was just talking to someone a few
days before the race and was telling them how I didn't even
consider him for contention of a championship. He just might make
me eat my words and I'd be fine with that. It'd be a Cinderella
story for sure-and that is in no way meant as reference to his
golden locks.
Who had the worst spill?
DD
: See my answer to question #2 and you can throw
in Tomac as well.
TS: Deano. #[mageProductLink sku="260-20758-097-s"
title=""]FOXV3MVRS[/mageProductLink]
TO: Tomac. He's now having to play catch up again
this year.
MM: Dean Wilson with Eli Tomac getting honorable
mention.
KB: Dean Wilson... went down in the heat races and
did not return for the LCQ. Hope he is alright.
EE: Deano. That digger looked pretty serious, but
apparently it was just a lot of bruising and soreness. Hope to see
him back soon.
What did you think of Ken Roczen's night?
We got the first one out of the way and i can't describe how great of a feeling it was to be back in the madness. Got a couple things to work on like figure out the starts that will make my life easier but pretty much exactly where i wanted to be at the first round. Let the season begin @honda_powersports_us @redbull @foxracing @motoxlab @canyon @breitling @stancesocks @cudby | @emeryphoto A post shared by Ken Roczen (@kenroczen94) on
DD
: Roczen had a great night he charged the whole
main event and ended up 4th.
TS: I'm impressed! That was a gnarly crash/injury
to overcome from last year. Eleven surgeries!! It's unusual for him
to get bad starts, but he definitely worked his way through the
pack to a 4th place finish.
TO: I was very happy for Roczen. to go thru what
he went thru this last year and get top 5. Very Impressive!
MM: I felt K-Roc had an excellent round 1. He laid
down the fastest qualifying lap of the day much to the delight of
the sold out Anaheim crowd. This was a breath of fresh air to the
fans who were not quite sure if he would come back the same way
prior to his season ending crash last year.
KB: I think he is lucky to have made it into the
top
EE: Awesome! Other than that boggle he had early
on where he almost went over the bars he looked really good (I'm
sure his skivvies showed otherwise). He rode calm and collected and
wasn't too eager to prove anything. It was a great first race back.
It would have been incredible if he would have won but I don't
think the stadium would have been able to handle that. He's only
going to get faster, more confident and probably more
aggressive.
Pass of the night, who you got?
DD
: Didn't see any that I would say were
great.
TS: I can't pinpoint one specific pass for this
answer. The night had so many good passes between both classes
(250/450).
TO: Anderson on Barcia for 2nd.
MM: The Seven Deuce Deuce Adam Enticknap had the
best pass or passes of the night in the 450 main event. He went
into the first turn in last place and by the first triple jump, had
passed eight riders. Yes, I am biased for my guy.
KB: When Roczen's boot comes off and he gets
passed by two people in the same section of the track that took
Dean Wilson out of the running.
EE: Roczen when he passed Webb in their heat race.
It wasn't that it was a spectacular pass, it was what led up to it
that I liked. At the end of lap three (I think) Webb whips right in
front of Roczen's face and gives him a big lookback on the last
triple, and then in the first turn after the long straight away he
went wide to put a block on Roczen. No big deal, I like the
aggressive riding and grittiness of Webb, but you better be able to
hold it together, which Webb wasn't able to as he went down for a
split second with one minute to go and Roczen cruised by.
Best battle?
DD
: I wouldn't call it the best battle I would
almost say the opposite in the heat race between Roczen and Webb.
Roczen was headed forward and Webb was head backwards and Roczen
made the pass but then messed up on the section along 3rd base and
Webb jumped past but then Webb did a big unnecessary whip at
Roczen. Roczen took the high road and didn't respond and just moved
forward to finish 3rd and Webb decided to try for a dirt sample (on
his own) and finished 6th.
TS: 450 main with Anderson vs. Barcia was a good
battle. The 250 main with Justin Hill vs. Mitchell Oldenburg went
back and forth and they duked it out for quite a few laps.
TO: Anderson/Barcia MM: The best
battle of the night was between Factory Honda's #14 Cole Seely and
Rockstar Husqvarna's #21 Jason "El Hombre" Anderson. They traded
spots a few times in their heat race with some cut down turns and
strong block passes like the old times in their heated 250
days.
