ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 4
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:
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 night?
TS
: Eli Tomac did for sure. He executed what he
should have done at A1.
MM: ET3 Eli Tomac of the Monster Energy Kawasaki
team for having back-to-back wins at Anaheim 2 and Glendale,
AZ.
TO: Eli Tomac. He's going to make a great finish
to the season like last year. I would love the Final in Las Vegas
to come down to Anderson, Barcia, Roczen, Seely and Tomac all
within reach of the Championship.
KB: Plessinger had the best night in my opinion.
He took the checkered flag and became the points leader. Nice work
kid!
EE: Best night goes to Eli in the 450 class and
Aaron Plessinger in the 250 class. For Eli to go back-to-back after
his shoulder injury and in the fashion that he did it on Saturday
night by getting the hole shot and then leaving the pack behind to
play catch up (which Barcia and Roczen nearly did towards the end)
was pretty impressive.
I think a lot of people were counting on one of the Kawasaki PC
riders to be riding away with a west coast title, but Plessinger is
proving that it's not going to be so easy. He's a force to be
reckoned with this season and he proved it once again Saturday
night by not only taking the win but the points lead.
Who had the toughest night?
TS
: The points leader Jason Anderson seemed to be
off his game in the beginning of the main event, although he made
his way back to 4th. Cole Seely seemed to have a tough night as
well, finishing 12th.
MM: Cole Seely of the Honda
HRC team had a dismal 12th place finish after coming off of the 3rd
fastest qualifying lap time from earlier in the day. His worst
finish thus far.
TO: Savatgy. After his heat race crash he didn't
look as good as the first three rounds.
KB: Oldenberg I'd say. Several crashes... took him
out of the running. Just couldn't get a break.
EE: Savatgy! He makes tiny mistakes that cost him
big time. He nails his starts, he's got three holes shots this
season but then just seems to bobble and lose it. Saturday night
was huge though because his little mistakes nearly sidelined him
with injury in his heat race and then cost him the points lead in
the main.
Did anyone surprise you?
TS: I'm
still surprised Justin Hill hasn't made the podium with the #1
plate. Just goes to show he was spending too much time tuning his
guitar in the off-season.
MM: Barcia Barcia Barcia for taking the runner up
spot in the 450 main event, couple of small mistakes may have cost
him the win as he was closing in on ET3 in the later frames of the
race.
TO: Barcia continues to impress me. He's riding
great and staying consistent. In the 250's Plessinger. I think he's
going to make a great 450 rider when he moves up.
KB: Anderson not getting a podium this week after
a seven-race podium streak. Bummer for him.
EE: Anderson. What happened in the main? He
slipped from 4th to 7th by lap four and then spent 10 laps in
neutral. It didn't even look like he was going to make top 10 and
then he kicked it into gear and was able to get back to where he
started with a 4th place finish. That was a weird race for him.
Who had the worst spill?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqWIfZ6vlwU
TS: I didn't catch anything too crazy.
MM: The worst spill has to go to SKVI
Suzuki 250 rider Broc Shoemaker for going down in the start
straight and getting his neck run over in the 250 LCQ, early
results show a couple fractures in his back and neck. Honorable
mention goes to SKVI rider Colton Aeck for trying out the berm
restraint nets first hand by launching himself into it during the
day qualifiers. If the net was not there, he would have taken a
unpleasant concrete body slam.
TO: Savatgy
KB: Taking a rear wheel to the head, I'd give this
one to Savatgy. Ouch!
EE: Savatgy in the heat race. The way he got
bucked and then went over the bars and the bike slammed into his
leg I thought for sure he was done for the night. Glad to see he
was able to jump into the LCQ and ride way with the win.
Best pass of the night?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBNiGQzru8g
TS: I couldn't tell ya.
MM: Best pass goes to Versace Savatgy of the Pro
Circuit team for passing 21 other riders off of the start of the
LCQ from the outside gate to transfer to the main event. Bustin
holies.
TO: Plessinger on McElrath to take the lead in the
250 final
KB: The best single pass would have to have been
Plessinger on McElrath over the jump, overtaking him in the corner.
They almost took each other out... But it was pulled off
successfully. My favorite pass was the 250 Main holeshot. Savatgy
has a not so good starting position all the way on the outside. He
shot all the way across the pack to get the holeshot! Passed the
entire field of riders, that was impressive!
EE: Roczen on Peick in the turn after the finish
line jump the main. He set that up so nice, he had so much speed
there was nothing Peick could do about it to fight to maintain the
spot.
Best battle?
TS
: AP23 vs SM28... which got a little
sketchy.
MM: Aaron Plessinger and Shane McElrath during the
250 main event, these two are making the 250 supercross class great
again!
TO: Plessinger and McElrath
KB: The 450 Main battle for 2nd through 8th was
pretty good. A lot of position changing going on.
EE: I enjoyed watching Plessinger go after
McElrath.
Barcia is only nine points behind the points leader, Anderson, and still no word about a contract extension from Yamaha. What do you think Yamaha is waiting for?
TS
: Word around the pits is Yamaha plans to extend
the "temporary" contract until the end of the year.
MM: I do not know but his stock is definitely
rising with his continued success this year on the blue bike. From
what I understand, he is still rebuilding relationships that were
once burned before.
TO: Barcia and Cooper Webb not getting along might
have something to do with it?
KB: Great question. Maybe to see if there is a
"better candidate" for their team.
EE: I have no idea but Barcia couldn't be in a
better position for contract negotiations. Yamaha hasn't had a 450
championship in quite some time and you know they want that all-new
machine of theirs to shine and right now Barcia is the only one
that's helping that cause. I hope Barcia has a really good agent to
get him a great contact because with the comeback year he's having
he absolutely deserves it.
The rider's all seemed to like the more technical track form this past weekend? Do you think they should have more input on track design? Should the track designs be decided so far in advanced as they currently are?
TS: The animated track
designs they show in advance are just directional lay outs. For the
most part, the finish line, starting gate, and whoops tend to be
where the animated map shows. But the rhythm sections should change
based on how the riders react on press day.
MM: I think past riders should be able to design
the tracks, not current riders. Also I do not feel any current
riders or factory teams should have any say so or go cry to AMA to
change the track between races or practices within the same night.
Changes to the track happen a lot if Chad Reed is not cool with it,
just an example. But track design cannot please everyone, someone
will complain about something.
TO: I think the better the track, the better the
racing. The track builders should make changes to the track after
the riders go out for first practices to make improvements.
KB: I like seeing very different track styles week
to week. This track was FAST with a lot of rhythm sections. It was
fun to watch, but I did miss the big jumps. I do think that the
stars should have a great deal of input when it comes to what they
would like to see when it comes to the track. Another thing I'd
like to see would be a bit more "technical" types of challenges.
Challenges that only the top guys can clear.
EE: Other than Daytona which is designed by Ricky
Carmichael, I don't know how they come up with the track designs,
but I do know that when the rider's like the tracks it makes for
better racing. And it seems as though they are all mostly in
agreement when the track is good and when the track is bad. Maybe
some kind of poll or questionnaire at the end of the night could be
used to create like 2-3 "Riders Designed" tracks per season.