KB: Barcia & Musquin... Barcia had the lead after
Tomac bowed out... but he took it and kept it.
EE: Barcia and Anderson. It wasn't a big back and
forth but watching Anderson hunt down Barcia was entertaining.
After fly-gate, do you think Eli will be wearing a belt or suspenders the rest of the season?

DD
: I haven't heard what caused the pant failure
for Tomac whether the latch broke or it wasn't secured before race?
When McGrath rode for us he once had a pant failure on his No Fear
pants, the ratchet latch broke and his pants came down in the heat
race. He had new pants for the main, which we all checked the
ratchet to make sure it was good but we also had duct tape out and
ready just in case.
TS: I think a Master Lock might work.
TO: Eli almost signed with another gear brand this
last summer. I almost wonder if he wishes he did now?
MM: Who stops in the middle of a race to fix their
pants?
KB: Thor pants made #1 on the podium Sat. Maybe a
brand change with a better fastener is in order... If not, Klim
makes a great suspender ;)
EE: Seriously! If Alpinestars doesn't make a pair
of branded suspenders or at least print suspenders on his jersey
for Houston their missing a huge opportunity. It was definitely
hard to watch him go from holeshot and leading with a huge gap to
fumbling with his pants on the side of the track.
Thoughts on the new format without the semi races?
DD
: I can't say I'm a fan of the new format. If
you're not one of the top guys and you're actually trying to get
noticed and help out the people who sponsor you by getting in front
of the camera the new format has removed one of your opportunities
you had in the prior format. In the old format you would have a
chance to shine in the Semi but as the odds changed you would have
a greater chance to shine in the LCQ and get some of your 15
minutes of fame and give your sponsors exposure.
TS: I like it! Take the top nine and get straight
to the point. Another race (The Semi's) means another monster girl
holding the sign, another blast of fire, another sketchy start,
then more fire- you get where I'm going with this... I'm more
excited about the Triple Crown rounds, with NO heats/LCQs. The
riders hope to qualify, then race three main events.
TO: I like the new format. Cut to the mains which
is why everyone is in the stands.
MM: I like the format without the semi races. I
think it creates more battles within spots 5-9 to transfer to the
main event. Plus, if you transfer from the heat race, you have
about an hour and a half to rest and regroup before the main event.
Having to go through the heat race, semi race, and LCQ race if you
do not transfer to the main early, can get tiring with little to no
time to rest. You are spent by the time the main event comes if you
make it there.
KB: I am undecided on the new format.
EE: I liked having the semis part of the event. I
think it made for more and better battles, still not sure how I
feel about the new format. I do know that for the audience in the
stands the organizers need to do a better job of keeping them
engaged in between races. I think it was between the 250 and 450
main that one of the announcers (can't remember who it was-Lurch or
Spud, or whatever their names are) sat there and had everyone doing
the wave for like ten minutes. What happened to the KTM minis?
Speaking of the announcers...uggghhhhh!!! They try waaaaay to hard
and their references are so weak.
Overall, what did you think of the opening round for 2018?

DD
: I liked the first round, the race pace was
very FAST and anyone wanting to run up front must be able to ride
100% the whole race. It also looked like more riders prepared and
trained over the off season.
TS: I thought it was very entertaining, it was
exciting. No one got seriously hurt. The stadium was SOLD OUT.
Overall, this is good for the sport!
TO: A success. Great for our sport and our
industry.
MM: With Eli crashing out, the promising ride of
Justin Barcia, and an almost 100% Ken Roczen, this season is
shaping up to be as interesting and unpredictable as the previous
one. I was happy all the seats were filled to the roof which has
not happened in a couple years.
KB: It was exciting. I always like the A1 kickoff
and this year is no different. In past years, there was "the guy to
beat" but this year I feel we have a pretty even playing field at
the top. They are all great riders. The top five riders fastest lap
times were within 5 tenths of a second of each-other, pretty close.
It will come down to endurance and technical skill.
EE: It was fun. I'm stoked that the series is
back. We had some good drama with Eli but I wish there would have
been someone there to give Musquin a harder time, hopefully next
week.